A treasure that would do any red blooded American proud

[Crow]

Here is a treasure yarn for ya...


How about a whole steamboat load of whiskey that was on a steamboat called "Twilight City" that was shipping Whiskey up the Missouri river and hit a snag and sunk with its load of bourbon in 1853. The shipment was on the way to miners in the Rockies where they would of gotten great prices for their Bourbon. The crew at the time was unable to salvage the wreck and a flood changed the course of the river burying the steamship in mud and debris.



If by miracle any of bourbon has survived as they were in Oak casks they would of aged nicely today and be worth a mint.



Imagine the marketing bonanza if it has survived?

Crow

 

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[doc-d]

Crow, now you are in training and not drinking alcohol, your thoughts are keeping focused on treasures of alcohol……..better spend more time with the beautiful and shapely personal trainer to keep your focus on the task at hand.

 

[banana skin slippers]

Sounds like "Whisky Galore" all over again. Yet no one seems to have retrieved any in this one.

 

[Crow]

If the barrels have survived the test of time. Which perhaps in 1900 there was chance? But A hundred years after that?

Can Oak barrels remain water tight 160 odd years at the bottom of a river?

Crow

 

[Culinary Caveman]

I'd be interested in finding out. Wood is porous but if the barrels are buried deep enough to not be effected by weather?

 

[doc-d]

If the wood was buried in something where air (oxygen) would not penetrate, there may be a chance it was preserved.

And our Crow, in training mode, deprived of alcohol, has his feathered thoughts upon all things alcohol...

 

[Culinary Caveman]

After 160 years that boat could be over a mile from the current river channel and under several feet of overburden. One would have to have some eye witness accounts of the sinking I'd think to even get in the general area of the sinking. Failing that you'd need to find reports of a farmer or hunter, etc. that has unearthed boat pieces since that time. Also, St. Joseph to Omaha is 130+ miles of river. So roughly a search area of 260 sq.mi.

 

[uglymailman]

Here is a story on the steamboat Arabia. I don't know if they found kegs of spirits but they did find barrels packed with dishes and straw. They found things "canned" in glassware with the contents still intact so who knows. Good luck.

TREASURES OF THE STEAMBOAT ARABIA

 

[Crow]

Here is a story on the steamboat Arabia. I don't know if they found kegs of spirits but they did find barrels packed with dishes and straw. They found things "canned" in glassware with the contents still intact so who knows. Good luck.

TREASURES OF THE STEAMBOAT ARABIA

Hello uglymailman thanks for the link.


CC There is a good lesson from this treasure story. Never rely on just a single source. Newspapers are good for hunting stories and leads. But they are only as accurate as the reporters or printer. Another even when family retell a story over time many details are added or lost.

Researching a little deeper into the story.

I found the Wood brige steamship listing all the known steamships that was built. There was no steamship by the name of twilight city? There was 2 vessels called Twilight one in 1857 and another in 1862. There was vessel called the Twin city that was built in 1852. Could this alleged steamboat shipwreck actually be Twin city?

Like with all treasure legends we need to find the facts to support or disprove the story.

Hello Doc-d I may be dry but I can really take it or leave it. right now it does not hurt the old liver to go on a holiday

Crow

 

[Red James Cash]

I heard to much blood in your alcohol stream could be hazardous to your health

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Hi James, with alky being mentioned i wondered when you would would show up

 

[Crow]

Hello James

My doctor said after I had a blood test that he had bad news to tell me ....That there blood in my alcohol.

Crow

 

[Culinary Caveman]

Crow, I read about the Twilight that sank in the 1860's earlier. It's been salvaged and there's a museum for it. In the article it claims theres a steamboat wreck for every 7 miles of river between St. Joseph and Ft. Benton. That's a whopping number of wrecks. Will do some digging on the Twin Cities, Twin City.

 

[Crow]

CC I would be interested to hear if ya find some thing. Right now at present its one of those event either where identity of vessel was mixed up or the story was just a myth. Fascinating all the same.

Crow

 

[Culinary Caveman]

This story is similar to that of the North Alabama sunk at the mouth of the Vermilion river in 1870.

NY Tribune 7-12-1906
The North Alabama rose to the surface yesterday and crowds of spectators line the banks. The boat carried flour and whisky for the Yellowstone district. The 50 barrels of 36 year old whisky have attracted lovers of good liquor and already a scramble to find the prize has begun. As yet it has not been reached owing to the quantities of mud accumulated over the lower decks.

 

[Crow]

CC well done with the research. It is hard to determine if this 1906 newspaper story is a more accurate version of the 1903? Or two seperate story. Some stories by the time it gets in hands of reporters it has verbally changed in the retelling. Sadly that is why we need to verify independently the statements of such newspapers.

Well done and well done with the other discovery.

Crow

 

[doc-d]

And how is the new, fit, and sober black bird doing?

 

[Culinary Caveman]

Thanks Crow. I'm saddened to report that it seems both the North Alabama and the Twilight have been found and the Twilight has been salvaged.

 

[Crow]

Hello Doc-d

Not so fit as I should be. If I was a car I'd be in wrecking yard by now.

CC Some good investigative work. There has been a positive about this yarn and that is information available concluded the less likelihood of the 1903 newspaper story. There is good for this treasure yarn and that is to never to trust newspapers to their entirety.

Crow

 

[Culinary Caveman]

Crow, Truer words have not been spoken. It brings to mind the old saying, " believe none of what you hear and half of what you see."

I've done a bit of digging the last couple of days and may have a good one for you.

The St. Mary a sidewheel mountain steamer loaded with supplies and trade goods bound for Ft. Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Sunk at Haney's landing at the mouth of the Big Tarkio below Nebraska City September 4, 1858. Joseph LaBarge, master.
Here's the screwy part. A biography of LaBarge lastly places him on the St. Mary in 1856. After which there is a lull in his piloting career until he appears on the river in a new boat in 1859. Simple omission or embarrassment? I don't know.
I've found no record of recovery or attempted salvage of this vessel.

Thoughts?