It is not often that I believe someone who says they ate a 150 year old pickle, but seeing is believing! The Arabia Steamboat Museum is definitely its own secret treasure - not well known outside of Kansas City, but by far one of the greatest collections recovered from a shipwreck of all time. The Arabia traveled down the Missouri River in 1856 carrying 200 tons of everyday items to sell in general stores along the frontier. Along the way, this steamboat encountered a 'snag'in its travels. So finally I come across the origin of this euphemism, a 'snag' was an tree trunk under the surface of the river. According to our excellent guide, over 300 steamboats were snagged!
In 1988 the hull of the Arabia was rescued, not by professional excavators, but by a kind of 'everyman' team - including a refrigeration expert, a contractor, and a restaurateur. The treasures are so varied and so interesting, you can barely drag yourself out of this place. Imports from Europe, homemade one of a kind art, perfumes, buttons, fine china, boots, tools, edibles, beads, and everything you need to build a frontier home. This place is a virtual department store of pre-civil war items and artifacts. You can see them laboring on preserving these items bit by bit, to date they have only cleaned and preserved about 1/3 of the cargo. A chat with the preservation team reveals why so much of the cargo is in such pristine condition. The dig site had a constant temp of 40 degrees, freshwater, and a ph of 7.0.
This is a must see for anyone who loves adventures in history! Check out the website.