Steamboat wrecks on the Missouri River

[Quillback]

There will be a free presentation at the Bella Vista Historical Museum on Thursday June 6 starting at 7 PM.  More than 300 steamboats sank in the MO and the presenters (Jim and Vicki Erwin) will discuss the natural, technological and military causes of disasters that plagued MO river steamboats before, during and after the Civil War.

I realize it would be too far for many of you to drive, but the Erwin's have also written several books, if you are interested but don't want to make the trek.

Steamboat Disasters on the Lower Missouri

Notorious Missouri; 200 Years of Historic Crimes

History Lover's Guide to St. Louis

The books are all available on Amazon.

[jdmidwest]

Funny this comes up.  I was at the Johnsonville Civil War site on the TN river last Saturday at New Johnsonville.  They claim to have the biggest collection of shipwrecks.  It was a major stopping point for the Naval traffic and a famous Nathan Bedford Forest battle site.  The town flooded with KY Dam in 1944.  We toured the earthworks and museum.

https://tnstateparks.com/parks/johnsonville

[MOPanfisher]

Wish I was closer that would be a cool presentation.

[ness]

That sounds like a pretty cool presentation. I'd bet there are some pretty interesting stories about those steamboats sinking. 

We've got a cool museum here in KC with artifacts from steamboat Arabia that sank in the Missouri River east of KC in 1856. A few guys figured out where it was and dug it up. The river had changed course and it was buried under a farm field. They've been cleaning and cataloguing stuff since 1988. 

[Quillback]

1 hour ago, ness said:

That sounds like a pretty cool presentation. I'd bet there are some pretty interesting stories about those steamboats sinking. 

We've got a cool museum here in KC with artifacts from steamboat Arabia that sank in the Missouri River east of KC in 1856. A few guys figured out where it was and dug it up. The river had changed course and it was buried under a farm field. They've been cleaning and cataloguing stuff since 1988. 

I saw a TV deal on that steamboat.  It was pretty neat.  The river sure had moved aways.