Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-06-17
WHOLE NUMBER 1895.
FORTUNE IN WHISKY.
VALUABLE CARGO OF A BURIED
RIVER STEAMBOAT.
A Change in the Course of the
Missouri River Leaves the Boat
to Settle in Thirty Feet of Sand.

Ao~ AAA sA~ ~<ouA ~ Vi khS
Missouri River Leaves the Boat
to Settle in Thirty Feet of Sand.
John A. Eby. in Chicago Tribune.
In 184S the steamboat Arabia loaded
at st. Louis with 1S5 barrels of whisky,
large quantity Of queensware and
general merchandise, and started on
its usual trip for Omaha and Sioux
City. L got no further toward its
destination than Parksville, Mo-,
where it struck a snag of some kind,
and its 80 or 40 passengers had all
they could do to scramble to safety
before the steamer sank. The women
and children were saved by the prompt
lowering of the boats, and the men
had to swim ashore as best they could.
Thereafter the Missouri river began
to play tag with it's course, shifting
and turning and forcing new channels,
until the spot where the whisky
laden boat went down was left high
and dry. The lost steamer was first
discovered in 1879, when its smoke
stack and pilots cabin were seen
protruding from the Kansas side.
They remained visible 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
whisky with which it was known to
be filled from deck to keel. 1t was
only when it had sunk out of sight
and the location had been forgotten and
lost, owing to the constant varying of
tho map caused by the rivers freaks,
that we began to realize what we had
missed in neglecting to secure the
treasure when we had it so close to
our hands.
When it was found one day the
steamer had gone from sight the peo-
pie around there woke up and began
to search for it. Soothsayers were
consulted, seventh sons of seventh
sons were urged over a vast ex-
tent of territory, all to no purpose.
1t was ascertained, after q great deal
of inquiry, that survivor OF the wreck
was living in the person of Charles A.
Garside, but as he was only six months
old, and the youngest passenger aboard
at the time of the disaster, he was not
able to help the sanguine searchers
with his recollections of the affair,
and SO they had to 60 back to sooth-
sayers, seventh sons and divining rods,
and at last everyone gave it up in
despair.
Last January 1 began to think there
was a possibility of discovering the
lost steamer in systematic search, a
few practicle men to help me, and a
few of us got together and formed a
company, consisting of myself, Gale
Henson, T. J. Reece and j.. d. Hender.
son. We procured lease of five years
on several hundred acres of land
around the spot where it was thought
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 in many of our soundings
that we almost scraped the rusty sides
OF the steamer with our drill points,
but not actually touch the spot.
Our method was to drive iron rods
down rs or 80 feet, and if we struck
nothing but soft earth to pull them
up and strike again. We had driven
over nearly 16O acres of land, and
were losing heart, when suddenly the
drill struck somewhat hard and
metallic. We pulled it up and tried
again a few feet to the right, with
the same result; then few feet to
the left, metal again. A third driving
showed the same result. Then we knew
we had struck our sunken whisky mine.
The spot where the boat was found
is Is feet below low-water mark and
about 26 to 30 feet in sand. The
steamer is evidently deeper in some
places than in Others, and apparently
lies with its bowsprit lower than its
stern and slightly on its side. 1t is
21O feet long and 60 feet wide. We
have everything in readiness to begin
the work of excavating the treasure,
having obtained air compressors,
caissons, boilers and engines, and
operations will commence at once,
We expect to get 5000 gallons of
whisky and other merchandise worth
in the aggregate at least 100000.
As to the quality of the whisky,
there is no doubt in our minds, but
some have endeavored to show that it
has been spoiled by its long repose un-
darground. 1t will certainly be the
most remarkable liquor ever sampled,
and should sell at at fancy figure for
the mere sake of the money it will
realize if doled out to those who will
wish to taste it as a matter of curios-
tty. But l believe it will be liquor fit
for the gods. 1t was originally splen-
did three-year-old Kentucky whisky.