The sun., 1903-11-08
OUR PEARL SUPPLY SMALLER.
DECREASE IN THE YIELD IN THE
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY,
Pearls Worth SS.OOO,OOO Taken in the
Last Three Years-Signs Yhat tho
Fisheries Are Nearly Exhausted--Sud.
den Fortunes Made by Lucky Pearlers.

dealer sold lot Of domestic pearls to a
Frenchman in Paris, The Partisan did not
even take the trouble to ship them on to
India. but after drilling them in the French
capital invoiced them to firm of American
jewellers as Oriental pearls
When the man who sold them to the
Frenchman returned to New York few
days ago he found the gems on exhibition
in New York showcase. He recognized
them in mediately and for the fun of the
thing thought he would inquire about the
price,
1--WE are asking s75 900 for them" replied
the jeweller They are genuine Orienta Is
and we ought to get little more, seeing
that the price Of pearls is going up"
wait minute, said the expert. please
turn that pearl over. Now look. just at
the edre of the hole where the gem is drilled
you will find derk colored spot. See it?
Looks as If the skin had been bruised and
had heeled"
The Jeweller looked. screwing his loupe
up to his eye end taking careful squint
That's right he said f1na lily. Then
he snatched away his loure and gazed at
the dealer. "Ssy,' he asked, looking at
the expert sharply end hugging the pearl
tient, WHO arc you!
Tell you later; let's talk about those
pearls. They are interesting to me.
used to own them once. | bought them
out in Newport, Arkansas, when they
hadn't been out Of the water more than If
teen minutes
AThey cost me less than $40 900. sold
them in Paris for 900. They cost you
about $4,000. I could have sold them
to you for $4,000.
Now, here's my name; here are some
pearls-dornestic ones like yours. Want
to buys'
The Jeweller almost fell over at the first
revelation, but the second rallied him.
NO. he said, rigidly, we don't want
to handle any domestic pearls 1t would
spoil our trade and reputation"
1t is doubtful whether this or any other
jeweller will be able much longer to handle
domestic pearls as Oriental Jewels and
thereby secure big profits. for the simple
reason that the pearl bearing clans are dis
appearing from the bottom Of the Mississippi
River and its tributaries at rate that
threatens total extinction of the species in
a very short time.
Many Of the most productive pearl rivers
have been swept clean Of the pearl makers,
and unless something is done soon a bus-
ness that is worth hundreds of thousands of
dollars annually to the people OF those
regions will pass away as quickly as it came
Here 1t is interesting to note that the pearl I
oysters Of Ceylon are now so scarce that
the Government. Is soon to put in force a
law which will prohibit all pearl fishing for
Ave years.
Within the past three years more than
SS,0O0,00o worth OF pearls have beAn taken
from the waters of the Mississippi Valley.
At least three-fourths of the pearls have
come from the Black and White rivers of
Arkansas.
In 1901 about 81 SOC. 900 worth of the gems
we're taken from the Black River alone,
most Of which came from a section not
twenty miles long, with Newport as It's
centre. Last year less than 81 ,O0O, 900 worth
were taken, and this season the output has
fallen off more than so per cent.
The Black River has been entirely cleaned
out and the swarm of fortune hunters has
gone over to the White River. few miles
distant; and that, too, has given up nearly
all it's wealth.
When this river will have been depleted the
largest pearl region in the Middle West
will become what it originally was-an un-
populated wilderness. Already thousands
OF people have left and Newport and other
~" Ao W up III q iISilt al
In Newport more business houses and
dwellings are vacant than are occupied.
It's population has fallen within a little more
than year from 5000 to 1000.
centre is on the Mississippi itself. around
Prairie du Chen, Wis, but il does not
compare with the Southern beds, and fish
ing for. pearls there is more of side line
to the IN niustry of obtaining shells for the
vHn ~ h,f olD t1n );
The pearl button, oil and fertiizing in
dustries have been as largely responsible
for the depletion of the pearl bearing
clam beds as the pearl hunters, and both
have decorated the shores of the Mississippi
from La Crosse, Wis, to New Orleans with
evidences Of their ravaees.
The pearling fever started in the summer
Of 1900 An old sunburned fisherman was
the cause of it.
He was fishing from a skiff anchored in
out and he wanted some more. The easiest
way to get it was TO rale UP a clam from
the bottom Of the stream. about eight feet
below the surface Of the water. The
bivalve that that he brought up was n
innocent looking snecimen, and there was
nothing in its appearance that foreshadowed
the great excitement to come. The fish
erman, whistling little tune, inserted a
knife blade between the shells and pried
them arart. As he did So a beautiful
thwart Of the skiff and rolled to the bottom
q the craft, where 1t lay glistening in the
forenoon sun.
The fisherman sat blinking at 1t for full
minute, then made dive for it, and worked
harder than he ever had before in his life
TO get to shore on the double-quick. He
sold the pearl to a local jeweler for 500
and retired to private life.
His retirement, however. lasted less |
than a week. for the report of the find |
spread far and wide and the inhabitants |
rushed at the sand beds at the bottom
OF the Black River with all kinds of i'm
plements, from ritchforks to scow dredges, |
and Piled the river banks with clans for !
miles up and down the stream. The
jeweller who had purchased the pearl |
from the fisherman sold it In New York
for $1,000, which was more than he had
made In his little store in three years
The excitement was intense in Arkansas,
and in a comp aratively short time every
inhabitant in the vicinity OF the Black
River both old and young, male and fe-
male, was oelving for CLANS and pearls.
Labc rers left the farms, clerks and busl-
ness men turned fortune seekers and even
women went down to the shores OF the
stream and waded into the water, search
ing for pearl bearing clans
An old negro named Neise Parks louna
a clam which netted him something, over
1900, With the proceeds Nelse purchased
q fine buggy.