The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-12
PEARL FISHING IN TENNEssEE.
Some Valuable Gems Found There
as I'm Arkansas.
From the New York Post.

- - ~~NAAHs~Ss
From the New York Post.
Nashville, Sept. S.-The recent press re-
ports of pearl discoveries in the bayous of
Arkansas have not surprised the people of
Middle Tennessee as much as they have
the residents of more remote localities.
The fact that pearls of fine quality may
be found in mussel shells has been known
in this section for nearly twenty years,
and the work of searching for them has
been prosecuted with varying persistency
and profit for so long a time that the fact
had but general interest.
The first valuable finds were made in
Stones river, near Murfreesboro. The man
who found the first pearl came across it
accidentally while playfully cracking the
shells of mu@sels. A jeweller sent II to
an expert In New York, who returned it
with the statement that 1t was worth $50.
The news spread rapidly and for a while
fishing was abandoned for the more al
Turing sport Of searching for pearls. The
frat professed pearl-hunters thought they
had struck it richer than they did. They
had all seen the comparatively small gem
which brought 80, and the first party
that returned with twenty or thirty pearls
nearly all of them larger than the first
one, thought they saw fortune smiling on
them. They sent their prizes in few days
valued at from twenty-five cents to two
dollars apiece. They were all hat or out
of shape in some way, and these hunters
did not know that shape made a difference
in the value of a pearl. They had based
their hopes entirely on size.
This blow to the ardor of the pearl-hun-
ters caused many who had haunted the
river banks to return to their more prosaic
but much more certain avocations, and the
pearl business was given up almost entire
ly to boys and negroes who had nothing
else to occupy their time Occasionally
one of them would find pearl that would
bring IS, $40, or even $40 at the jeweler S,
but the older heads looked on their chanc-
es as about equal to those of the child
who looks for fortune in the tracks of a
mule in the mud. This first search for
pearls was confined entirely to Stones
river, which is a tributary of the Cum
berland, but when a party of fishermen
made much richer finds along the banks
of Caney Fork, some forty miles further
up the Cumberland, the interest was more
or less renewed The finds of this party
netted several thousand dollars One man
brought in gems which sold for $500 as
the result of about a weeks work.
BY this time fishermen and others who
were interested in the pearl discoveries had
learned the difference between a worthless
stone and one that would probably bring a
with much more satisfaction and profit.
Their explorations also demonstrated the
fact that the mussels in the Calf Killer
Duck river Elk river, Cumberland river
and all other streams in this section were
as likely to bear pearls as those Of Stones
river. The searchers have confined their
operations largely to the smaller streams
however, because of the smaller difficulty
In procuring the bivalves. They have al
so kept their successes largely to them
selves, for fear of causing a rush Of COM
petitors.
For ten years the summer fishing parties
which annually visit these streams have
devoted no small part of their time to
pearl-fishing, and 1t has been the custom
of bands of farmers In many of the coun-
ties contiguous to these streams TO go In
camp on their banks In the dull season and
dredge the bottoms systematically. In
nearly every instance their labors have
been well rewarded, though the finds were
not rich enough 10 be caifed bonanza.
To do the work effectually and quickly
enough to make It pay the hunter must
spend much of his time in the water, and
for that reason operations are strictly linn
tied to the summer seasons. Some men
who have made this pearl-huntlng an an
nual business have become experts. A
favorite method of the fellow who is work
ing alone Is to push a small boat out into
water that Is not more than seven feet
deep, and, while holding with one hand
the end of the boat. lift the mussels with
mis- feet to his other hand. II is surpris-
ing to see how rapidly one man who has
had practice can fill a boat in this way
When the boat is fairly well loaded, he
pushes IL back to the bank and begins to
crack the mussel shells with a stone and
knife, very much as fsh-dealers open
oysters.
Those who have had experience IN pearl
finding in this state do not give much Gre
dence to the reports Of fabulous finds in
Arkansas. Pearls are continually being
found in paying quantities in Tennessee,
they argue, and they may be so found in
Arkansas but the returns for the work
are not much more satisfactory than in
any other line of endeavor, considered as
a steady employment The Arkansas dis
covories are doubtless attracting the large
share of public attention on account OF
the current interest in the Klondike gold
discoveries. This Klondike business has
not only produced a dozen stories Of gold
deposits in Tennessee, but II has renewed
the interest in the search for pearls. Just
now the most active operations are being
conducted In Duck river at Columbia,
Tenn. Twenty and $50 pearls have been
found with exciting frequency, and
enough men are regularly engaged in the
work TO justify the use Of the term pearl
industry.