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October 12, 2022 3:00 am
On this episode of Our American Stories, this story itself is the stuff of legends...a sunken steamboat, buried treasure, and the drive of a group of AC repairmen to become "rich beyond rich" even if it meant going into over a million dollars worth of debt. Matt Hawley tells the story of his family's quest to dig up the steamboat Arabia from the middle of a corn field.
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It's dramas you may know me from the recap on LA TB now got my own podcast life as a gringo, to every Tuesday and Thursday will be talking real and unapologetic about all things light Latin culture and everything in between. From someone who's never quite been listening to life as a gringo on the iHeartRadio app or web, you get podcast brought you by State Farm like a good neighbor, State Farm is there Geico asks how would you love a chance to save some money on insurance. Of course he would. And when it comes to great rates on insurance Geico can help like with insurance for your car, truck, motorcycle, boat and RV even help with homeowners or renters coverage plus at an easy to use mobile app available 24 hour roadside assistance and more. And Geico is an easy choice switch today and see all the ways you can save it's easy. Simply go to Geico.com or contact your local agent today this October. XFINITY flex is a monster lineup of TV shows and movies with our Halloween collection make some magic with family favorites like hocus-pocus and hocus-pocus to jumping to scare us with Halloween ends and keep breathing or add left ear screens with loss of spooky's and my best friend's exorcism and dance like you're possessed with Halloween radio from iHeartRadio stream the best spooky entertainment with XFINITY flex save want to watch in your XFINITY voice remote. This is where you have even this is our American stories show where Americans the store and the American people search for the American stories podcast go to the iHeartRadio Apple punches or wherever you are podcast next to story about a modern-day treasure hunt that involves risk and interesting place you are filled told the story of hunt is not holy steamboat Arabia museum Kansas City, Missouri where he met with or not.
There's not a lot of people looking for steamboats.
It takes a certain blend of crazy to go after steamboats in the hallways have just the right blend like that. David he my uncle Greg and my grandfather Bob.
They worked in HVAC so they fixed air-conditioners refrigerators AC units for people in the Kansas City Metro area just a blue-collar family and one day my dad took a service call to fix an air conditioner. He met a unique guy, you know, we would probably look at him and say is kind of a conspiracy theorist.
My dad walked to the sky's house and asked the room and saw pictures of foot on the wall. UFOs, on the other end tables with maps just everywhere to scribblings, notes, countries all over the place.
My daddy wasn't wasn't really interested in Bigfoot or the UFOs but is looking at these maps all over the tables and just so you know what are all these little dots that you vindicated and the guy says these are all steamboats that have sunk in the Missouri River and if someone goes down if they find a boat and they sell everything they find they will be rich beyond rich. My dad thought that was a pretty cool idea that sounded more fun than fixing another furnace or air conditioner, so my dad fixed the guys unit gets in his truck and calls at my grandpa and my uncle on there will CB radios and says guys meet me at Jerry's. I got a story for you.
So they all go to a fast food restaurant named hi boy, he was owned by a guy named Jerry Mackey.
Now Jerry Mackey and my grandfather were good friends. They weren't to fly helicopters together they went on no treasure hunts together in their own rights.
In Colorado they go through old abandoned Goldmine so everyone needs at hi boy in Jerry comes out from the kitchen and sits down in the booth with the guys and my dad kinda recounts the story of his morning and they all were pretty excited about that.
They said Dave if you go find a boat if you find one that you like will go dig it so my dad researched for years were the story of steamboats in the Missouri River. There is roughly 400 something steamboats now back in the heyday of steamboats. The Missouri River was notoriously wide and shallow which made it very easy for the river to shift its course. One where the other of the 400 boats that went down 75% went down because the tree snags so boats would hit these submerged trees and they would sink very quickly and around the turn-of-the-century the Army Corps of Engineers realize that we have a problem. Like all these boats are still sinking in the river is still pretty untamed, so they started dredging the river getting rid of snags and they made the river consistently narrow, more narrow and deeper which took the Missouri River, which is very wide and made it considerably more narrow than what we see today.
Now all the steamboats are no longer in the river itself are all in farm fields. We can't just start walking in farm fields you need to know what you're looking for. So my dad started trying to figure out where these boats are came across the story of the Arabia and the story of the Arabia was general goods in the 1850s sank just a few miles outside of Kansas City went down on September 5, 1856 and it was the perfect steamboat to go for sank quickly quickly enough that all the cargo was taken down with the boat but all hundred and 50 passengers were able to get off the boat safely.
We don't have to deal with the you know people who didn't survive.
