While in Sioux City Marsh took part in the longest riverboat race in history. In 1872 he captained the Nellie Peck against the Far West from Sioux City to Fort Benton, in Montana Territory and back.

After the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928, engineers applied lessons learned to expansive dam projects in the American West. Beginning in the 1930s, large dams were built on important watersheds ...