A routine workday on the Missouri River in June brought what may be a historic surprise to two local scientists.
The employees for the Columbia Environmental Research Center and United States Army Corps of Engineers were using sonar when they made an unexpected discovery on the river bottom.
“That’s a steamboat,” they exclaimed, turning to each other in surprise.
Carrie Elliott, a geologist with the United States Geological Survey, was the crew leader on the boat the day her team discovered a likely steamboat shipwreck in a remote area in the river between Boonville and Rocheport.
On the river for the Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project to map endangered pallid sturgeon habitat, Elliott and her colleague Tyrell Helmuth used the boat’s sidescan sonar to image the bottom of the river.
After spotting what looked like the outline of a ship, they surveyed it from the other side to get details from both upstream and downstream, Elliott said.
The site has not been completely verified, as the team is waiting for its high resolution sonar to be finished with repairs so they can investigate it in more detail, she added. Currently, they can see what appears to be wooden planks, and the object is the proper size of a steamboat and likely dates to around the 1880s or ‘90s, Elliott said.
Because the Missouri River is brown and difficult to see through, earning it the nickname “Big Muddy,” the discovery came as an exciting surprise to Elliott and Helmuth, who then reported it to the Army Corps of Engineers and the State Historic Preservation Office.
“We’ve always joked about finding treasure on the bottom of the river,” Elliott said.
Candace Sall, director of the Museum of Anthropology at MU, said shipwrecks occurring along waterways are controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers who will make any future excavation or preservation decisions.
Sall said this process can involve activities like pumping water away from the site, hiring workers and getting trucks to the site, which can be very costly.
“Whoever’s in charge of that land has to make the decision: is it best to pull (the shipwreck) out of here so we can continue dredging, or is it best to leave it in place?” Sall said. “There’s choices to be made there.”
Wayne Lammers, a local historian from Boonville knowledgeable on steamboats, said it was common for steamboat wrecks to occur in this era, especially at the end of the 19th century when steamboats were the most popular way to travel up and down the river.
“That was kind of in the heyday,” Lammers said. “Some of them were very opulent … it was like a fancy hotel going up the river.”
Lammers also said steamboats had a lifespan of just three to five years. He estimated that hundreds of steamboat wrecks occurred along the Missouri River during this era due to it being much wider with many snags. Occasional explosions if a ship produced too much steam led to other wrecks.
These hazards have been addressed in modern times through narrowing the river, adding dams and using dredging along the bottom to improve navigation.
Elliott said that once she and Helmuth revisit the site next month with their high-resolution sonar and an Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist, there will be more insight into how to approach the site.
Because it is surrounded by a quarter-mile temporary dredging easement, meaning dredging is prohibited in that area, Elliott said there is a chance the site may eventually appear on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sall said she hopes the Army finds a way to preserve the site, because Missouri residents can potentially learn more about how steamboats were used and what supplies were moved along the river.
“I think everyone is really interested in this newly found (shipwreck) and what they could learn from it,” she said. “I’m really excited to learn more about what is out there.”