The Steamboat Arabia

If you have a spare afternoon in Kansas City, go see the Steamboat Arabia museum. Even if you don't like history, it's a fascinating shipwreck story that you can comfortably see in about two hours.

In the mid-80s four guys decided to dig up a steamboat that got stuck in the mud of the Missouri River in 1856. The steamboat had just left port and was fully loaded to stock General Stores out West. It was dangerous to go upriver on the Missouri, and most steamboats didn't last long. Steamboats needed a large amount of wood to run, so they'd routinely stop along the banks to cut trees and refuel. This was a classic example of how people wouldn't think things through. Ultimately, this stop and cut process caused more erosion on the banks and therefore, trees would fall in the river. These fallen trees acted like torpedoes that would hit the hull of the boat when it was going upstream and sink it. That's what happened to the Arabia. The wheels kept turning as it went down and the boat basically dug itself into a hole where it stayed for more than 100 years.


The four excavators did this as a hobby--they were in refridgeration, restaurants, and construction. They spent 3 years in a library trying to determine where the boat would be, and then tried to dig up the cargo the best way they could. Since the river had changed course, the Arabia was buried in a cornfield. It was truly buried treasure.

The amazing thing about this shipwreck is that besides cotton, nearly everything survived. Pickles were still good. Perfume still smelled. Boots were still packed in crates. After digging up thousands of boots, pans, medicine, buttons, food, hardware, plates, jewelry, you name it, the team didn't want to separate the wares. So, they opened up a museum.

At the end of the introductory video, we were suprised when one of the excavators walked to the front of the room to answer questions. Curators say one of them is almost always there. He said it took a few months in the dead of winter to pull everything up, and "it was like Christmas everyday." They never knew what they would find--the only total loss was boxes of cloth. The cotton cloth was gone and dyed mud remained.

The team only found one barrel of alcohol and only 3 coins--besides people, those were the first priorities off the boat.

In one space, there is a lab where you can watch people preserving items--they recovered so many artifacts people will still be trying to preserve all of it for years to come. They only have like 1800 boots out of 5000 preserved so far. The rest remains frozen.

I've seen the Titanic exhibit, and it was quite the letdown. Most of the items shown were from the Titanic's sister ships. This exhibit was much more fascinating. If you have a few hours to spare in this city, take in this museum.