So the Arabia perfect, so we figured out who owned the land. The landowner was an old Wyandotte County judge judge Norman sorter and so my dad these guys go knock on the judge's door and they say judge's order were not crazy but we think there's a steamboat buried in your Cornfield and the judge, looks out for a second.
He says all you're talking about the Arabia Khmer will show you where it is. The judge knew all about the boat. His great-grandfather had purchased the land from the Wyandotte Indians and they had told him that a great white ship is buried under your land and the Arabia was kind of famous because when it sank in 1856. It was reportedly carrying 400 barrels of Kentucky's finest bourbon and when that boat sank and everyone was writing stories about the Arabia in the whiskey barrels. What happened to him.
Are they still on the boat. Who's going to get him and there were several attempts to get the Arabia's whiskey. So when we showed up. You know the judge here's like I now another group you guys Khmer. He took is in the field pretty much showed a success somewhere right about here and so my dad walked the field with a device called a proton magnetometer. We called a fancy metal detector, but he was able to use this magnetometer to pick up the large iron boilers on board the Arabia so we are able to pinpoint its location in about two and half hours of actually walking.
The fields are pretty quick. We talk to the judge then we structure the deal and he said if y'all want to waste your time and your money. You go right ahead.
But you will never get down to that boat. We know where it is. The problem is 10 feet below surface.
There's an aquifer basically an underground river running through this field and everyone is trying to get to this boat. They fit the water and they've not been able to dewater the field enough to get down to the boat which is 45 feet beneath the surface. So we said, well we like to give it a shot. So he said you guys go right ahead and you're listening to Matt Hawley tell the story of these crazy men trying to dig up the steamboat Arabia and took crazy men who endeavor to do that is you just heard and why when we come back. What happens next. They did get up don't think the story of steamboat Arabia with Matt Hawley continues here on our American stories view of the great American stories we tell them love America like we do for asking you to become a part of the all American stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country. Please make a donation monthly gift of $17.76 is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters to allow American stories.com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming to our American stories.com.
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So next time you order your morning coffee. Treat someone else and make their day to tell them you grateful for them back or simply to say thanks for the moment. Starbucks at and we continue with our American stories and we returned to Matt Hawley on the story of the steamboat Arabia when we last left off Matt's dad and a group of fellow blue-collar workers decided they wanted to dig up buried treasure buried treasure in the form of a sunken steamboat Colby Arabia. By the way, sunken farm, let's continue with the story. The word got out that these guys were want to dig up steamboat here, Missouri and our fifth partner came along guy named Dave Luttrell he owned construction company here in the area and Dave Luttrell got a hold of us. He called Jerry on the phone one day and said you know I read about tell story in the newspaper and I own a construction company but I've always wondered do one crazy thing before I die. And he said I heard about you guys and I think that's exactly what I want to I wanted to give steamboat with you guys that you cannot come on board and Jerry was in. I was a Sunday. Jerry was talking on the phone as I actually am on my way out the door to a Chiefs game. Can I call you later after the game. We'll talk then Dave said what section you said it turns out Dave and Jerry both season-ticket holders based on the same section there like three rows away from each other so Dave and Jerry got together.
The Chiefs game on Sunday afternoon and that's when Dave Luttrell became the fifth partner. So the guys started in the winter of 1988 together, play the game battleship my family. They played battleship in the cornfield for about three days and what they would do they drill down a tap on the boat.
That hole would get an orange surveyor flag.
They would move over a few feet. Repeat the process. If you missed you get a white flag. So after few days of doing it. You've got enough orange flag surrounding the boat to make a chalk outline to determine not only where the hotspot is, but how the boat is laying in the field itself. So, sure enough 10 feet down we had river water and so at that point we knew, you can't just start digging.
You have to get rid of the water.
So we set up a series of wells we bought 12 in each well could pump out a thousand gallons of water a minute and we thought surely that'll be enough to get you on the water table down will get to the boat. No problem.
It ended up taking 20 to get down to the boat itself. Each pumping a thousand gallons of water every 60 seconds. So for the duration of a foreign 1/2 month dig. We are pumping 20,000 gallons every 60 seconds and I was enough to get you down to the main deck of the Arabia and once we got into the dig. You know these guys are walking around sometimes in a waist high water and they said if one pump went down there all diesel fuel generated.
They said of one of those things ran out of fuel and just shut off. You could feel the water start to rise back up on your chest so we were truly at that tipping point, but only pump down the water. We got down into the boat and we start pulling up its cargo being in 1850s, what we call general store collection. A lot of these things are just the everyday things that people on the frontier needed general supplies food construction building materials things to put in the homes and these boats are kinda like, you know, UPS and FedEx trucks today know they carry some nice things but not like probably a gold chest of coins and you know rubies and diamonds. We were expecting to find things like that. We are looking for everyday American history and the first barrel of things we found we opened up the top and underneath were these beautiful China dishes dishes from England. So during the dig.
