Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1900-08-09
FISHERS OF TURTLE.
The Tennessee the Greatest Fresh Water
Turtle Stream in the World.

The Tennessee River is the greatest
fresh water turtle stream in the world,
and the Cumberland is famous for it's
prolific turtle field. The Tennessee has
it's source in the mountains and cuts
it's way through a rocky country, rem
dering it perfectly clear at normal
depth. The turtle Of the clear streams,
though smaller, are more valuable in
the markets than the huge monsters
taken from the muddy Mississippi.
There are huge turtle pens along the
Tennessee River, where hundreds of
them are kept securely after being cap
tured Some turtles have been taken
from the Tennessee and Mississippi
rivers which the natives swear would
weigh from 400 to 900 pounds. These
enormous catches are rare, and the
money is made by selling the smaller
ones Washington and New York fur
nish the best markets, and many "a
diamond backed Chesapeake terrapin''
of the famous caterers really came
from Tennessee.
The small turtles are captured for
food and the larger ones for their
shells, of which many domestic arti-
cles are made. The heaviest hauls are
taken in huge frame traps set in the
swiftest channel of a bayou. The negro
locates a turtle sitting in shallow wa
ter and wades in after him with fork
elk stick. They tease the turtle until
he becomes mad and pokes out his
head to hiss, then the forked stick
goes over his head and the turtle is
hauled out Of the water. The large
ones are killed outright and boiled in
giant pots until the shell comes off.
The shells are then scraped and pol
ished.
The pearl hunters throng the rivers
every summer. Thousands of them are
dredging for the mussel, or fresh
water clam. The shells of several va
rieties are gathered by the ton and
shipped up the Mississippi River to the
pearl-button factories. There are a
dozen varieties of the mussel, but only
two are valuable to the factories. Some
years ago an Austrian button manu-
facturer accidentally discovered the
value Of the American shells. in an IL
linois town on the Mississippi. He
found that, if anything, it was super
Tor to the shells dug UP from the Dan
ube, The trade has grown until an
army Of collectors are strung out along
the big river from New Orleans to La
Crosse
Along the river are shacks in scores,
in which the families engaged in the
hunt find shelter. Outside are long
troughs mounted on brick foundations,
and the shells are boiled in these.
Punts. RATS, fatboats and skif1s are
used in the CATCH A trap made Of
heavy plumbers pipe is placed over
each boat To the pipe are strung lines
set at six-inch intervals, which run fore
and aft Four-pronged hooks made Of
old wire are fastened to the lines. The
boat is pushed out from the bank for
work
The fresh water clam points his nose
upstream and invariably keeps his
mouth Open He lies on the river bot
tom waiting for something to come
along, when he will greedily seize it
and never let go. The trap with the
dozens of hooks is tilted over the side
of the punt lying upstream and the
clans at once lay violent hold upon it,
as many as can get a grip on prong.
The fisherman hauls them in until his
boat is filled. At the factory the shells
are soaked in fluid for some days.
The shell goes through a half-dozen
processes before it Is finished as pearl
button. The shell must be thick
enough to stand the trimming to the
proper Size Chicago Record.