So, we're here in Kansas City and we are visiting
steamboat Arabia. If you come to Kansas City you have to come visit this museum, it's absolutely
incredible. Steamboat Arabia was one of the many river boats going up and down the Missouri River
and it sank in 1856, just outside of Kansas City. And this family excavated this boat and turned
it into a museum. Neither of us are engineers, but even if you're not an engineer you can't
help but being fascinated by all the mechanics of old paddle boats. You can see the wooden
arm that links the steam engine to the paddle. You can see the boilers; you can see the
turbines, and you can imagine all the work it took to build this boat that only lasted for
three years. We're not big sailors but we have been sailing before and it was really cool
to see the old anchor and the old cabestan, as well as the stern of the boat. So two years
before the boat sank, the area just west of Kansas City just opened up for settlers, so there were
thousands of settlers that arrived in this part of the country to settle the area. Just imagine
an Amazon truck that crashes on the highway and everything you would find in that truck. Well,
here is the same thing. That boat sank and everything that settlers needed, being tools,
being sewing equipment, being clothing, shoe, and fabric. Everything was there in that boat,
as well as pickles and bourbon, and two prefab houses. The boat was carrying 200 tons of cargo,
and a lot of it is displayed in the windows. All the tools the settlers needed to build farms and
houses, and chop wood. It makes you realize how the early settlers in the Wild West had to be
pretty self-sufficient and had to know a little bit about everything in order to survive in
these new territories. And the collection goes on and on and on. The tools, I kind of
expected to see. But all the door fixtures, the keys, the locks were kind of a surprise. They
were clearly planning on building and locking a lot of doors in the Wild West. But the family that
excavated the boat was after a specific treasure: Barrels of bourbon that would have been almost
150 years of age. They didn't find the barrels of bourbon, but they still found a lot of bottles,
such as castor oil and some elixir that I'm sure cured every possible disease. But my favorite was
these jars of pickles. These pickles are 150 years old and I'm sure they're still edible. Would you
want to try them? No. I would. I'd love to know what they taste like. The one thing I wouldn't try
are these oysters. It says they're fresh, but I'm sure they kind of past their due date by now.
Besides tools, there are also a lot of kitchen supplies such as pots and plates, and jugs. They
were also able to salvage the old menu from the boat's restaurant. And some of these prices didn't
seem that low, even in today's dollar. The reason why there were so many house items is because
there were a lot of women on these boats. Usually, the men would come first and start building
a house. And once that was done, they would eventually bring their wife and kids. I'm sure
being able to write was pretty important because I don't think they had very good cell phone
coverage back in the days. And dental hygiene was apparently important back then as well. And
the list goes on and on of all kind of objects that you wouldn't necessarily think of. All kinds
of bells and whistles, literally! You say tobacco. I say tobacco. It's the largest pre-Civil
War find of artifacts in the country. And you couldn't talk about the Wild West without
talking about guns. Lots of pre-Civil War guns that gun collectors would be happy to own. All
the jewelry and cosmetics was not something that I expected to see either. But apparently, even
in the 1850s, women loved a little bit of style. And it wasn't just jewelry. It was also shoes.
Hundreds of pairs of shoes. Shoes for women. And shoes for men. How cool is that? Did they have
rubber in 1850? I don't know. This is really an amazing place. It's unlike any other museum I've
been to. The history is so raw. To think that they just found this thing, beneath the soil,
and dug it up, only within the last 20 years, and they're still excavating everything. It's
been of remarkable! It's all self-funded. They don't take any government money. It's all
family-run, basically. And it's basically the family's hobby. The Mississippi Basin covers
almost half of the US, and rivers were the main means of transportation to all these places. The
valley of the Missouri River is huge. And around a mile-wide in some spots. And back in the days,
the river used to flood, and expand and contract all the time. You can see the edges of the valley,
marked by these blue lines. But today, the river is much narrower than the valley, because it was
channelized by the Army Corps of Engineers. And the spot where the boat sank, marked by the yellow
spot, is half a mile from where today's River is, in the middle of someone's field. There are lots
of trees and snags that are floating on the river. And the life expectancy of a steamboat was only
3 to 5 years. So, the 3 years that the Steamboat Arabia lasted was not unusual. Going downstream
was not too bad. But it was going upstream that was dangerous. They have a map in the museum of
all the boats that sank in the Missouri River, just between St Louis and Kansas City. And it
shows how risky the journey was. And certain spots appeared to be particularly deadly.
Steamboat Arabia hit one of the many snags, either floating on the river or hidden below the
surface. And the actual snag is on display at the museum. By going through old newspapers, and
spending a lot of time in libraries, they were able to locate the spot where the boat sank. And
with a metal detector, they were able to locate the boilers. They basically knocked on someone's
door and said: We believe there is a steamboat buried in your backyard! And they began this
massive excavation to retrieve the boat, with lots of water to pump. They started retrieving all of
the boat's treasures. And 20 years later, they're still not finished cleaning up all the cargo that
they found. Several tons are still in freezers, waiting to be cleaned. Then, watching them clean
all these artifacts, and bring them back to life, is actually part of the exhibit. And you can
see the before-and-after of all these objects, that are being cleaned. Luckily, none of the
130 passengers on board died. Only a mule, that they nicknamed Lawrence of Arabia. It's really
an amazing story of how a family persevered, over many years, to find these treasures, deep
below the river, and bring them up for everyone to share and enjoy. The museum is located in the
City Market district, just outside of downtown Kansas City. And on weekends, you can stroll the
farmer's market, which is just outside the museum. And you can buy all kind of fresh produce.
It has a little bit of a European vibe that we didn't expect you find in Kansas City. The
best way to get to the Steamboat Arabia is to take the light rail, that crosses the downtown
area, and stops right in front of the museum. And at the other end of the line, you can also
visit the old Union Station, one of the other landmarks in the downtown Kansas City area.
Another yellow magnet on the map. Right in Kansas City. We hope you guys
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