Treasure in a Cornfield

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life

when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure. 

--Mark Twain

The highlight of our school week took place on Monday when we went to see The Steamboat Arabia with some dear friends in Kansas City. 

This was a wonderful field trip and captured my imagination to the point that I bought Greg Hawley's book detailing the adventure, Treasure in a Cornfield.

The Steamboat Arabia hit a snag which penetrated 10 feet into its hull in the Missouri River in 1856 and sank in about five minutes.  All the people survived but the tons of merchandize intended for general stores upriver were buried in the mud of the Missouri.

Nearly 130 years later, the visionary Hawley family set out on an adventure with a couple of close friends to excavate the steamboat.  They were treasure hunters and had big dreams of making a quick buck.  They didn't realize how much work it would be or how much money it would require.  They didn't realize the toil it would take on their families.  Most of all, they didn't realize they would fall in love with history and this ship and ultimately decide to turn their discovery into a museum rather than a fortune.

The museum was fascinating as it boasts the largest collection of pre-Civil War era artifacts in the world.  Best of all, the museum told the story of the Arabia while telling the adventure of the friends and family who unearthed it.  I think it was presented in the best possible way as it sucked us all into the adventure even to the point of Mr. Bob Hawley himself, the father of the family, making an appearance to tell us some of the interesting experiences.

One of the reasons the museum and the book made such an impact on me was that this experience illustrated what can happen when people are lifelong learners.  The Hawley family worked together in their heating and cooling business before this adventure.  They weren't college-trained historians or museum curators.  They just had a passion and a love for learning so they set out to figure out where the Arabia had sunk, they investigated stories recorded about passengers who were on board, and read lots of books about beads, fabrics, dolls, and anything else they needed to know to understand the historical significance of their discoveries.  I find that inspiring, especially as I sometimes fight worry along this homeschooling journey, wondering what my children will do for a living and how they will learn what they need to know.  My goal is to teach them to be lifelong learners and this story reminded me how valuable that trait is.

I was also impressed with the Hawley family's determination.  When the going got tough, the father frequently reminded his sons "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent" (154).  I can guarantee you I would not have persevered through such an adventure--I would have given up with the first ship they attempted to salvage (and the Arabia was the tenth ship on their list and they started looking for it after three years of unsuccessful attempts with the other ships!).

I was pleasantly surprised by the book.  There are several beautiful pictures of artifacts and the excavation and his writing was much better than I expected as he did a good job smoothly interjecting research and news accounts into his personal experiences.  (Frankly, I am incredibly impressed with this multi-talented family!)  It reads like an adventure story and almost (almost--but not quite, I'm much too tied to security) inspires me to go on a similar treasure hunt.  At the same time, he is painfully honest about the hardships his children, wife, and even spiritual life suffered as a result of his "love affair with a steamboat".

I highly recommend both the book and the museum.  We were all fascinated by this modern day treasure hunt.