The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-24
a Ns.ssouR1 wH1sKEY MINE.

J Which the DISCOVERIES Expect to
, Reap Fortune-Curious Freak of a
Big River.
\ Confirmed topers who, in their drunk
en- dreams, delight to wander through
an asylum where whiskey flows as free
ly as water in the streets of Venice
should come to this spot to sleep. We
have something that Jules Verne in his
widest flights of imagination fell short
,of--a whisl1ey mine, concealed In the
heart of a Missouri river steamboat
buried deep, not In water, but in the
earth on a Missouri farm. And such
whiskey! Older than most living men,
iripening and mellowing in the bowels
of the earth for over half a century, it is
likely to be liquor such as no one has
ever tasted yet and to be priceless in it's
worth.
The story Of the settling. of the
steamer in it's present location is al
most as interesting as the Whiskey that
1t has carried concealed beneath the
surface of earth for so many years. In
1S48 the steamboat Arabia loaded at st.
Louis with 1856 barrels of whiskey, a
large quantity Of queensWare and gen.
eral merchandise, and started on her
usual trip for Omaha and Sioux City.
She got no further toward her destina-
ton than Parksville, Mo-, where she
struck snag of some kind, and her
thirty or forty passengers had all they
could do to scramble to safety before
the steamer sank. The women and
children were saved by the prompt low
ering Of the boats, and the men had to
swim ashore as best they could.
\ Thereafter the Missouri river began
\ to play tag with its course, shifting
\ and turning and forcing new channels,
until the spot where the whiskey-laden
boat went down was left high and dry.
& The lost steamer was first discovered
4 in 1879, when it's smokestack and pilot s
3cabin were seen protruding from the
sand half a mile west of the channel
on the Kansas side. They remained Wis
ible for several years, and during all
that time, strange to say no one
thought of digging out the boat for the
sake of the cargo of whiskey with which
1T was known to be filled from main
deck to keel. Tt was only when it had
sunk out of sight and the location had
been forgotten and lost, owing to the
constant varying Of the map caused by
the rivers freaks, that we began to
realize what we had missed in neglect
ing to secure the treasure when we
= had it so close to our hands.
When it was found one day that the
steamer had gone from sight, the peo-
pie around here woke up and began tc
search for it. Soothsayers We're con-
suited, seventh sons of seventh sons
were urged to use their guessing powers
to help the searchers, and divining rods
carried over vast extent of territory
all to no purpose. 1t was ascertained
after a great deal of inquiry, that a
survivor of the wreck was living, in the
person of Charles A. Garside, but as he
was only six years old and the youngest
passenger aboard at the time of the dis
aster, he was not able to help the san
guine searchers with his recollections OF
the affair, and SO they had to go back
TO the soothsayers. seventh sons an6
dfvining rods, and at last every one
gave it up in despair.
Last January I began to think that
there was a possibility of discovering
the lost steamer by systematic search
with a few practical men to help me
and a few Of us got together and form
ed a company, consisting of myself
IL,
derson. We procured a lease Of five
years on several hundred acres of lane
around the spot where it was though
the lost steamer lay, and began pros
pecting in earnest We continued the
search long and patiently, and it is
now shown that we were so near to the
treasure trove in many of our sounding'
that we almost scraped the rusty side!
l,,,11 ;1,te.
and missed actually touching the spot
Our method was to drive iron rods
down twenty-five to thirty feet, and i
they struck nothing but soft earth t.
pull them up and strike again. W.
had driven over nearly one hundred ant
Sky acres of land, and were fast los
ing heart, when suddenly the drill
struck something hard and metallic
We pulled it up and tried again a. few
feet to the right, with the same result
then, a few feet to the left, metal again
\ Ia third driving showed the same result
Then we knew we had struck our sunk
en- whiskey mine.
The spot where the boat was found il
fifteen feet below the lowwater mark
and about twenty-six- to thirty fee
deep in sand. The steamer Is evidently
deeper in some places than in others
and apparently lies with it's bow lowe
than it's stern and slightly on its side
1T is 210 feet long and go feet wide. W.
have everything in READINGS to begil
The work of excavating the treasure
having obtained air compressors, Gals
sons, boilers and engines, and opera
tions will commence at once. We ex
pect to get five thousand gallons o
whiskey, and other merchandise, worth
in the aggregate, at least 100000.
AS to the quality of the whiskey Their
is no doubt in our minds, but some hav
endeavored to show that it has beel
spoiled by it's long repose under ground
1T will certainly be the most remarka
BILE liquor ever sampled, and should sci
at fancy figure for the mere sake o
the money it will realize if doled out t.
those who will wish to taste it as
matter of curiosity. But believe it will
be liquor fit for the gods IT wa
originally splendid three year-old Ken
lucky whiskey. That the bill of lad
ing, which we have looked up, shows
Having been underground for forty
nine years, it will now be fifty-tw
wears old Whiskey of that age, lef
to itself, will have undergone consid
cradle change.
What the change is we are all curiou
to know. Liquor grows more valuab
as it grows older because the fierines
wears off and the whiskey becomes mel
low Pint of coIIrSe If doesn't rao1,i,-