Marcus was a supply and transportation base for northward-bound travellers during the Big Bend Gold Rush of the 1860s in the Colony of British Columbia due to its location just above Kettle Falls, a wall to river navigation. In 1865 the steamboat "Forty-Nine" was built at Marcus to attempt the run to the goldrush boomtown of La Porte at the foot of the infamous Dalles des Morts or "Death Rapids", which were located in the immediate vicinity of the rush and were the upper barrier to river navigation. Regular service from Marcus to La Porte did not begin until 1866 due to difficult winter conditions at the Narrows of the Arrow Lakes on the first attempt in 1865.