Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-05-21


bic and expense they now have TO bear.
IT the electric railway to be built this
year from Des Moines to Indianola
could be extended south thru Charlton
and Corydon and Allerton. it would
greatly increase the trade in every town.
thru which it would rum besides being
OF great benefit to the farming COM
munity reached by the line Think of a
car stopping at any point. on signal,
and carrying the farmers produce right
into Charlton. Would not this increase
our town trade, as well as lessen the
farmers labors?
ONE COUNTYsS PROGRESS.
| County Auditor Hale has just tabu-
lated the reports of the various asses
| sors of Mills county Outside and not
including the railroads, the total wealth
lof Mills county, both personal and real
/ according to the ASSESSORS figures is
s16.45s,664. Farming lands is the largest
| item-some 264, 562 acres of taxabls. land
| is given a valuation of s11,092, 9OS, or an
average of about s42 an acre. This is 81
an acre more than the value placed on
lands two years ago. In Silver Creek
township. in the central part of the
an acre.
The personal property of Mills coun-
ty foots UP to $3,721,S7 showing an in
crease of s25Oo0o over last year OF this
sum Mills county's live stock forms a
4 good share, her cattle and horses being
worth about sl.40o,ooo.
/ AS showing the difference between
the assessed and the trading values of
Al. L.
/ ured up the land transfers made during
| 1900. He finds that 16.11S acres of land
| during last year changed hands at the
average price of nearly s47 an acre. or
s. an acre more than given in by the
| assessors.
Glenwood makes most gratifying
! increase in the way Of personal prop
l5erty over last year. the assessor return
| ing s543,c36. This is an increaes of $751;
600 over 1900. Glenwood's total property
| valuation. both real and personal. for
1901 is $1.376.OGS.
BUTTON INDUSTRY THREATENED.
THE end of the pearl button industry
along the MISSISSIPPI is threatened.
says the most experienced dealer trans
l.orting the shells from the beds, and
enc of the contributing factors Is the
widespread and almost Unsuitable craze
for pearl hunting. Such conditions have
never before existed. and unless a
change comes soon the button business
Will shortly be q thing Of the past.
This is the opinion of Capt. Kennedy,
| who more than any other man has de-
Iveloped the shell digging industry from
| Muscatne north TO Red Wing. Satur-
| day night at Muscatine he came in with
| his shell boat. the Monarch, declaring
That never before had such an expert
cnce befallen him on any trip.
"One year ago" said the captain. L.
! 500 man were fishing for shells between
| this place and Red Wing. am ac-
| 9uainted personally With almost every
/ fisher on the river, and 1 can speak with
| knowledge when l say that now net
/ more than 200 are thus employed Why.
! you may not believe 1t. but on this trip
we Travelled 100 miles TO get load OF
| shells and then came in with a small
cargo. And we were three weeks IN
! gathering the load. twice as long as or
dinarily.'
Some fortunes made by pearl hunters
| have turned tie heads os many os the
Idiggers, and by day they look for the
gems and by night dream of the rich
| finds which will rival the Kiondike. Not
a few last season found pearls valued up
in the thousands of dollars, and already
this spring thousand-dollar finds have
/ been reported. Only /. few days ago Il
woman up the river sold a pearl for ST.
| 500
Such good fortune is too tempting to
| make she'll digging for the button fac
tories at all satisfactory. The chance
! is taken. the game played. and in the
| fall some will have made startling dis
coveHes. while others will look back on
! summer spent in a vain search.
| Continuing the conversation. the cap
/ tain said:
1 Another reason the diggers are fewer
| is that they have no place to land. The
owners of the land adjoining the good
shell beds ask high rents for the use of
| 1t on which to prepare the shells for
market and on which the digger can
| live. With the growth of the industry
| this burden has become greater and
greater. and now 1t is a prominent fac
| tor working against the business.
THE upper river beds are almost the
sole source of supply now, and this diff
| ficulty is serious in their vicinity. Yes.
| I'll go up the river after another load,
but my boats are about the only ones
now in the business. while heretofore
they have been numerous. Unless con-
ditions change ] shall have to abandon
shell transportation soon, and that
means that the dozens of factories along
the river and the hundreds of men en-
ployed in them must likewise cease to
| work.