October 10, 2013
Today we carpooled into
Kansas City to tour the Steamboat Arabia Exhibit and Museum. This is a
steamboat from the mid 1800’s, prior to the Civil War, that hit a snag in the
Missouri River and sank.
The course of the river has moved many times since the
boat sank, and was found under a corn field, a couple of hundred feet deep.
This boat was carrying some passengers, that were all rescued, one mule that
drowned with the boat, in addition to tons of supplies that were headed to the
small general stores located along the river north of Kansas City. The paddle
wheel from the boat is on display at the museum and it works!
Because of the
type of soil and silt that the boat was encased in, most of the supplies were
recovered, in tact. This display is considered to be the largest pre Civil War
collection in existence. We watched a film about the discovery and excavation
of the boat and afterwards one of the family members that participated in the
dig talked to us. One of the things he said was that there is still warehouses
full of artifacts off of the boat that still need to be cleaned and cataloged.
It was all very impressive!
After returning to the
campground we had about an hour to rest and relax before getting back into the
truck to drive into Louisburg where we were meeting for dinner at the La Mesa
Mexican Restaurant. We took up one whole room, and even though there were so
many of us, and it was a little slow in coming, the food was still very good.
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