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INTERVIEW WITH CAPTAIN W. W. MARSH

--“Well, captain, what are you driving at?” asked a prominent citizen of Captain [W. W.] Marsh, who has just returned from California, where he has been for three months for his health. “I am taking it easy, now, and propose to continue to do so for the rest of my life,” replied the captain; “I don’t have to work any more.” Captain Marsh has been a rustler all his life, and his many friends will be glad to learn that he can at least take it easy. He came to Nebraska in the spring of 1856, and located in Dakota county, where he engaged in the stage business, running a line from Dakota City to Niobrara. He was the first mail contractor in the territory of Dakota, his contract being from Sioux City to Fort Randall, between which points he ran a stage line for two years. In the fall of 1862 he bought an interest in the Nebraska Ferry Company at Omaha, which as the time was running one boat, the Lizzie Bayliss, and the next spring he took charge of the business. When the railroads from the east reached the river, one after the other, the company added four boats the Irene, the Gise, the Nutt and the Munson. The ferry company continued to run the boats and did a big business until the completion of the Union Pacific bridge in the spring of 1872. One of the transfer boats, the Gise, was used exclusively for passengers, and frequently carried 500 persons on one trip upon the arrival of the trains. The travel in those days was enormous. The freight transfer boats carried four or five freight cars at a time. The landing place on the Iowa side was at a point just about opposite Farnam Street and not far from where the Council Bluffs waterworks pumping house is now located. The eastern railroads all terminated there as did also the Council Bluffs street railway. The channel of the river was then much farther east than it is now, and to reach the river from this side required a long drive or walk over a sandy bottom. The landing on this side of the river was shifted from time to time. When the writer landed here in 1871 the passenger landing was in a little bayou just above the Union Pacific Bridge. The Union Pacific passenger trains ran down to this landing. In the winter the ferry company built an ice bridge across the river, and ran a transfer train of its own. The Chicago & Northwestern road was the first to reach the river, and for one winter it ran its solid trains across the ice bridge into Omaha. When the other roads reached the river, however, this was stopped. Among the old river men who were employed by the ferry company were Captain John McPherson, Dan Shull, Captain John Swobe, of the Irene, engineers Dave Morrison and Joe Gaghegan, Captain Pat Riley, who managed both the Nutt and the Munson, Mr. Maxwell, who had charge of the Gise, Cy Clawson and another man from Quincy, whose name has been forgotten. Dave Morrison is now employed at the Omaha nailworks. Joe Gaghegan is also in Omaha. Captain Swobe now runs the Union Pacific transfer train for teams and wagons. Dan Shull also remains in Omaha. When the Union Pacific bridge was completed that ended the ferry business. The steamer Gise went to Vicksburg, the Nutt to Memphis, the Munson to Carondelet, and the Irene was crushed by the ice and went to the bottom in the spring of 1877. In the summer of 1873 Captain Marsh bought the Omaha street railway of A. J. Hanscom, who had got the property into pretty good shape. It proved a handsome investment to Captain Marsh, who put his personal attention to the business, extending the track and increasing the equipments from time to time in answer to the public demand. The road now has ten miles of track – which is being extended all the time – 120 horses and 20 cars. The property was valued at $250,000 a short time ago. Captain Marsh recently sold a three fifths interest in the property to the Union Pacific, and if he sold it on the above valuation he got $150,000. During the years that he has been running the street railroad he has also been extensively engaged in staging and mail contracting. He certainly has been a very active man and it is no wonder that he feels like taking a long rest.

From: City Walks and Talks, Omaha Daily Bee, May 24, 1884, p. 4