The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-08-26
SAFEGUARDING
THE PEARL MUSSEL
A Valuable and New Mississippi
River Industry is in Danger
of Extinction
STORIES OF SOME LUCKY FINDS
ecientists Take Up the Question Of
Artificial propagation-Escitement
Caused by Lucky Finds-Pearl
Hunting Parties.

One Of the tasks the Government
has set for itself this summer is to
find out why the pearl bearing mus
- sells Of the rivers of the Mississippi
River are disappearing, and to try to
propagate them. A commission head
ed by Prof Paul Bartsch of Burling-
ton has made a thorough search of the
Mississippi and its tributaries to find
out all about the mussel.
The mussel is highly regarded in
that section of the country. Not only
has it been the basis of very pro-
ftable industry il the way of furnish
ing raw material for button making
but it has enriched a great many who
have merely taken up the hunt in
the hope Of finding valuable pearls.
Mussels have been found in large
quantities along the upper Mississippi,
but pearls are few and far between.
due possibly to the fact that the
temperature of the water is not so
favorable to the propagation of the
slug. the technical name Cor the pearl
bearing secretions. Down along the
White and Arkansas rivers hundreds
o: thousands OF dollars worth Of
pearls have been found in the last
five years. In Arkansas more than
a million dollars worth of them have
been unearthed in that time.
The pearl bearing mussel has been
found now and then for years in the
Arkansas rivers by fishermen who use
1t as a bait for the drum and the red
horse varieties of the sucker family
OF fish. Several lucky finds Of this
character on the Black River started
everybody hunting.
1t was all gamble. Only now and
then a mussel with the precious stone
attached would be found, but when
once discovered II was well worth
the time employed. Those who would
not wade loafed around on the banks
and bid against one another for the
fvhermen. Bathing parties and pic
s at which the interest centred in
r,rl fishing were common.
Many stories are told Of lucky
( .ds. A trio of tramps one day tried
q induce ferryman to carry them
ross the river. He gruffy refused,
telling them to 60 work and hunt
pearls for a living They took his ad-
vice, and in about three hours had
gathered several bushels Of shells.
Sitting down to open them, they dis
covered in the fifth shell a pearl that
sold for more than enough to buy all
the early possessions of the ferryman.
lad playing about boat used for
pearl fishing discovered something
shiny on the bottom. He showed 1t to
a man whom he met on the street,
and cheerfully accepted SO for the
pearl. The man disposed of it to a
friend for $50, who sold II later for
four times that sum to professional
buyer, who is reported to have re-
ceived several thousand dollars for it.
A business man who was on the
verge of bankruptcy went down to
the river to put in few days fish
ing while he contrived to think some
way out of his difficulties. On the first
day he found three pearls that he dis.
posed of for sufficient to pay all Of
his debts.
Pearls worth 5000 were found one
afternoon by three young Northern
women who had accepted an invita-
ton from a Southern hostess to join
a bathing party with a pearl fishing
attachment. The proper dress for
these functions, by the way. was the
ordinary bathing dress and broad
brimmed straw hats.
Although the industry has waned
greatly the last year, there are still
numerous camps of fishermen to be
seen dotting the river banks. The
shadows were, of course, first looted,
and nowadays most of the work Is
done in the deeps. For this purpose
oyster tongs are used, and the work
is kept up most of the year
Dredging for pearls is very largely
business matter these days. Dredges
are used on the deep places and on
the bars the river bottom is ploughed
up and the mussels brought in scows
and opened. The shells are saved
and sold to the button factories that
have sprung up at every town and
village. These shells more than pay
the expenses of the work, and the
pearls round are clear pront. Several
comfortable fortunes have been built
up in this way
There are hundreds of button fac.
tories all along the upper Mississippi.
Wherever there are sandbars and
shallow places the work of dredging
for mussels goes on. The supply is
getting shorter every year, and to
pracarva tho cournas and nrona oo "a
ths mussel the last Congress was in
ducsd to make liberal appropriation.
Shells by the carloads are shipped
to the factories and there they are
made into blanks and buttons. A big
business in shipping the blanks To
Germany has been built up in the
last few years.