Arizona silver belt., 1896-12-24
Arizona Silver Belt
MONEY IN PEARLS.
Some Valuable Gems Found in the Streams of Kentucky.
0uite an Extensive Business Done by the Pearl Hunters-The Late Dry Sea- son Productive of Great
 Success.

The continued dry weather of the past summer and fall, which has caused many of the creeks and rivers in Ken lucky to go nearly dry, has been very favorable to the pearl hunters in the Cumberland and other rivers, and quite a number of fine specimens have been found, especially in the Cumberland river, which seems to be the most pro ductive of pearl-bearing musseis. One of the well-known pearl hunters told the writer that he had found several pearls during the past summer that were worth SIS to sl00 each, and large lot of smaller and cheaper ones.
 The leading pearl hunters, who pros- pect up and down the Cumberland, send their pearls to Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, Tiffany getting the best of them. Several years ago an old man picked up mussel from sandbar in the Cumberland river near Point Burn side, a station on the Cincinnati South ern railroad, and upon opening the oyster-like bivalve found magnificent pearl of fine size and color. A pearl hunter who rap across the old man shortly afterward, and to whom he showed the gem, at once recognized the value of it, and bought it for trifiing sum, afterward selling it for $500. Such finds as this, however, are few and far between.
 The pearl hunters work whenever the water is not too cold for them to wade in it. They find the mussels lying on the sandbars, pick them up, and prying them open, .feel' for the pearl, and if there is no pearl drop the mussel back into its place in the river. The pearl is found clingiDg to the wall of the mus sells shell, and close to the mouth of it., The large majority of the pearls, as a matter of course, are oddly shaped and irregular in form, and for that reason are worthless. Now and then pearls of beautiful color are found, but useless because of lack of desirable form. The round pearls, usually found and put upon the market by these wander ing pearl hunters, vary in size from the dimensions of the head of a pin to the size of a pea, and bring from 50 cents to $50 apiece. Few of them res oh the $50 mark, however.
 The pearl hunter who searches the Kentucky streams is usually a shift less, easy-going fellow, who is at home most any place, and makes his bed upon the banks of the stream as readily as he would in the most elaborately furnished mansion. When he has good luck on trip he waits until all of his money is gone before he strikes ont upon another journey. Now and then more businessiike operator is found, who will carry camping outfit, good tent, etc, and live in true sportsman like style while at work.
 The pearl hunters say that one req son why the streams of Kentucky are moro productive of pearls than the rivers in some other states is because of the limestone bedrock, which seems more adapted to the purposes of the pearl-bearing mussels than the forma- tions underlying many streams in other sections of the country. Pearl musscls are, therefore, found in nearly every waterway in the blue grass state, but for some reason only compara- lively small number of men arc en- gagged in the hunting of them, which frequently pays q great deal better than most an, other form of common labor The excitement and anticipa- tion attendant upon the industry, too, has something of the effect of the fas- cination of the diamond fields, for the next one" is always expected to be $500 beauty. One of the most valuable pearls ever found in the United States, the pearl hunters say, came from the Miami river, in Ohio.-St. Louis Globe Democrat.