THE NAUTILUS. 



VOL. XXVI. OCTOBER, 1912. No. 6 



THE MUSSEL SHELL BEDS NEED PKOTECTION. 



BY WILLIAM T. BARRET. 1 



I began in the mussel shell business in the season of 1902 on the 

 Ohio river at Henderson. Ky. ; have been in it ever since that time, 

 and have done practically all of my work on the Ohio. The first 

 five years I never worked above Louisville, finding all the shells 

 that we could sell in that territory, that is, from Louisville down. 

 The beds were large and very productive. I have known from 50 

 to 60 boats to work on one bed, and some beds produced from 3000 

 to 5000 tons of shells before they were whipped out. What I mean 

 by being " whipped out " is, that there are not enough shells left to pay 

 wages for catching them. A mussel catcher could work faithfully 

 for 10 hours and not catch over a box of shells on these beds. The 

 price for catching is from 25 to 40 cents per box. The price de- 

 pends on the quality of shells caught. These boxes will hold about 

 100 pounds of cooked shell. 



In the early days the mussel catchers caught from 10 to 15 boxes 

 per day on these beds. As this territory became less productive, it 

 was necessary for me to find new territory where shells were more 

 plentiful. 1 came to the upper Ohio, and with camps scattered along 

 the river, have worked it from Louisville, Ky., to Parkersburg, W. 

 Va., the last four years. There may be some wild beds left, but 

 there are very few, if any. 



1 From a memorial addressed to the General Assembly of Kentucky. 



