How It Works

    The boat had 2 paddle wheels that were each 28 feet tall.  The paddle wheels were at the back part of the boat and one was on each side.  They were powered buy a steam boiler and engine.  The Arabia was a side-wheeler.  They were called that because the paddle wheels were on the side.  The side-wheelers were more maneuverable than sternwheelers.  Then later the sternwheelers became better known than side-wheelers.  Sternwheelers are when the boat has one paddle wheel and it was on the back.  The back of the boat is known as the stern.

     The Arabia boat was a steamer.  That means it was powered by steam and by paddle wheels.  The boiler had three tubes, each was 25 feet long and 3 inches in diameter.  In a boiler, the water from the river is heated.  The thing that heats it is wood burned in the furnace.  The steam from the boiler goes to two cylinders.  The pressure from the cylinders turns the piston.  The piston turns the paddle wheel.  This is all how the engine works.  The steam helped power the paddle wheels and move the boat. 

    Each paddle wheel had its own engine.  The paddle wheel had arms that stuck out all around.  At the ends of the arms there is a paddle, that is the part that pulls through the water, moving the boat.  Connecting all the arms there are braces.  These make it sturdy enough to move.  In the middle there is a center shaft that turns the wheel.  The center shaft is connected to the engine. 

    The Arabia used wood for heat and power.  The boat could burn 32 cords of wood each 24-hour steaming period.  They chopped wood off the banks.  Those trees died and drifted off into the water.  Most of them fell because of erosion. These trees made tree snags. The Arabia sank because of a tree snag.  The tree snags would point up river, and the Arabia made lots of up river trips.  The Arabia traveled as far as Pierre, South Dakota.  So basically the people made the thing that sank them.  The snag that sank the Arabia hit it in the bow.  The bow is the front of the boat.