The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-22

| tions to replcnish them. At these sta.
tlons it is expected that the possibili-
ties of artificially inducing the deyel.
|opment OF pearls will be cxemplified
But the big money is for the pearl
farmer who does it first
Just at this time, on the eve Of the
development of the new industry, an
American has come forward with an
invention which greatly simplifies the
whole process. This is sort Of an
A-ray machine which will take a pic
turo Of tray of live muscles and
show Just what pearls they contain,
not they are mature and in general all
the information that might be obtained
by opening the muscles. This saves all
those muscles that have no pearls that
they may go OIL breeding yet others
that may. it also saves those that are
producing pearls which have not yet
come to maturity. With it there is
no need of opening any shell that does
not contain a marketable pearl 1t
is device that should multiply many
times the possible productivencss Of
any. given bed and do away with the
haphazard of present methods. Mr..
Solomon has established plant from
which he proposes to extend the serv-
Ices of his invention to operators in
the nelghborhood Of Colon, where it is
located
The richest pearl fisheries in the
Americas at the present time are those
of the Gulf of California, centerine
around La Paz and along the outer coast
of Lower California. Cortez first de,
spoiled the Indians Of this section of
the pearls it produced and startled the
court Of Spain with their richness. La
ter another Spaniard for lifetime So
cured from 300 to 500 pounds of pearls
here every year, packed them over the
mountains on mules and sold them by
tho bushel
View Of Expert.
According to DR.. George +. Kunz, one
of the world s greatest authorities or
pearls, those Of the finest water shoul
possess a perfect skin, fine orient and
delicate texture. 1t should be free from
sPecks and flaws, and OF. a translucent
white color with subdned, iridescent
sheen. 1t should be perfectly spherical
or symmetrical pear shaped. White or
pink pearls are the finest owing TO their
delicate sheen. Sometimes the outer
layer can he removed. the next layer
being of finer texture and the pearl
in this way improved.
The lower California pearls are of a
great variety of shapes and colors.
They are round, pear shaped, fat on
one side, baroquc or irregular in shape.
In color they may be white, pink, blue,
green, brown and black. Some Of the
most famous pearls in history were
taken from these waters. One Of theI
most beautiful gems in tho Spanish
crown Is an enormous Mexican pearl
400 grains. With hardly an
exception there are American pearls
among the crown Jewels of every ruler
N hn = o. ,,l
Paris there was exhibited a set of
seven black pearls from these Mexican
fisheries which are today worth $4,000. |
The emperor of Austria paid $20,00Ol
for n black pearl from Mexico, and
Napoleon III. was presented with one
valued at $25 600. Pearls worth $4,000
each are constantly being found. One
sold for $4,000. Sonora Diaz, wife Of |
the president of Mexico, has col /
lection of native pearls that might well
be the envy of many of the crown heads |
Of Europe. Among the poorest natives
il is no uncommon thing to find the |
rarest gems being worn in some crude
There are many tales float |
ing about of such stones that have been
purchased for small sums and sold for
amounts that multiplied these sums by
The thousands.
The Gulf of California fisheries are
operated by an American firm, with
headquarters in San Francisco. They
are doing something in farming the
Dollusks 10 keep the beds replenished,
)ut, as far as is known, make no at
empt TO induce greater fertility, nor
lave they modern appliances to facili.
ate the work. such as the X-ray photo.
.raph. AS a result they are getting
eturns such as yield good profits, but
night be multiplied by hundred or a
thousand bv adopting the new scien-
iic methods.
Work of Divers.
The work of the divers in all pearl
.atherlng is Of great interest, In MeIi-
an waters. for instance, there are two
vpes of divers, the "head divors,nI
vho use no paraphernalia whatever,
nd the diving machine men. The
ormer is able TO stay under water but
ne or two minutes, cutting what