The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-08-27
The Pearl Fisheries Of Ohio.

| ADOuI twenty years ago pedIlS WcAe
discovered in the Little Miami river,
Warren county, Ohio, and since then
the search for them has been one of tie
recognized industries of the region. The
Cincinnati Commercial says that TIC
mussels which furnish the pearls are
found in beds anywhere from the banks
to the middle of the river, and are gen.
orally discovered by the feet of the pearl
fisher. About fifty men and boys are
engaged in this work. They wade into
the river from depths reaching from the
knees to the neck.
With their feet they feel the shells, and
raise them by their toes to height
where the hands can reach them with
out STOPPING so as to bring the head un-
der water. Miniature canoes, tied to the
shore and floating out. are used to de-
posit the shells. When bushel or
more have been collected the fisher goes
to the shore. and sitting down on the
grass, in some cool shade, he opens the
shells with large knife.
The pearls are found between slight
membrane that lines the shell and the
shell itself-a translucent web of tex
ture between a cobweb and film Of
mica. Occasionally the pearl is embed
ded in the shell SC firmly that only an
expert lapidary could safely detach it.
This is rare. The number of pearls
found in a single shell at the Miami
fisheries rarely exceeds three, and on an
average only one shell out of one hun
dred and fifty las any pearls at all. 1t
is common experience to bring to
shore bushels of shells with never a pearl.
One may work for days with no .eward !;
again, he may make from five to one
hundred dollars in single day. The
uncertainty is probably half the fascina-
tion of the work to the peculiar class of
men and boys who prosecute it.
About year ago wealthy banker of
Waynesville, Mr.. j. H. Harris, began
to purchase the pearls, which had pre-
viOusly been bought by New York and
European dealers chiefly, and has since
made large and fine collection. Men
ton is made of one fine specimen, the
Everhart pearl, found in the Miami and
sold to Messrs. Tiffany & Co.. in New
York, for 5000. The Tiffanys sold it to
party in France for $1,000, bought it
back for Sl,500, and made final sale of
it for $4,000.
The season of the pearl fisheries Of the
Little Miami lasts only from June till
October, as it is necessarily dependent
upon the warmth of the water. The
fisher works about six or seven hours
per day, seldom remaining longer tnan
two hours, consecutively, in the water.
1t would seem as if the work would be
very unhealthy, leading to malaria and
all its attendant train Of low fevers and
vital exhaustion, but it was not spoken
of particularly in that way.
There are pearls found in other parts
Of Ohio, but are of the nilk-white,
owing to the lack of the calcareous de-
posit that abounds in Warren county.
The pearls of the Little Miami region are
of a soft, sky-blue, pink, golden Urged,
and iron color. with specimens that show
pure type of each, and others THAI are
blendings of ali. The colors, Of course.
are not solid. but exquisite tints and
shades, changing with the angle OF re-
fracted light. The size ranges from that
of q mustard seed to the size Of bullet.
Many of the old Indian mound, that
have been opened contair';:d pearls,
showing how ancient their existence is.
These pearls in the mounds lie as If they
had been strung, but they crumble at a
touch.
Recently pearl of the most extraor-
dinary beauty and brilliancy vas acci-
dentally found on the Waynes7ille side
of the river by Morton l.. Roberts, a lit
tic lad of eleven years, the son of Mr.. j.
A. G. Roberts. of the Adams Express
Company, of Cincinnati. Morton was
visiting some relatives there, and went
down to get mussel shells to border a
flower bed for his aunt. There was a
quantity of these that had been looked
over by fishers and thrown aside, and it
was in one Of these that the observing
eye of the little boy detected the gem
that promises to be a very valuable one.
1t is said to be the largest pearl ever
taken from this region, and perfect in its
symmetry. 1t has the brilliancy of the
purest and most intense tints Of the
opal. 1t seems to rest in an aureole of
colors, so delicate, yet so glowing, as to
suggest to one dream of color. The
pearl will undoubtedly prove one of very
rare value. Its weight is six carats.