The Steamboat Arabia

163 years ago on September 5, the Steamboat Arabia struck a submerged tree trunk and sank.

From the St. Louis Republican newspaper, September 9, 1856:  

"The officers of the LIghtning Line packet Cataract inform us of the sinking of the steamer Arabia in the Missouri River, one mile below Parkville [Missouri]. She went down in fifteen feet of water. The accident occurred on Friday evening at 8 o'clock. The Arabia was on her way to Council Bluffs and Omaha City with a good trip of freight and passengers. It is said the boat will be a total loss - some of the freight may be saved in a damaged condition. The Cataract went alongside the Arabia and took off some of the cabin furniture, and what freight was on the boiler deck, and put it off at Parkville. The Arabia was owned by Captain Terrell, her commander, and Mr. Boyd, clerk. She had been running several years and was probably worth $10,000. We presume she was insured, but have not learned to what amount." 

The Arabia was a typical western steamboat. A twin side-wheel steamer, she was built long and flat to carry maximum cargo. Measuring 171 feet long, with three decks and a wheelhouse above the water line, she plied the waters of the mighty Missouri River, pushing upstream at more than 5 miles per hour.

The 200 tons of supplies she carried were bound for general stores and pioneer settlements to the north and west.

On August 30, she left St. Louis headed for Sioux City, Iowa, by way of Kansas (present-day Kansas City, MO), Weston (MO), St. Joseph (MO), and Council Bluffs (IA).  The Missouri River was wide and shallow and her rushing muddy waters hid dangerous snags—tree trunks that had fallen into the water when the river undercut their roots. Going full steam upriver against the current the Arabia struck the trunk of a large submerged walnut tree that smashed her hull open. She sank fast, until only the wheelhouse was visible, and that quickly broke up in the current.

All the 130 passengers and crew got off safely, but the cargo was buried in sand and mud at the bottom of the Missouri. Over the years, the river changed course with the floods and dry times, layering the site of the wreck under successive years of dirt. When the Arabia was finally located in 1986, she lay in a farmer’s corn field half a mile from the current river’s course and under 45 feet of dirt—and below the water table.

It took 4 months and twenty (20) irrigation wells pumping out up to 20,000 gallons of water per minute to get to the Arabia. A team of family and friends brought up boxes, barrels and crates of frontier merchandise, both necessities and available luxuries, items meant for General Stores all along the river: castor oil, needles, nutmegs, windowpanes, brass and silver locks and keys, eyeglasses, syrup bottles, rubber overshoes and wedding bands; jars of pickles that were still edible (yes, one of the team tried one); French perfume that still held it’s scent thanks to the ambergris that was a main ingredient; carpenter’s tools; a Frozen Charlotte figurine; buttons and scissors; even over one million Venetian glass beads meant as trade goods.

Today, in Kansas City, Missouri, there is a unique museum, built to house the Arabia and the artifacts that have been recovered. Set as a cornerstone for the River Market—a gathering of vendors selling fruits, vegetables, seeds, hand-me-downs, bbq and some rather fine coffee—the Arabia Steamboat Museum offers a wonderful glimpse into life on the frontier in the middle of the 19^th century.

The museum was built specifically to house this collection and it's still a work in progress. Though there are thousands of items already cleaned and displayed, the lab runs almost daily, cleaning, preserving and cataloging the amazing number of artifacts. The latest estimate is another fifteen years of work await the lab techs on the Arabia’s cargo. And last year they found another steamboat buried in another farmer’s field.

You can watch as a boot is coated with preservative so it won’t dry out after a century under water. You can dab on a bit of the French perfume that their scientists recreated from the bottles found among the cargo (minus the ambergris, thank goodness).

Much of my River's Bend series came from my visit to the Steamboat Arabia Museum. If you’re ever in Kansas City, I highly recommend this museum. I know we’ll be returning soon—there was just too much to see in one visit.

Tracy

New Release - Gambling on Forever by Becky Lower - @prairierosepubs #WesternRomance

When Elise Lafontaine spies her father’s missing saddlebag with its all-important papers slung over the shoulder of a man boarding a riverboat, she follows him, hoping to retrieve the contents. Her plans come to an abrupt halt when she is declined entry to the boat, since she is an unaccompanied female.

From his perch on the top deck, handsome riverboat gambler James Garnett witnesses her denied entry. When she shoots him a look of desperation, how can he resist those deep blue eyes and beautiful face? Of course, he comes to her rescue, pretending she is his fiancée—and she is allowed aboard.

Begrudgingly, Elise accepts James’s offer of help to win back the saddlebag and the papers by having him play poker on her behalf, certain the thieving Confederate brothers who stole the bag will lose everything to James. But can Elise be happy with only the saddlebag and its contents? Or has she already lost her heart to the dangerous gambler?

After a sultry kiss, Elise steals his money and the papers and jumps overboard. Then the games truly begin. Now, Elise stands at the biggest crossroads of her life—will she go her own way, fiercely independent and alone? Or will she wager everything on the man who holds her heart--GAMBLING ON FOREVER?

EXCERPT

     After shouting every curse word she could come up with, in no less than three languages, Elise quieted and glanced around the small cabin. She needed to corral her energy—which had been riding high ever since this morning when she first spied the missing saddlebag.

     Taking some deep, calming breaths, she assessed her situation. She didn’t for a minute buy Mr. Garnett’s pronouncement that he had no ulterior motive. Everyone had an angle of some kind. Especially men. Especially men with a smooth exterior like Mr. Garnett. Like Bailey Snodgrass. Ever since he’d set foot in St. Louis and disrupted the lives of Elise’s best friend and her family, she’d been on guard against the many other slick men who had surfaced after the war. Carpetbaggers like Bailey, riverboat gamblers, sweet-talking handsome men…they were all the same in Elise’s mind.

     Susannah was hopefully on her way back to the ranch by now to round up the search party. Elise’s four brothers, each one bigger and fiercer than the next, would be coming for her shortly. Of that, she had no doubt. Their Indian blood and a lifetime in the wilderness rounding up wild horses made them expert trackers, but tracking one of the many riverboats clogging the Mississippi might cause some problems for them, even with their superior skills.

     But they would find her and would do serious damage to the pair who had the stolen merchandise. And Mr. Garnett? So far, she had nothing to report to her brothers about him. But the journey had only begun. And he was a man. She had no doubt he’d do something to trip himself up soon.

     The big steam engine had roared to life a few minutes ago while she spilled every obscenity in her repertoire, and the large paddle wheels started slapping against the waves as they rotated.

     If she were the weepy sort, she’d be shedding buckets by now over her plight. Here she was, alone on a strange, large ship, without even a change of undergarments. But crying never helped any predicament, so she’d calm herself and figure out what to do.