The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-11-12
minneapolis Tribune.)

tMiiiHedpolS I1lDune.t
Minnesota is getting to be a centre
for the pearl-f1shing industry. With
the steady decline of the pearl fish
cries along the lower Mississippi there
mas been corresponding increase in
those on the upper river between Min
neapolis and La Crosse, especially GA
the Minnesota side Of the river. Stimuli
taneously the industry has been grad
ually extended to other streams and
bodies of water within the confines of
the state. until at present moment
there is hardly river or lake of any
size in the northern or central part
of Minnesota that does not have its
pearl fisheries.
That pearl fishing is no inconsider-
| able industry may be seen from the
fact that the value of all the fresh
water pearls produced in the United
States during 1905 amounted to fully
| s., 000,0 600. OF this amount rather mora
than a half represents the value of the
pearls that we're gathered from the
streams and lakes in the middle west,
the Missouri valley, as it were, in the
StricteSt sense of the name.
Just what the figures were for the
total value of the pearls gathered in
Minnesota during last year it is inn
possible TO say. 1t is a safe guess,
however, that $l.000,000 win not cover
| it, and Ii is almost as safe to predict
| that inside of a couple of years the
| yield of the states rivers and lakes
will more than double i'm value.
AS matter of fact even if the
| states yield does not increase a pound
| I'm amount from year to year. the pres
| ent indications are that the value of
| 1t will double winthin the next tew
years. The price OF fresh-water pearls
/ is Enthusiastically on the rise, and pearl
| dealers throughout the country are
| unanimous in their opinion that the in
| crease in price of 200 to 500 per cens.
| that has taken place in the last three
or four years will be hardly circum-
stance to the rise that is due for the
next half decade.
Think of pearl as large as an or
| binary marble, with a rarity of color
ing that makes it impossible to be
! matched. Such a pearl-as this was
taken out of the Mississippi within a
| month and has since been sold FOR
about s70,OOe-a veritable fortune for
| William Bates of Red Wing. the lucky
| finder of the stone.
| Without doubt there is not another
/ pearl in existence that will compare
| with the one that Bates took out If
! Mississippi river clam a few weeks
ago. That there are larger pearls in the
world goes without saying. and that
i there are DedElS Oii WHICH, al ulSHEi
market value is set is likewise a tru-
ISM Nevertheless. for delicacy Of col
! oring and oddly of the shading the
Bates pearl, as it is called. is without
i peer.
| Pearls found III foreign countries are
| valued for the eVenneSS of their col
4 oring and the ease with which they
7 can be matched. Thus. il is not an un-
! usual phenomenon TO find al the pearls
/ taken from certain locality are
marked exactly alike. and in buying
pearls TO be worn in necklaces ano
other ornaments the principal deSider-
alum is tc get stones that match one
II another closely
American fresh-water pearls hcw-
ever. are valued for just he opposite
qualities. The ccloling. far from beiEs
even is most irreg liar and in the gen
Il eral run of domestic rearls tie rarity
Of color is the salient Characteristic
AS for matching American pearls. i
is almost impossible tC get a0"thips
like resemblance even in two stones
not to speak of the dozens and ever
scores that enter into the makeup ol
the most famous necklaces and uaras
> The Bates pearl, as a typical Ameri-
!. can stone. is remarkable not alone fol
its size. but also foe its wonderful
; marking With net diamond weight
= Of So grains. the jewel is perfectly
} round and absolutely without flaw
The flesh-colored tinting gives beau
tiful lustre to the pearl. which appear:
opaque in the light and almost trans