Sailing Days

    The path of the steamboat was from St. Louis to Omaha and Sioux City.  It sailed on the Missouri River.  The boat left St. Louis on August 30, 1856.  The Arabia reached modern day Kansas City in 7 days.   It sank near Parkville after 10 days on the river.   In 1855, the Arabia started serving Missouri River towns after serving other river towns.  The average life of a Missouri River boat was about five years.  The Arabia lasted only about three years.  The Steamboat Arabia crashed into a sand bar earlier in its travels.  The tiller bar broke in that accident.  They put a tree as a temporary tiller bar.  When it sank it still had the temporary tree tiller bar.  That’s how the group knew the boat they dug up was the Arabia.