Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-01-04
CAPTAIN MARSH
RIVER PIONEER
ANSWERS CALI.
Most Noted of Upper Missouri
River Captains Succumbs to
Pneumonia
BROUGHT WOUNDED HERE
FROM CUSTER MASSACRE
Was Close Personal Friend Of
B Custer, Buffalo Bill Cody
and Mark Twain

II and Mark Twain. =
Death, late Sunday afternoon,
claimed Captain Grant Prince Marsh,
Il aged 81, the oldest and .by far the
most interesting pioneer OF river nav.
igation in the country
4 Captain Marsh was taken. to the
st. Alexius hospital Saturday, suffer
ing from a severe attack OF pneumO-
mia, and at 42O o'clock Sunday after
noon life ebbed away from the man
\ whose career as a steamboat man on
i the great rivers Of the country COW
ers a period of 10 years, the greater
I part of which has been spent on the
Great Muddy whose tawny waters
/ he loved, and whose ways and wiles
he knew as no other man..
Born in Pennsylvania.
Captain Marsh was born in Warren
County, Pa, May II, 1884, and later
moved with his parents to New York
state, where he lived for several
years. He first began his river ca
|. reer, wlen as a boy of IL he applied
/ to Captain Alfred Reno, of the steam
\ er Dover, for a position. He shipped
II from Pittsburg on the Dover as cab
in boy, and began the first of his
hundreds of river trips on all the
\ great rivers of the country, trips
u which carried aim from the hustle
4 and hustle of New Orleans, st. Louis
q and Pittsburg levees TO- the heart of
A the great Indian country bordering
the banks Of the upper Missouri.
In the early spring of 1852, he Sc
cured position as deckhand on the
Pittsburg-St. Louis. Packet, "Beaver,"
and caught his first glimpse of the
Mississippi river, on his first trip.
St. Louis, then city of 81, 900 people,
with no railroad connections with the
] outside world, was then in t.le grip
4 Of q cholera sCourge.
First Missouri Trip.
The first trip on the Missouri,
Y which later proved to be the scene of
his many adventures, was made as u
q deckhand, on the II. X. Aubrey, com.
manded by Captain Ambrose Reeder,
I and making tie run between st. Lou.
4 is and st. Joseph, Mo. Practically
all the commerce of the Missouri and
Mississippi valleys at that time was
. handled by river boats, and there
was plenty for them all to do.
During the winter Of '55 and '56 he
remained on the steamer "A. B.
Chambers" where he went after
working for year on the Aubrey
He acted as watchman on the Cham.
bers' while the steamer along with
hundreds of others was frozen in
at St. Louis. On February 81 thaw
came and rapid rise in the river
followed. The memorable ice gorge
of '56 then swept boat after boat
down the river to destruction. The
Chambers was but slightly damag-
ed. Captain Marsh stuck to the boat,
expecting momentarily to be killed
by the splintering wreckage along
the levee. The boat lodged against
the wall of the United States arsenal
however, and he found himself safe.
Mate On "Alonzo Child"
The following year Captain Marsh
was enrolled as mate on the side
wheeler packet "Alonzo Child" un-
der Captain Joe Holland, and made
his first trip to Omaha, Neb. Omaha
was then the outfitting place for gold
seekers and immigrants headed for
the far west, and was regarded as one
of the toughest of the frontier towns.
1t was also the rendezvous of cara
/. vans OF MOrmOns moving toward
their promised land surrounding the
Great Salt Lake.
In :he fall OF 1867 Captain Marsh
left Omaha as mate on the steamer
Hesperlan,' which later returned to
st. Louis with it's cargo because of
the financial panic. and the flooding
of the country with worthless paper
money, the merchats being unable TO
pay for their merchandise.
''Mark Twain's" Friend,
He worked on the lower Mississip-
pi the following season as mate of
the "A. B. Chambers No. g." That
season none other than Sam Clemens.
Mark Twain most beloved of Amer
lean humoris!s, worked under Cap
tain Marsh as second pilot. The
friendship formed between the two at
that time lasted until the death of
Mark Twain"
The crew of the Chambers exper-
fenced any number of difficulties that
season, one of them beng caught in
an ice jam. Mark Twain remember
ed the incidents to the day of his
death. as did Captain Marsh.
Captain Marsh was married in
1851 at st. Louis. Four children
survive at the present time. Mrs.
Marsh having succumbed about five
years ago. The childre., are Captain
John p. Marsh. Omaha, Neb.: Captain
Grant c. Marsh. Jr., st. Louis, Mo-:
Mrs. II. S. Albert, Redwood City, Cal;
Mrs. r. L. Gaines. Memphis, Tenn,
and Mrs. Z. J. Hall, st. Joseph, Mo.
(Con1inued on Page Four