Photograph of Bertrand — Photograph by Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Bertrand Site

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

From the record

“The Bertrand was a steamboat which sank on April 1, 1865, while carrying cargo up the Missouri River to Virginia City, Montana Territory, after hitting a snag in the river north of Omaha, Nebraska. Half of its cargo was recovered during an excavation in 1968, more than 100 years later.”
Wikipedia article Bertrand (steamboat), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 14 National Register listings published here for Washington County · listed in 1969 · category: Site.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 site as contributing to the listing.
Address. DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Blair, 68023
When was it listed? March 1969
Category. site
Township. Township 2
National Register reference number. 69000138 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

28 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 28 fires within 5 miles of Bertrand Site between 1993 and 2020, burning about 314 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10
Debris and open burning	8
Equipment and vehicle use	4
Smoking	3
Recreation and ceremony	1
Railroad operations and maintenance	1
Natural	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
19 September 2012	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
19 September 2012	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	55 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
1 August 2002	Equipment and vehicle use	40 acres	DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge	WLDFR-BOYE
31 July 2001	Debris and open burning	under an acre	DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge	WLDFIRE-3
2 July 2001	Natural	under an acre	DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge	WILD-2
6 June 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
11 May 2001	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge	WLF-1
9 April 2016	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	MOVANEY FIRE

Every fire recorded in Washington County

Storms near this property

60 of 78 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Blair, the town this property stands in, in 78 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 39 hail, 33 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2004	Hail	Blair	$10,000,000	Hail up to baseball size fell in Blair and west through south of town. The hail caused extensive damage to cars and at least two large car dealerships were hit with over 4500 cars damaged. Houses and trees in town were also damaged and Dana College sustained 1 million dollars in damage in broken windows, skylights and vents. Two hundred windows were broken on campus. The dollar damage total was from eastern Dodge county into Washington county, with over half of it likely in Washington county around and in the Blair area.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	$100,000	Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 70 mph downed numerous large trees and power lines in town. Many homes and cars sustained damage when branches fell on them, and power was knocked out to parts of the town for up to 24 hours. Several people narrowly escaped serious injury by avoiding falling trees, one in a car and another in a house.
May 1996	Lightning	Blair	$35,000	no account filed
April 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	$25,000	no account filed
April 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	$10,000	Metal outbuilding pulled out of ground and thrown 30 feet.
April 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	$9,000	no account filed
April 2025	Hail	Blair	-	Amateur radio report of hail measured up to 2 in diameter. Delayed report with the time estimated from radar.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Personal weather station measured wind gust of 61 mph.
April 2024	Hail	Blair	-	Shortly after the top of the hour, the office received a public report of half dollar sized hail in Blair. A few minutes after this report came in, there was another mPING report of golf ball sized hail, also in Blair.
April 2024	Hail	Blair	-	A report was received from the public via mPING of quarter sized hail.
May 2024	Tornado (EF0)	Blair	-	This tornado touched down at the intersection of US Highway 30 and Highway 133. As it tracked northeast into the south side of Blair, numerous trees were topped or had several branches broken off. This tornado dissipated at the intersection of South Street and South 10th Street. The peak estimated winds in this tornado were 74 miles per hour. The maximum width and average width of this tornado were determined to be 60 yards.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	A 67 miles per hour wind gust was measured on a personal weather station.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	A 72 miles per hour wind gust was measured on a personal weather station.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Law enforcement reported tree damage in Blair with a large limb down across a street and other limbs on power lines.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	A personal weather station recorded a peak wind gust of 60 mph. The public reported the tin roof peeled off of a machine shed.
August 2023	Flash Flood	Blair	-	Public reported 5 to 6 inches of water flowing over Highway 30.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Storm chaser estimated peak wind gusts at 60 mph and reported a power outage.
September 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Winds were estimated at 60 to 65 mph.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Large tree limbs down throughout the town of Blair. Power outages were reported throughout the city.
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Roof to a home was damaged by damaging winds in Blair.
April 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Tree limbs and power lines were reported downed in the city of Blair.
August 2016	Flash Flood	Blair	-	Very heavy rainfall from a nearly stationary thunderstorm produced amounts of 5 to 7 inches in the area. This led to flash flooding, which closed State Highway 133 and U.S. Highway 30 near Blair, NE. County roads P29 and P26 were also closed due to flooding.
June 2014	Hail	Blair	-	Spotters reported hail up to the size of baseballs in the city of Blair. The combination of giant hail and strong winds damaged most buildings in the city including broken windows and siding damage. Numerous cars were severely damaged as well and a large auto dealership in town reported that cars inventoried at over $100 million sustained at least some damage and in many cases totaled.
August 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	The roof of a building was blown off near the Cargil plant east of Blair. In addition, several trees were reported down throughout the city of Blair.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Home weather equipment measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 81 mph in the Blair area. The winds destroyed a horse barn and grain bin a few miles west of Blair and also damaged the siding of a home. Other outbuilding damage was noted in the area.
August 2011	Hail	Blair	-	Hail between golf ball and tea cup-size fell along with thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at close to 60 mph.
September 2010	Hail	Blair	-	Nickel-size hail became golf ball-size in a few minutes time in the Blair area.
June 2010	Hail	Blair	-	Hail of nickel to golf ball-size preceded or fell just as thunderstorm wind gusts measured around 70 mph by the Awos in Blair, which is several miles south of town.
June 2010	Hail	Blair	-	Hail around nickel size fell from just south of Blair into Blair just before becoming Golf ball-size.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	A local mesonet observation near the Washington county/Douglas county line south of Blair measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 58 mph.
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph downed a small tree northwest of Blair.
September 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph knocked down some large tree branches and a few trees in town.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	A thunderstorm wind gust was estimated at 60 mph by an area media meteorologist.
March 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	The emergency manager estimated thunderstorm winds gusted into the 60 to 70 mph range.
May 2005	Hail	Blair	-	Penny to nickel size hail was reported along with street flooding.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	A thunderstorm wind gust of 70 mph was measured at Eagle Airfield southwest of Blair.
April 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of over 60 mph created power outages in Blair.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph caused a large tree to fall on a house.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 70 mph caused extensive tree damage from west of Blair into town. One garage was destroyed and several grain bins were flattened.
May 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts of around 65 mph were reported by a trained weather spotter.
June 2001	Flash Flood	Blair	-	Heavy rains caused flash flooding that briefly closed Highway 75 north of Blair. Flooding was also observed along Bell Creek near Arlington.
May 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts downed a tree which blocked a street for a while.
June 1999	Hail	Blair	-	Mostly pea size but a few up to 1 inch.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	School had windows blown out. Outbuildings damaged. Trees downed
April 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Strong winds rolled a trailer house.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Blair	-	Tree limbs were blown down as a line of thunderstorms moved through.
May 2019	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
September 2019	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
September 2019	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
June 2016	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
May 2012	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
August 2012	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
April 2010	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
March 2007	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
July 2006	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
May 2005	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Blair	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Washington County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Fort Atkinson	4.7 miles	1966
Alfred H. and Sarah Frahm House	4.8 miles	2006
Long Creek School	5.5 miles	2001
Washington County Courthouse	5.6 miles	1990
Blair High School	5.7 miles	1991
Congregational Church of Blair	5.7 miles	1979

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 69000138 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Washington County	All 14 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.