Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-11-26
MAKING PEARL BUTTONS
MJSSEt SHELLS in THE MISSISSIPPI
A SOURCE OF WEALTH.

China Sea Trade Droops-Not an tncom-
mon Thing for a fisherman TO Find
Pearls, and One Gem Was Recently
Sold for the Handsome Sum OF $1,000.
In the matter Of the manufacture
Of pearl buttons the centre Of activity
has shifted from the China Sea to the
river towns of this Mississippi SectioRj
writes the Muscatine QowaJ CORES:
rondent of the Philadelphia Record:
Altogether unknown in this region e.
dozen years ago, this industry has.
GROWN to such proportions that it now
employs the services Of thousands Of
reople; ana the output has become 80.
great that it materially affects the butti
ton market of the world: -
About twelve years ago a German.
button maker of the same of Boeples
wandered into Muscatine from the old
country. He saw for the first time the
'nussel shells IF the Mississippi river.
He examined them closely and expressS
cd the opinion that they were good
material for buttons. Up t6 this time',
soft water shells were considered ims
practicable for any such use, and au,s
thorities on the subject were naturally
skeptical in regard to Boeple's opinion
of their usefulness: He persisted in
claiming that the "niggerhead" 1nhsseE
, from the waters OF the Mississippi riy-S
rr would make, if properly handled and
finished, the finest pearl buttons yet
produced He took some specimens
to the factories at Waterbury, Conn.,,
and after considerable experimenting
one concern there determined that
with some changes iii their machinery
the shell of the strange mussel from
the great father of waters" would
make button to compete with the
best of those from other parts Of thelj
world. ~
First one concern and then another
began to use the Mississippi shell, ufi-s
til the foreign one was almost abars
doned. In the beginning the shellsf
were shipped East in the rough .andf
prepared for use after their arrivalf
there, but the freight rates were so4
high that one enterprising firm soon
shipped that part Of It's machinery
which makes the BLANKS" out to Mus
catine, and what generally resultsd
when some pioneer leads the way to-
q good thing, others soon profted by
the example AMI came also. The indus
try has spread both up and down the
river, until almost every town of any
importance, from st. Paul, Mimi,
to Alton, Ill.,. is now engaged in some
form of the industry. {'Ehl
The manner of catching the musse1ss|
is interesting. a fisherman, equips lime
,selfswtth.what Is known 9 taSsh - -
order Of a scow, about 20 feet lonN
and 8 IL feet wide Upon the inside}
of the boat are placed eight uprights,A
which are between three and four feeE
high, and have crotched tops. FouJ
of the uprights are placed on each sidei
of the boat, at Just enough distanc9
apart TO accommodate the four lO-tooA,
pieces of inch gaspipe that rests upon{
them. To each of the gaspipes is at
tached 20 four-foot stagons, similar tol
those used on an ordinary trot line,i
and each stagon has four hooks, witha
four prongs.
The fisherman goes out in his John !,
boat" with as much confidence as if 1t
were the finest craft afoat Once in the A
stream he casts his gaspipes, one by
one. AS the hooks drag along the
bottom of the river they come in con-
tact with the open shells of the mus
S5els, which Immediately close up on
A,em. Thus attached they are brought
sthe surface and taken off. The dis
!, the hooks are dragged each time
sA,s altogether on the thickness of
;ed, and varies from three boat
his to an eighth Of mile.
ep he rivers of Arkansas are said to
20 thick with mussel bed that they
out of the water when it is low.
men put on rubber boots and
Ell lUS SllCII0 lulO llIC bOoIS' 1AA SAAN
Ger Mississippi district shells are
led in car lots, ranging from Is to
on in weight, but the Arkansas
hers have astounGed everybody IN
business by sending out quotations
5OO-ton lots and promptly filling all
Ter sent them. The men sell the
sselS to the button factory operators
$50 much per 100 pounds. The wages
~ make depend upon their diligence
the luck they meet with in getting
~ thick bed, but range from S1.5O
}s5 per day. There is one big mussel
"a near Canton, Mo-, about eight
lies in length
S3The process of making the shells in
buttons is interesting. The shells
u, first cut up into blanks the exact
size of the buttons are going to be;
then they go to the grinder, machine
which grinds the black off them;
after that to the facing machine,
which cuts the face on them: next to
the hacker which bevels the back;
then the drill which puts In the eye
holes; from here they go to the polish
ing room, where the glossy finish is
put upon them; after that they are
sorted, put on cards and boxed up.
There are about forty factories in
Muscatine, and the amount paid out
weekly in wages is $4,000. There are
factories in Davenport, Fort Madison,
Burlington, Quincy, Lagrange, Can
ton and many other points.
There is an added interest in the
business of mussel fishing on account
Of the likelihood of finding pearls. 1t
is not an uncommon thing for fish
erman to find pearl valued at $1OO,
aud ono lucky fellow found a beauty