The Arabia was a steamboat built in 1853 and was in service until it hit a tree snag and sank on the Missouri River, near what is the today known as the town of Parkville, on Sept. 5, 1856. The ship was carrying clothes, tools, foods that had been ordered to be used by the people living on the frontier. The loss of these supplies meant hardships for those that were waiting for them.
As the boat sank and settled on the muddy bottom, the passengers and crew moved to the upper decks where they were rescued. The water driven by the rivers current washed out the mud the hull was sitting on and the boat continue to sink eventually ending up 45 feet deep. In the process the upper decks were washed away along with a reported 400 barrels of fine Kentucky Whiskey.
Early attempts at salvage were unsuccessful and eventually the wreck was forgotten except for rumors. Also the river bed shifted and soon was a half mile from where the Arabia sank. In 1987 a man, Frank Hawley, who was the owner of a refrigeration business using old maps and a magnetometer found the correct location of the Arabia. It was in the middle of a farmers field under silt and soil. Below, on the left is an aerial view of the filed and the present location of the river, on the right is the out line of the Arabia.
The owner of the farm would allow him to excavate for the wreck but he would have to work in the winter and be completed before the spring planting season began. Frank Hawley , his brother Greg , father Bob and friends Jerry Mackey and David Luttrell - set out to excavate the boat. They needed a 100 ton crane and 20 irrigation pumps to lower the ground water level. The wells were 65 feet deep and pumped out 20,000 gallons per minute.
Initially the men thought they would sell the artifacts but once they started to actually find, clean and see what they had it became clear that selling things piecemeal was out of the question and the idea of a museum to display what all had been found took hold.
Because of the lack of light and oxygen the goods were preserved. A bottle of pickles was opened and found to be edible. Nobody mentioned trying the gin.
The museum has a lab where the cleaning and preservation is an on-going effort. New Items are being added to the displays.
There are more pictures at: http://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/5069
(The following words are taken from a museum poster)
The only life lost aboard the Arabia was that of a mule. During the excavation the mule’s skeleton was found saddled and bridled with the bit clenched in it’s teeth. The reins were tethered to a lumber mill jack on the boat’s stern. carpenter’s plane was wrapped in a bed roll behind the saddle, a plate and tin cup with the initials “AP” scratched in the bottom were found resting upon the mule’s hip.
There was replica of the deck and displays with many interesting facts and stories about steamboats and the people that worked onboard and the passengers.
Like I mentioned earlier, we stayed in Lone Jack, near but not exactly a suburb of Kansas City. It was a very attractive campground that I would enjoy staying at again. There were several lakes on the property, one was just down the hill from our site. There was an Adult Center with a big screen TV and wi-fi.
The campground pictures are at: http://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/5243
Well, That was way back on Sept. 13 and today is Sept 24. So, what have we been doing? Well, we continued east on I-70 across Missouri to St. Louis where we connected with I-64 across Illinois, Indiana to Ashland Kentucky where visited Jackie’s relatives. These are relatives that had been out of touch for years. They are the children of Jackie’s mother’s half sister. Jackie has been tracing her forbearers and while on ansestrey.com found someone asking about her uncle. She contacted them and they discovered each other after losing track so many years ago. It was great fun visiting, seeing the places where they grew up and visiting some old family graves. It wasn’t that many years ago that family members, when they died, were buried not in town cemeteries but on a small plot on the family’s land. From there we dove through the mountains to Vinton Virginia to visit a cousin of mine. We hadn’t seen each other in many years but had been staying in touch via email. It was great and I know Jackie & I will be visiting again in the near future. Actually that means after warm weather returns next spring. While the fall foliage isn’t in full swing yet, we are starting to see the leaves change. Right now we are heading south to where there are no signs that have nasty sayings like, “Bridges Freeze Before Road”, “Beware of Ice on Road” etc.
We are currently in South Carolina and tomorrow we will go to St. Augustine. After all the wonderful sights, excitement and great people we met over the last four plus months we decided to spend a few days “decompressing” before we drive the final 100 miles to our home. To be truthful, even though we know sooner or later we have to get home,,,,, we continue to look for any excuse to spend a few more days in our motor home. Decompressing is good an excuse as any, or maybe, a poor excuse is better than none. J
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