Posted on 09/07/2013 9:48:07 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
In 1987, a group of treasure hunters discovered a steamboat buried deep in a Kansas cornfield. This was the Arabia, a side-wheeler whose hull was pierced by a submerged tree on Sept. 5, 1856, near Parkville, Mo., 6 miles north of Kansas City. The ship, just three years old, had embarked from St. Louis, steaming westward on the Missouri to deliver merchandise to 16 frontier towns. The cargo included 20,000 feet of lumber, 4,000 shoes and boots, two prefab homes destined for Logan, Neb., a sawmill and fixtures, and a case of Otard Dupuy & Co. cognac.
Although the Arabia went down in 15 feet of water, all of its 130 passengers reached shore on the ship's skiff -- the only fatality was a mule tied to the deck. Within days, the Missouri's silt began to engulf the wreck; within weeks the ship had sunk from sight.
...treasure hunters Bob Hawley and his sons David and Greg began to search for the wreck after hearing tales of its sinking. From the Arabia's manifest, which a crewmember gave to a St. Louis newspaper shortly after the sinking, the Hawleys learned the locations the steamboat was to visit, what it was carrying and the names of the merchants awaiting its goods. They then consulted a 19th-century map marking the sites of shipwrecks on the river and zeroed in on a cornfield in Parkville, the location where they thought the Arabia was buried. Over the years, the Missouri had meandered half a mile from where the ship went down and the river's thick silt had turned the site into farmland.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I grew up in Pantego and always heard about a buried steam locomotive in Village Creek. Right there at Green Oaks and Highway 80/Lancaster in the bottoms. Someone had done some sonar or whatever on the area of the wreck and found a HUGE piece of metal underneath the creek. The owners of the line, I think U.P. will not under any circumstances let anyone dig there because of the communication lines running along the track.
ok found it:
...so with the help of extended family, friends and money borrowed from the bank, they built a 35,000-square-foot museum for less than half a million dollars with the can-do entrepreneurial spirit that characterizes the entire enterprise. And they did it without any state or federal support, something they are proud of.
I highlighted the key phrase that I took away. Not bad... 80,000 visitors/year... any freepers going through the area should stop by.
There are many, many, photographs of the artifacts (even the mule skeleton was conserved) at this webite:
Let’s not miss the major point about the academics and professional in this field—it’s all about the money.
They hate it that they missed out on possible millions in government funding to a bunch of amateurs who built a musesum out of love for the Arabia and its treasures they developed while doing the dig.
They built it for less and are exhibiting their finds via private enterprise.
And the museum might actually make them some money for their hard work and faith.
Man, you know the academics hate that.
Amazing story. Quite a find.
my FIL went there last year and said it was AMAZING
We are going to go on our next trip up to KS
it seems well worth the visit
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