travel tales, part 2

I had no idea hitting deer was so dangerous and unavoidable. I guess it is amazing that the deer population is still strong and viable. Down here? Squirrels. Armadillos. 'Possums.

Moving right along (ick), one of the places I visited in Missouri is the Museum of the steamship Arabia. The Missouri River is said to be too thick to drink, too thin to plow, and is nicknamed "Ole Muddy." It claimed many boats that tried to ply their trade along its shores, with dead branches hidden in the murky water. The Arabia is one such boat. It was a supply boat, carrying 200 tons of goods and 130 passengers. All the passengers made it safely ashore, but the cargo was lost in the soft silt of the riverbed. By morning, all that was visible of the boat was the tallest steam stacks and a bit of the captain's lookout.

One group tried to recover the 400 barrels of Kentucky bourbon years later, but was unsuccessful. They came up with lumber and part of one of the smoke stacks, and didn't care about anything else. Because of this initial foray, it was thought that the Missouri had taken the rest of the cargo for her own. Years later, a team of men looking for treasure gambled that there would be something worth finding on the Arabia, and they were right. After discovering how much was salvageable, they decided they couldn't break up the sets of dishes and dry goods, and they borrowed extra money to start the museum and begin recovering and restoring all the millions of items they found at the wreckage. The treasure includes millions of seed beads and buttons for prarie dresses, boots, shoes, some clothing, bottles of perfume, dishes, tools of all sizes, utensils for eating and cooking, dolls, toys, medicines, medical equipment, and pre-fab house kits, all ready for the Western moving settlers to set up towns with ease and comfort. Pre-fab houses, in 1856! Rubber overshoes stamped with the Goodyear logo and a patent date of 1843, before Lincoln was president. Clothespins with springs. Tools more advanced than we might have imagined for the mid 19th century.

Most fascinating is that the boat originally sank on the Missouri side of the Missouri river. However, due to the shifting of the currents and changes made by the army corps of engineers, the wreckage was actually found and dug up in the field of a Kansas farmer, on the other side of the river and quite a way inland.

I didn't get any pictures from inside the museum. You had to be careful where you used the flash. I will see if I got any brochures I can scan later. Otherwise, there are lots of websites dedicated to the treasure of the Arabia.

The museum has an area set up where you can watch the restoration process of all the items. Restoration began 15 years ago, and the owners believe they have from 15 to 25 more years worth of restoration to do, there is that much recovered from the wreckage. If you ever happen to be in Kansas City, MO, and have a free couple of hours, go visit the museum. The recovery of this bit of history is amazing. There is also an area where the owners provide patrons with a list and map of all the other sunken ships. They encourage anyone to go find a boat and dig it up as they have. The drive for treasure hunting is passed along to the next brave or foolhardy soul willing to change his life for a dream of fame and fortune.