The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1899-04-18

it is said. is now dredging them with
great profit.
During the Crooked Lake. No,
fever an inmate Of the Confederate
Soldiers Home, near Little Rock, while
on leave of absence, found some
pearls on the Saline River. He APP
piled for an extension of leave, the story
OF his discovery got abroad aud q
iurore was at once created along the
river. At the other end of the State.
on Black River, farmer while fishing
| oTened mussel for bait and found a
pink pearl, for which he received S25
from local jeweler, who sold it In st.
Louis for 5000. The craze broke out
in consequence OF this accidental find
and the Black and Cache Rivers were
soon lined with pearl hunters.
About this time j. NJ. Pass, a we'll
known planter, while fishing in Dor.
cheat Lake, Columbia County, opened
few mussels as nm experiment aud
found four pearls, for one of which he
received 1925. In these ways the
pearl hunting mania spread all over
Missouri and Arkansas. The people
became so absorbed in tho pursuit that
local papers at various points reported
apprehension on the part of the farm
ers as to the prospect of getting in
their crops, all the farm hands being
engaged in pearl hunting.
One deep pink pearl of forty grains,
found by woman, was sold in ST.
Louis for 500, about one fifth of its
present value. A farmers boy found
thirty-one grain pearl in Black River,
which he sold for S35, and it was after
ward sold in st. Louis for $500. One
man found $1,000 worth in Seven Mile
Lake, Arkansas, and another man,
found $500 worth in Little Red River.
Tennessee, the greatest of all the
States for pearl fisheries, seldom gets
the pearl fever very bad. The hunting
there is steady, and many hundreds of
people follow it year i'll and year out
as a regular vocation. Last season,
however, quite vivid and picturesque
accounts were published of hosts of
| pearl hunters coming along the Cllnch
River and its tributaries: some in
tents, some in shanties and some go
ing from shoal to shoal i'll rudoly built
houseboats. They were described as
free and easy class of people, work
ing very hard oil day, subsisting a
| good deal on the fish caught in the
streams and dancing at night TO the
tune of the banjo as they gathered
around camp fires along the banks.
Georgia and Connecticut have re-
Gently had their small pearl fevers,
but in Michigan a company of capital
lists has been organized to completely
dredge st. Joseph River in search of
pearls.
The extravegant methods employed
by pearl hunters generally and espec-
tally during these fevers has nearly
ruined the wonderful natural fisheries,
and the aim of the fish commission
now is to put stop to the destruction
of mussels.
1t is perfectly easy, by the use of a
pair of Tincers such as employed by
the pearl fishers in Germany and
China, to open the shells, peep inside
for pearls, and if none are found drop
the mussel back into the stream.
The Chinese do not only protect
their mu3sels in this way, but when
they open the shells, If there are no
pearls inside they introduce little OBJ
lects OF some foreign substance, around
which pearls can form. The shells
are replaced in the water and in a
few months beautiful pearls will be
formed around these little objects.
The fish commission proposes, il it
can, to work up such sentiment
against tho wholesale destruction Of
mussel shells as is now going on that
each State will pass laws prohibiting
Chicnpn Times. Herald