These five guys are all married and you know all the wives are pretty good sports.
Let the boys go out and dig up steamboat. You know, again blue-collar guys through and through. So the idea of digging up the steamboat is kind of different.
So all the wives were little nervous when you're spending thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars to get down to maybe find something you know is a really something on board this but we don't know. But when we got down there and open up this first barrel and found these dishes right off the bat. That's when all the moms and wives are like you know what boys this is a good idea. You keep digging.
I think this is going to be an okay thing so that set off a 4 1/2 month dig that had pulled up things that truly can be found anywhere else in the world. Nature had preserve the collections so remarkably well. We found food on board that was still edible again. Jerry is a restaurant owner and these guys are notorious for eating just about anything. Jerry tried pickles, butter, cheese, salt pork, where she found bottles of champagne still had carbonation inside him. Not surprisingly, for the guys willing to try that one. So again, just an incredibly well-preserved collection and just a story of American history that you can't find anywhere else. Now in your get together with your buddies and you saying you know it's Lisko gauntlets go on this adventure together. No course the conversation becomes how we can pay for this. You know what is the cost to dig up steamboat. No one's really done it before.
So what we think and they're all again blue-collar guys they work with their hands. They know they have tools and Dave Luttrell owns a construction company so this guy owns bulldozers overthinking of between all of us. If we each chip in 10,000 apiece 50,000 total as can be. All the money in the world 50,000 lasted a week and 1/2 of the dig so we just had to start borrowing from the bank of the dig ended up costing about $1 million, all borrowed at that point and then of course were thinking well once we got on the collection. We realize we can't sell these things, the story you know the idea originally of selling it, making a bunch of money that was the driving force the beginning, but we found those dishes and we got into the collection. We are finding all these just incredible stories. We said you can't sell something like this. You gotta keep the story together, but we just borrowed $1 million to do it.
So how we gonna recoup our money from this in a museum which is the logical choice. So we had to go to the bank and borrow another sum of money. About half a million to build the museum that we currently reside. So we opened the doors three years to the day that we started the excavation. November 13, 1988 we started the dig we open the doors here at museum November 13, 1991 about 1.5 million in debt but we are proud to say we've paid back all loans and with Museum open 100% on ticket sales brought up to hundred tons of lost cargo and we look at all this stuff and these guys are Sandy now were fast cleaners in else it will get there everything will have a clean preserved on display won't take more than eight or nine years to do. We have been now cleaning the Arabia collection for about 33 years and at this point I think I heard a little while ago we have somewhere. I think between 40 and 50 tons still to go and at this rate we think that'll take probably another 10 maybe 12 years of nonstop preservation. The question of what happened to the whiskey or where is the whiskey I get that every single day and I was, laugh, folks, I say, sad story never found the whiskey we believe all those barrels had been stored on the main deck of the boat. So when it started to sink the river wiped them all downstream now. I hope my genuine hope is some good old boy farmer which is downstream fission that night kind of relaxing doing his thing in someone barrel phlebitis like that's interesting looks up, sees 400 more coming down right behind and he had one heck of a party that's that's what I hope and a special thanks to Catrina Hein and to Monty Montgomery for gathering that story and producing it in a special thanks to Matt Foley who is a self-described and glorified Museum Georgia Museum is the steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City Missouri.
If you're ever in that neck of the woods drop by this the kind of Americana that we love to tell stories about we've got a story about the toaster Museum salt-and-pepper shaker Museum neon light Museum and of course our lawnmower racing show are tank collector. We have a God who collected I'm talking text like real military. My goodness, what a story this is is Matthew mentioned it takes a lot of crazy want to collect steamboat and my goodness the story of how the Missouri River will lead to a lot of sinking. Steamboat is fascinating in and of itself 400 sunken steamboats and then the Army Corps of Engineers went to work.
Never that River defendant, Lexi, and although sunken steamboats something informed in my goodness, one and 1/2 million dollars later this little adventure.
Well it turned into this museum and how the wives managed to date on board and how these guys kept their marriages intact.
Maybe that's another story.
The story of the steamboat Arabia Museum dear on our American story like bottomless margaritas going snorkeling whenever I want started. I can drink everything Little beach vacation in Mexico and the Caribbean dramas you may know me from the recap on LA TB abdominal podcast life as a going to come at you every Tuesday and Thursday will be talking real and unapologetic about all things light and culture and everything in between. From someone who's never quite been listening to life as a gringo on the iHeartRadio app or web, you get podcast brought to you by State Farm like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. After the last two years and being at home a lot.
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