The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1883-11-16
fREsH-wATBR PEARL FISHERIES
Home Production OF the Gems--How
They are UtIIIzed---Forced Pro-
duction.

duction.
[Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer.
Later, in conversation with an authority
on pearls, the dealer said: "Fresh-water
pearl fisheries have long been of more or
less importance in this and other countries.
In the west the best localities have been
found in st. Clair county, Illinois, while
Rutherford county, Tennessee, and the Little
Miami, in Ohio, have produced many valu.
able pearls, as well as many other streams
from Texas to along the Ohio. One of the
finest pearls was taken a few yenrs ago from
a stream near Salem, N. ]. 1t was over an
inch across, and was sold in Paris for over
$1,000
"Do European rivers produce pearlsq'
asked the reporter.
'In Scotland said the expert, 'there is an
equally good harvest of them; in fact, the
pearls there are better. They com princi-
pally from the rivers Tay, Isla, Doom and
Others, and the pearls are preferred by some
TO their marine fellows. In a single summer
pearls valued at $4,000 nave been taken
from the Scotch streams, and ! / believe all
these passed through the hands of Uger, the
great Edinburgh jeweler. The shell that
produces them is the common black unis, so
rich in pink and silver tints in the interior.
The pearls are formed by small particles OF
dust or mud lodging in the inside that are
VI = Btdhi q ny LLt animal az
the hinge of the shell is a pearly prominence
that is also sawed off"
How are they utilizedP' asked the re-
porter.
SIN a thousand different ways" was the
reply. 'The majority of these pearls found
in the Ohio valley by the fishermen and their
children find their way to the large manu-
featuring jewellers of New York, where they
are bought at what seems a fair price; but
the toughest piece of pearl, that perhaps the
fisherman received half a cent for, sells for
maybe $50. Howl Why, just this way"
and the speaker took out a pin that was made
of a great piece of pinkish pearl, shaped ex-
actly like an elephant. 81 paid $50 for that"
he said, "and the pearl part was probably
sold for a song; but you see the wholesalers
buy up the pieces and divide them up. Some
look like fishes, others horses heads, birds,
eggs and animals of various kinds, so, with
out much work, they are mounted up in scarf
pins, are odd, become the fashion, and the re-
suit is an enormous sale, and in this way the
old pieces are worked off. The small perfect
pearls are much used in onyx jewelry, set in. ~
Have there been any attempts to force the
growth Of pearlsF' asked the reporter.
"a good many the dealer replied. 'HThe
famous naturalist, Linneus, after observing
the efforts of the oyster to repel invasion,
thought that by boring the shell, in fact,
initiating the parasite, he could force their
growth, and to this end the Swedish govern
ment paid him 81, 800; but it was a complete
failure. The Chinese are, however, success
full They seed their oysters and produce
small pearls, and, by placing figures or i'm
ages in the shell, they become fastened and
covered with a pearly lustre in time. This
trick was used by the Buddhists for a long
time, the instigators pretending that it was a
natural growth. In Japan the oysters are
salted, particularly the fresh-wate mussel-
uno hyna."