Arabia Steamboat Museum

[huskerblitz]

Our last stop on our two-week vacation was the Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City. It's a fabulous look at frontier life in 1856. The packet sank after hitting a tree snag in 1856. Over the years the Missouri River shifted its course, leaving the Arabia in the cold and oxygenless mud 45' feet deep. In 1987 it was found by a family looking for buried treasure (the Arabia's stores) and found it. The contents are remarkably preserved, even the pickles! Some items are still being cleaned and you can see and talk to technicians as they work on items. Really remarkable display. Below are some of my photos:

 

[huskerblitz]

 

[huskerblitz]

 

[huskerblitz]

Found this part interesting, so there is a 'Civil War-esque' connection with the Arabia.

 

[huskerblitz]

The story with this guy was sad, but fascinating. A man was caught in a lie...130 years later. He reported the mule refused to get off the sinking boat even though he untied him. Evidence says otherwise. The museum gave the mule the name Lawrence...can you guess why?

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Coolest museum ever! Love the whole ' frozen in time ' element.

OK, baffled. Why is the poor mule named Lawrence, please?

 

[donna]

Looks like a great museum. Thanks for sharing photos.

 

[alan polk]

That is unbelievable!!! Thank you so much for posting this. Now I really want to go see this in person. The preservation, by Mother Nature and the folks preserving it, is incredible!!

I'm like JPK Huson, tell us about Lawrence!!

 

[huskerblitz]

Lawrence....of Arabia.

 

[JOHN42768]

That is a fantastic display. Thanks for posting

 

[alan polk]

Lawrence....of Arabia.

Duh!! And there I was over thinking the darn thing!!!

 

[Lusty Murfax]

I visited and viewed the display about 15 to 20 years ago. I found the documentation of the excavation of the site most interesting. If memory serves, the wreck had been buried by some 40 to 50 feet of sand and silt and it was situated several hundred yards from the present banks of the Missouri River in a farmer's row crop field. I believe the site was near Parkville in Platte County. The state of the River today is nothing like it was before channelization in the 20s. It's average width was some four to five times what it is today and of course, it was much shallower and not nearly as swift. OTOH, the Mississippi River is still wide, shallow (until you get south of St. Louis) and the current is relatively slow.

 

[Brendan]

I am so friggin here for this. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Patrick H]

I still haven't been to this museum. It's still on my list. These steamboat wrecks are buried all up and down the Missouri floodplain. Years ago, an earlier packet was hastily and careless excavated near Boonville. The treasure seekers used high pressure water hoses to blast everything out of the mud. Of course, they effectively destroyed everything in the process. They received incredibly bad press for this and they deserved it. If memory serves, the same group later set about to rectify things. They located and excavated another steamer, and I believe that project was the Arabia. The Arabia has been featured in numerous magazines and is regarded as one of the truly great examples of this sort of archaeology.
Cargo from the excavation forced a new understanding of life in the opening west of the 1850s.

 

[huskerblitz]

I still haven't been to this museum. It's still on my list. These steamboat wrecks are buried all up and down the Missouri floodplain. Years ago, an earlier packet was hastily and careless excavated near Boonville. The treasure seekers used high pressure water hoses to blast everything out of the mud. Of course, they effectively destroyed everything in the process. They received incredibly bad press for this and they deserved it. If memory serves, the same group later set about to rectify things. They located and excavated another steamer, and I believe that project was the Arabia. The Arabia has been featured in numerous magazines and is regarded as one of the truly great examples of this sort of archaeology.
Cargo from the excavation forced a new understanding of life in the opening west of the 1850s.

Maybe, the Arabia was the third steamboat found by the group. The only thing on display from that first boat was the engine built in 1819 in Louisville and a lid to salt pork barrel. Obviously they didn't say much else if they were the people you described.

 

[MaryDee]

The artifacts on the Arabia are exactly those that would have been found in a household during the Civil War, certainly for a young couple who would have been married about the time of the Arabia disaster. This is a priceless display for civilian reenactors!

 

[Brendan]

So much has been recovered from the Arabia, they don't even have room to display it all! Meanwhile, I think the excavation of the Malta is now underway. Has anyone heard any more recent news about it? https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article107866437.html

 

[huskerblitz]

It is. There are a lot of brogans on display as well as some rubber shoes that were designed. They even have a pair they said was unusual because they were made specifically for right and left feet, unlike the brogans.

Also, no cotton survived but there are plenty of fabric spools also on display.

 

[Patrick H]

Maybe, the Arabia was the third steamboat found by the group. The only thing on display from that first boat was the engine built in 1819 in Louisville and a lid to salt pork barrel. Obviously they didn't say much else if they were the people you described.

Yes, the first boat sank in about 1820, I believe. Its cargo would have been extremely informative with regard to life in the opening frontier. A small piece of timber, a barrel head, some metal pipe from that boat and a few other items are displayed in the visitors center in Boonville. Pretty sad. But there's no denying these guys did it right with the Arabia. I'm pretty sure they'll do it right with the Malta, too. Here's a link to an article about the first boat:
http://www.boonvilledailynews.com/n...s-highlight-new-additions-to-boonville-museum

One of the factors that makes the Arabia find so fabulous is that it was headed UPstream when it sank. Thus, it was loaded with this varied cargo. If it had been headed DOWNstream when it sank, it probably would be been loaded with barrels of tobacco headed to St. Louis--interesting to scientists, but not nearly so museum-worthy.

 

[Belle Montgomery]

WOW! a real honest to goodness Civil War era everyday life time capsule! Thank you! I don't like to think about the poor mule though.