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THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
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whatever
are found. But in the small tributaries and where the mol-lusks are
less numerous, the shells are of little value owing to the expense of
bringing them together and conveying them to market.
Not
every mollusk contains a pearl, and the village belle, intent on her
evening toilet, need not buy a bushel of clams with the pleasant
anticipation of finding a sufficient number of gems for a necklace.
Small and irregular pearls are not at all uncommon, but choice ones are
decidedly scarce, and each one represents the destruction of tens of
thousands of mollusks. Quantities of irregular and imperfect nodules
known as slugs are collected, which sell for only a few dollars per
ounce. In some sections of the Mississippi, the slugs are so very
numerous that their aggregate value exceeds that of the choice pearls.
In
the Mississippi, the percentage of pearls found in a definite quantity
of mollusks is less than in the tributary streams, yet the much greater
quantity of shells collected raises the total yield to a very
considerable amount. Pearling is subordinate and incidental to
gathering the shells for manufacture. In that length of the river from
St. Paul to St. Louis, a fair average yield to the fishermen is about
fourteen dollars' worth of pearls and slugs to each ton of shells. Of
course, this is not the individual experience, for a single Unio may
contain a gem worth $5000, and on the other hand several tons of shells
may yield only a few cents' worth of baroques. The market for the
shells places the Mississippi fishing upon an industrial basis, and
guarantees a substantial income to every fisherman even when no pearls
whatever are found.
Unios
from the upper part of the Mississippi yield a much greater percentage
than those from below Davenport. In 1904, for instance, from the 4331
tons of shells taken in Wisconsin the fishermen secured pearls which
they sold for $91,345, an average of $21 per ton; from the 822 tons in
Minnesota the average was $16 per ton; in Iowa the average was $12 for
each of the 7846 tons; in Illinois, $5 per ton for the 2364 tons, and
in Missouri less than $1 worth of pearls was secured by the fishermen
for each ton of shells which they took in the year named. A large
number of choice pearls weighing over thirty grains each were found in
the vicinity of Prairie du Chien and McGregor. Within a river length of
one hundred miles in that region, the fishermen in 1904 gathered
pearls which ultimately sold for $303,000. It is therefore apparent
that the returns vary greatly in the different regions; nevertheless,
even in the less productive localities fine pearls are sometimes found,
which contribute to make the industry a profitable one.
Success
in pearling is like that in mining. In the White River in Arkansas, for
instance, one man found $4200 worth in one month.
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