Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-08-09
Bar and crowfoiot outfit for taking
mussels

whereas under natural conditions they may
become hosts to only a dozen or so.
=. The principal mussel yielding streams. are
found in the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin.
Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas. Indiana, Ohio,
Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama, the Mis-
sissippi River producing the largest number
of shells. The mussel fishery is a perma-
nent and important industry, and in scarcely
any locality where a shell fishery was once
established has it ever been entirely aban-
doned, although the intensity of the fishery
in any locality may vary from year to year,
as it is subject to a variety OF Influences,
such as the demand for shells Of certain
qualities, the stages of the river, the condi-
ton of the local industry. and the degree OF
exhaustion Of the material.
The method of mussel fishery most gener-
all. in use today is with the so-called bar
and crowfoot hooks. The method is based
on the characteristic habits of fresh water
mussels, which lie habitually half imbedded
in the bottom of u stream, with the hinder
end of the shell directed against the current
and slightly gaping. If a stick or hook be
inserted into the. opening Of the shell, the
mussel at once closes tightly and will hold
for a long time, even while being dragged
over the bottom and hauled up to the boat.
The more elaborate apparatus now used
was first brought to the notice of the river
men of the upper Mississippi ins1S97, and its
use soon spread throughout all of the COM
mercial districts:- The crowfoot apparatus
consists essentially of a bar or rail (Which
- z1,~oA tx, kaSrspr fOpr nrOnpn1 wire
hooks, are arranged at intervals. BY means
OF a towing line the bar is dragged above the
bottom, while the hooks trail on the mussel
bed in a direction parallel to the current.
When a hook enters a shell opening the
mrussel closes upon the hook and, in conse-
uucnce, is dragged from the bottom. When
the bar is raised after a suitable time, nu-
merous mussels may be hanging from the
4. hooks. It Is usual to equip barges with q
number of these bars and their accompany
ing hooks, 80 that the bed Of q stream may
be dragged thoroughly. The most satisfac-
tory boat has been found to be the ordinary
john boat. It's length is from fourteen, to
twenty feet, with a width at the center of
from three to FIVE feet, but it always has
narrower ends. and is usually Of light draft.
After the mussels are brought. ashore the
soft parts must be removed. Where pearling
is the exclusive object each mussel may be
opened with a knife inserted between the
valves of the shells, so as to sever the adj
ductor muscles the meat is then cut out and
examined for pearls. Such a process, how
ever, is entirely too slow and tedious for
preparing shells for market, and so the
cooking out process is exclusively employed
in the shell fishery. The mussels are cooked
in a vat FIVE feet long by two feet wide and
from twelve to eighteen inches deep. When
the cooker is filled with mussels a small
amount Of water is added, and the whole IL
covered with buslap or gunny sacks. The
fire is then started in the furnace and con
tinued until steam is being given of ir
quantities sufficient to kill the mussels.
After reaching the button factory thu
shells are first soaked In tanks or watts fo'
asweek or more. The soaking process is in
tended to soften the material, which wouls
otherwise be too hard on the saws which ar,
- to cut them up, az well as so brittle as i
chips and yield blanks with rough edges
The machine used In cutting - essentially
lathe fitted with ~astubular saw Of the neces
sary diameter to obtain the required size 9