Arabia (steamboat)

The Arabia is a side wheeler steamboat that sank in the Missouri River, on September 5, 1856, when it was gored upon a submerged tree snag. It was rediscovered in 1988 by a team of local researchers in what became Kansas City, Kansas. Its recovered artifacts are housed in the Arabia Steamboat Museum.

History
The Arabia was built in 1853 around the Monongahela River in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Its paddle wheels were 28 ft across, and its steam boilers consumed approximately thirty cords of wood per day. It averaged 5 mi per hour going upstream. It traveled the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and was then bought by Captain John Shaw, who operated it on the Missouri River. Its first trip was to carry 109 soldiers from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Pierre, which was located up river in South Dakota. It then traveled up the Yellowstone River, adding 700 mi to the trip. The trip totaled nearly three months.

In March 1856, the Arabia was stopped and searched by pro-slavery Border Ruffians near Lexington, Missouri. According to newspaper accounts at the time, a Pennsylvania abolitionist aboard the Arabia dropped a letter, which was discovered and handed over to Captain Shaw. The letter described guns and cannons en route to the slavery-free Kansas Territory from the abolitionist Massachusetts Aid Society. Boxes labeled "Carpenters Tools" containing 100 rifles and 2 cannons were confiscated.

Also in March 1856, the Arabia was sold to Captain William Terrill and William Boyd, and it made fourteen trips up and down the Missouri during their ownership. In March, it collided with an obstacle (either a rock or a sand bar), nearly sinking with a damaged rudder. Repairs were made in nearby Portland. A few weeks later, a cylinder head blew and was repaired.

Sinking
On September 5, 1856, the Arabia set out for a routine trip. At Quindaro Bend, near Parkville, Missouri, it hit a submerged sycamore tree snag. The hull was ripped open and flooded with water. The upper decks stayed above water, and the only casualty was a mule that was tied to sawmill equipment below deck and overlooked.

The boat sank so rapidly into the mud that by the next morning, only the smokestacks and pilot house remained visible. Within a few days, these traces were also swept away. Numerous salvage attempts failed, and eventually the Arabia was completely covered by water. Over time, the river shifted 0.5 mi to the east. The site of the sinking is in a field within what became Kansas City, Kansas.

Excavation
In the 1860s, Elisha Sortor purchased the property where the Arabia lay. Over the years, legends were passed through the family that it was located somewhere under the land. In the surrounding town, stories were also told of it, but the exact location of it was lost over time.

In 1987, Bob Hawley and his sons, Greg and David, set out to find the Arabia. They used old maps and a proton magnetometer to figure out the probable location, and finally discovered it 0.5 mi from the modern location of the river under 45 ft of silt and topsoil.

The owners of the farm gave permission for excavation, with the condition that the work be completed before the spring planting. The Hawleys, along with family friends Jerry Mackey and David Luttrell, set out to excavate the Arabia during winter while the water table was at its lowest point. On November 13, 1988 they started excavating. They performed a series of drilling tests to exactly locate the hull, then marked the perimeter with powdered chalk. Heavy equipment, including a 100-ton crane, was brought in by both river and road transport during the summer and fall. Twenty irrigation pumps were installed around the site to lower the water level and to prevent flooding. The 65 ft deep wells removed 20000 gal per minute from the ground.

On November 26, 1988, the Arabia was exposed. Four days later, its artifacts began to appear, beginning with a vulcanized rubber overshoe. On December 5, a wooden crate filled with elegant china was unearthed. The mud was such an effective preserver that the yellow packing straw was still visible. Thousands of artifacts were recovered intact, including jars of preserved apples that were still edible. Many pieces of the boat, including the boilers, one engine, and the anchor, were salvaged as well. The artifacts are housed in the Arabia Steamboat Museum. Although there are thousands of artifacts displayed in the museum already, there are still tons of cargo that need preserving.

On February 11, 1989, work ceased at the site, and the pumps were turned off. The hole filled with water overnight. The site was filled and reclaimed as farmland.