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I'm dying to know if they actually got the excavation done before the spring planting.

artofcode 11y ago
Sounds like they made it on time: "On February 11, 1989, work ceased at the site, and the pumps were turned off. The hole filled with water overnight. After the pumps were turned off, the site was filled back in so that it would not be a hazard to humans."
ChuckMcM 11y ago
Yes they did, and I can recommend the museum, they are down to the last 60 tons or so of material being restored. One of the reasons they had to finish on time was that as soon as it got reliably above freezing the sandy "walls" of the excavation would no longer hold and the entire pit would subside into a depression. Fortunately they avoided that. Other interesting bits are that because the mud had locked out transpiration of any additional air, once the oxygen was used up it stayed that way, so a number of things which would not have normally survived, did. For example, according to the museum, they have the only examples of rubber boots from that era anywhere in the world. The other really fascinating thing for me was that the steamship was supplying stores along the river, and because of that it had pretty much one of everything you could buy at a store, and as a result you get to see the entire contents of what would have been a hardware store on display. And that gives you a really good idea of what you could build/make with the tools that you could buy, and what tools you would have to make if you wanted to make something that those tools couldn't build. That sort of defines an interesting set for "preppers" if you imagine you are trying to "reboot" the US from scratch :-).
- freshyill 11y ago
  Yeah, this got better and better as it went on and I kept seeing more and more interesting items. I don't know when I'll end up in Kansas City, but this will be on my itinerary when I do get there.

Sounds like they made it on time: "On February 11, 1989, work ceased at the site, and the pumps were turned off. The hole filled with water overnight. After the pumps were turned off, the site was filled back in so that it would not be a hazard to humans."

ChuckMcM 11y ago

Yes they did, and I can recommend the museum, they are down to the last 60 tons or so of material being restored. One of the reasons they had to finish on time was that as soon as it got reliably above freezing the sandy "walls" of the excavation would no longer hold and the entire pit would subside into a depression. Fortunately they avoided that. Other interesting bits are that because the mud had locked out transpiration of any additional air, once the oxygen was used up it stayed that way, so a number of things which would not have normally survived, did. For example, according to the museum, they have the only examples of rubber boots from that era anywhere in the world. The other really fascinating thing for me was that the steamship was supplying stores along the river, and because of that it had pretty much one of everything you could buy at a store, and as a result you get to see the entire contents of what would have been a hardware store on display. And that gives you a really good idea of what you could build/make with the tools that you could buy, and what tools you would have to make if you wanted to make something that those tools couldn't build. That sort of defines an interesting set for "preppers" if you imagine you are trying to "reboot" the US from scratch :-).

freshyill 11y ago
Yeah, this got better and better as it went on and I kept seeing more and more interesting items. I don't know when I'll end up in Kansas City, but this will be on my itinerary when I do get there.