The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-17
BUTTONS MADE A TOWN,
In Museatins, la, an Old German
Started . Great Industry.


This is the romance of the button
maker Of the story of how Muscatfrs
Ia happens TO be ON the map rr.
story was told the other night By 3D. T.
Davis q Muscatlne man. I'm his room
at the Sexton hotel 1t was introduces
by the statement that Muscatine is ro-r
said to be the center Of the pearl rry-
ton world. 50 TO speak. The story f1--
lows.
About thirteen years ago. as roe
member hearing it told an old German
named Beopeie-I don't remember Dol,
given name-settled in Muscatine Ha
lived in the edge of town I'm an humble
little house. NeiEhbOrs observed MIN
make frequent trips to small streams
tributary TO the Mississippi river Hs
would wade around in the streams
awhile and then return with a naszaf
full Of mussels. In his house he vouf1
sit for a couple of days and then sauu-
ter up town with few dozen pearl
buttons and sell them To dry -aods
merchants.
II Was a German Industry.
The old Germans implements were
crude He had been a button maker in
Germany and his methods We're kept
secret. It waS learned however thar
he had two or three hollow metal cy..n-
ders with saw teeth filed I'm the edges.
With these he sawed out the buttons ON
a roughly constructed turning lathe
Then holding the button in his nau-
he wound grind out its shape on the
lathe. The holes were drilled by hama
At first he used but one kind of mus.
sci shell-a yellow sand variety. Wuen
the demand for his buttons increased
the old button maker added the ser
vices OF his daughter and son. Then
finally another IMAM was employed 10
fish for the mOllusks in the shallow
streams.
But during the growth of this o-s-
man enterprise Nicholas Barry an
other Muscatine man. began 10 scheme
TO find way TO improve the button
making machinery. The result Or ten
years of study and experiment is some
Of the most intricate manufacturing
machinery in existence-and all Of Il
made in Muscatine. too.
The Old Germans Mistake.
Finally the original button maker
became dissatisfied and sold out aIas
for him. Capital was interested in the
venture and the factory grew until
now. with its machinery. which MAKES
all styles Of pearl buttons automo-
maticalIy, It occupies d whole block
And from the market basket clam fish
ing the work has increased until The
Mississippi river and its tributaries
from middle Minnesota down TO
louisiana is secured for mussels.
The fishing end of the business is IN
teresting in itself The men who MAKE
the buttons do not employ the Gsner-
men. Instead. they buy the shells
from any one who cares TO nsn ror
them. They pay SO ton for them. 50
the business of fishing for shells is
remunerative occupation within Itself
I am told that makers of salt water
pearl buttons pay as high as S120 a ton
for the shells. This work l. made more
interesting by the possibility Of finding
pearls in the shells, and many a man
who hadn't a cent in the world mas
been enabled to buy a home or n farm
and start bank account as a result Of
that meager button making venture
made by the German.
How Mussels Are Caught.
The mussels, YOU know. feed on the
river beds with their shells opening up
stream. Two boats are sent drifting
downstream. Suspended between is a
rod having wires hung from il with the
ends dragging on the river beds. The
bent ends Of the wire touch the mol
lusks, when the shells close immediate
~ III seif-preservation, and cling tight
~ to the wire. The wires are hauled I'D
periodically and the musscis pried from
the ends.
But a serious problem now con-
fronts the button makers. The musscIz
are growing scarce IN the Mississippi
river. The river and its tributaries
have been so thoroughly secured that
the output Of buttons is beginning TO be
in danger Of curtsilment because Of the
scarcity Of raw material Then there
is another interesting feature. It is the
possible propagation Of the mOilusk
Thus far it is without feasible applica-
ton, although the government officials
have investigated the possibility of
raising clans.
Tiny MUsseis Carried BY Carp.
One of the most valuable discoveriez
in that direction was made by pro-
fessor Of biology in the University of
Missouri think it was Professor Cur
lis of Columbia. He discovered that the
sluggish and much condemned hsh-the
carp, which sDoiis game fishing by feed
ing on the little fish Of game variety
furnishes life to many OF the minute
mussels. It seems that the carp. in
pohing laziiy along the creek bottoms.
Is often made the clinging home of
HiuSSsi spawn Wnlch matches and ciInE-
70 the sides of the fish, subsisting on
him until il becomes sufficiently large
TO drop off and shift for itself. They
are often no larger than one-ffth the
sze OF a pin head when they drop Thus
II may be that some good may come Of
the desplsed carp after all. for If some
means OF propagation of musseIs is not
found It is estimated that the manufac-
ture OF pearl buttons viii have to BE-
discontinued within ten years.
The German? Well, he has Jared
sadly concigded Mr.. Davis. He has
lost al the money he made and all he
was paid for the plant He no longer
lives In Museatine. but to him belongs
the credit OF bringing Muscatiue To the