Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-12
COMPARATIVE COSTS
Amount of Percentage

Zp,1NA4E @U,f0f*A9
button There ara nuaseIs In the bot
tom OF almost every fresh water stream
in the country. except those at high
attitudes. In the Atlantic coast streams.
however, the mussel is little thing
with thin and papery shell. II serves
no purpose except az food for Wild ami
mails and bait for fahlng. In the Mis-
sissippi Basin. on the other hand. the
fresh water rnuasels grow large and
have thick, pearly shells. Furthermore
there are frequently real pearls Of con-
siderable value in those shells In
fact the pearls recovered are worth IN
all nearly half as much as the shell.
This musael- fishing industry Is AN
interesting one for several reaFons.
For ono thing. Il seems 20 be one Of the
few American industries OF which large
capital has been unable 70 gpt control.
Most az the streams in which tho mus
sells are found are navignble. and are
therefore public waters whore any one
may fish Any one who can get
motorboat. or even q rowboat. and an
apparatus costing four or Ave dollars
can so into the Tnusscl-fshing business
From the Pearl river and the Red river
in the south. near the Gulf. TO tho Gulf
10 ftt9 1FGa& anu h4iF tNtsAN = ifi NANV %f1A 49,
near the Great I.alSea and from the
headwaters OF the Missouri IN the West
20 tho headwatcrs Of the Ohio in the
East the rnussei fishermen ply their
trade Most Of them are nonlads, own
ing fnotorboats and roaming about the
great ATissi~sippi drainage IN search n
good naussel beds. They are free-naov-
era and independent operators. They
are survfvals Of the old tndividualistic
America In which even IA poor man
agecould be his own boss and take his
living from a bountiful nature which
nobody owned.
The industry Is a peculiarly American
one In almost every way. These fresh
water rnussel shells suitable for but
ton making are not found anywhere
else In the world. The methods OF get
ting them on the bottom are OF Amer
lean invention and 80 are all OF the ma
/, chimes used in making the buttons.
The Pioneer.
/ Nevertheless, America is indebted To
/ q German for the origin OF the indus
/ try. Americans themselves paid little
+ attention TO the mussei beds. no doubt
! partly because they had so many more
valuable resources to exploit. II seems
/ that q hundred years ago various fancy
| articles, such as cuff buttons and paper
! knives. were carved from ulussel shells
in Ohio, and even earlier the mussels
were taken n order 10 search them for
coast. Three factories stood on the banks
. the shells. In some Ohio towns there
were factories making buttons from
marine shells imported from the sea
coast. Thee facLorie stood on the banks
of streams which were fun of much bet.
ter shells. but no one ever thought o.
| using them.
Along in the eighties a German but
! ton-Inalzer named Boepple. receiyet
from a friend in America a bag fuI
OF shells which. the friend told him, cam,
from a stream somewhere about 35t
miles south Of Chicago Illinois, Z. S
a.
Boeppie saw that these shells wer,
Of tho finest quality for making but
tons. He realized that ii ne coui,
locate the places from which they came
he would have supply Of the fines
material for making buttons. H
thought ne saw "A chance To make
fortune, and the spirit OF adventure VA
evidently strong I'm him. For he close,
oat his little business, which eyidentl.
did not amount to much. and came 4
America. in search of that stream
somewhere south Of Chicago. Surel
for a German youth with no capital
and unable even TO speak English, thi
was a venture to rank with Jason
quest of the golden fleece.
Found by Chance.
Boepple was soon out of funds 4
this country. and had 10 work as
farm hand and at many other har
tasks AS a vagabond labnrer h
roamed all over the Middle 'Wea
searching for mussel beds as best h
could. lie found his first one by cut
ting his foot on a Tnussel shell vine
ne went in swimming in july 1887. |
the Sangamon River near PETERSBURG
Illinois He continued in nlanua
labor several years, but during that tim
located several other shell bed
Finally he set up shop. with som
bits OF machinery he had brought frol
Germany. at Columbus Junction on IN
Iowa River He worked at odd time
making cuff buttons bride buttons an
the like Finally ne got some cauits
interested, and the first factory wa
started
1t is not Of record that Boepple mad
| much money himself. AS is so often tn
case with the pioneering and ereatiy
type, he had little aptitude Tor busines
But he founded in America an industl
which adds annually its millions to tn
wealth of the country, and gives on
| ployment to thousands.
---------<D~--~~
Asbury Onieial Board Meeting.