Prior to the completion of the Omaha railroad bridge in April 1872 the Union Pacific railroad transfer boats carried the trains across to the Nebraska side. In the winter an ice bridge was constructed for the train to use. In 1862 Captain W. W. Marsh bought a large interest in the company and the next spring took charge of the business. The company ran a twenty-year charter which featured a variety of boats until 1872, when the Union Pacific railroad opened the first bridge across the Missouri River. That bridge made the ferry service obsolete at the end of the contract term after it was constructed in 1888.