By Don Corrigan
Mark Twain, an experienced steamboat captain, said rivers are not so glamorous as people often think. In fact, Twain insisted that rivers were treacherous – and not at all to be trusted.
While plying the Mississippi River, Twain saw many boats bottom out, get caught in snags, run aground in swift currents when attempting to round bends. More than 250 steamboats are estimated to have sunk on the Mississippi River during the 19th century.
Like the Mississippi, the Missouri River has had no loyalty to anything other than the whims of nature. It has changed course overnight and left ports high and dry. It has flooded farmland and destroyed an entire harvest.
More than 300 steamboats sank in the Missouri River in the 19th century, between Omaha, Nebraska and St. Louis, Missouri. The Missouri was known as a steamboat graveyard, and most of the boats sank after striking snags.
A steamboat wreck on the Missouri River that has become famous among Midwesterners is the sinking of the Arabia. Two riverboat authors from St. Louis found this out when they penned an account of river wrecks.
Vicki Berger Erwin and James Erwin, discovered the notoriety of the Arabia when researching and writing their 2020 book, “Steamboat Disasters of the Lower Missouri River.”
“The first question anyone asks when they hear we have written a book about steamboat disasters is: ‘Have you heard of the Arabia?’ We have,” said James Erwin.
“It was the Arabia that gave us the idea for the book, along with a set of maps showing the location of all the steamboats that sank on the Missouri River between its mouth and Omaha – hundreds of them.
“The Arabia sank near Parkville north of Kansas City in 1856. The contents of the Arabia are a time capsule of pre-Civil War life along the Missouri River. They once could be viewed at a museum on Grand Avenue in the Kansas City flea market neighborhood.
“The steamboat was on its way to deliver a winter’s worth of goods to the Nebraska frontier when it hit a snag and sank,” said Vicki Erwin. “We can view those items – what a pioneer in the 1850’s needed to live and build a life – in the Arabia Museum.
“They show us small details of what life was like and what was important. The shoes, for example, aren’t made for right foot, left foot. They are interchangeable. And there are shoes galore, along with hats, dishes, hardware to build new home, preserved foods, keys, trade goods for Native American trade and so much more,” Vicki Erwin explained.
Arabia Coming To St. Charles?
It’s now being reported that the remains of the Arabia, and fascinating examples of its doomed cargo, may soon be heading to the St. Louis region from its home museum in Kansas City.
St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer recently disclosed that he and town civic leaders have been working to bring the Arabia treasures to the St. Charles riverfront from Kansas City. They would be part of a historical museum to attract tourists and convention business to St. Charles.
The owners of the sunken steamer in St. Charles have been entertaining offers for the artifacts from other institutions and cities. Borgmeyer said St. Charles is the gateway to the Missouri River and the remains would more appropriately belong on his city’s riverfront.
An excavation project to bring the sunken ship up from its muddy river burial grounds began in the 1980s.The excavation team’s original mission was treasure hunting to make money. By the time team members finished excavating the boat, they were interested in preserving its history.
Vicki Berger Erwin and James Erwin are doing their part to preserve history as well with their book, “Steamboat Disasters of the Lower Missouri River.” The book has an index that lists 56 individual boats that sank in the Missouri River by name. The average life of a Missouri River steamboat was a paltry three years.
(A full account of the Steamboat Arabia is available in Don Corrigan’s 2007 book, “Show Me…Natural Wonders,” available from Reedy Press, Webster Groves Book Shop, or on Amazon)
Environmental Echo 