We left Texas four days ago for a week in Kansas City. Our itinerary has been rather museum heavy.
Thursday, we visited the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site, a light indoor/outdoor activity to get the ball rolling.
Yesterday, we hit the Negro League Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum, with a heap of KC BBQ in between.
Today, we visited The Arabia Steamboat Museum. This turned out to be a fascinating gem that I'd recommend to anyone.
I suggest you go to the website and get the whole story there, but here are some "Cliff Notes".
In 1856, during the heyday of steamboat travel on the mighty rivers, the Steamboat Arabia went down while heading upriver on the Missouri (The "Mighty Mo", as they called it--"Too thick to drink and too thin to plow")
Steamboats of that era were an important part of the settling of the west and can be likened to interstate travel of today. The Arabia went down with her 200+ TONS of cargo. An, unfortunately common occurrence of the day, she was never recovered.
Fast forward to the 1980's. A series of events motivated a local ensemble to go after finding it. There had been a couple of previous attempts over the decades with unremarkable results.
Using the modern science of the day, the group pinpointed the site. A half a mile inland under a farmer's field, due to the gradual changes in the river's path over 130 years.
The result was the recovery of significant parts of the steamboat, as well as the LARGEST EVER COLLECTION OF INTACT PRE-CIVIL WAR ARTIFACTS.
The fruits of their adventure now are the subjects of the aforementioned museum.
Of particular interest to this crowd, I have a series of photos showing some pipe and tobacco materials recovered.
These steamboats were the lifeline of many merchants surrounding these rivers at the time, so much of the tonnage was mercantile inventory.
(continued)
Thursday, we visited the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site, a light indoor/outdoor activity to get the ball rolling.
Yesterday, we hit the Negro League Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum, with a heap of KC BBQ in between.
Today, we visited The Arabia Steamboat Museum. This turned out to be a fascinating gem that I'd recommend to anyone.
I suggest you go to the website and get the whole story there, but here are some "Cliff Notes".
In 1856, during the heyday of steamboat travel on the mighty rivers, the Steamboat Arabia went down while heading upriver on the Missouri (The "Mighty Mo", as they called it--"Too thick to drink and too thin to plow")
Steamboats of that era were an important part of the settling of the west and can be likened to interstate travel of today. The Arabia went down with her 200+ TONS of cargo. An, unfortunately common occurrence of the day, she was never recovered.
Fast forward to the 1980's. A series of events motivated a local ensemble to go after finding it. There had been a couple of previous attempts over the decades with unremarkable results.
Using the modern science of the day, the group pinpointed the site. A half a mile inland under a farmer's field, due to the gradual changes in the river's path over 130 years.
The result was the recovery of significant parts of the steamboat, as well as the LARGEST EVER COLLECTION OF INTACT PRE-CIVIL WAR ARTIFACTS.
The fruits of their adventure now are the subjects of the aforementioned museum.
Of particular interest to this crowd, I have a series of photos showing some pipe and tobacco materials recovered.
These steamboats were the lifeline of many merchants surrounding these rivers at the time, so much of the tonnage was mercantile inventory.
(continued)