62 THE NAUTILUS. 



The Ohio has been worked hard from one end to the other, and if 

 the present system of working the beds continues, in two or three 

 years, they will all be " whipped out." Under the present system 

 you can work where you like, so naturally everybody likes to work 

 where the mussels are the thickest, and the catchers keep right after 

 them until they whip the bed out. 



I remember when the bed at Shawneetown, 111., was found, and 

 it was one of the best ever found on the river. The mussel catchers 

 working on the Wabash river in Indiana heard what a fine bed it 

 was, and came out of the Wabash, floated down the Ohio to 

 Shawneetown until there were over 100 boats at work on that bed. 

 They worked it out in a few weeks. Since that time it has been 

 worked some each year, but has produced very little. It was found 

 seven years ago and produced that season about 2000 tons of shells 

 and the total production since that time will not exceed 200 tons in 

 the seven years. 



Over 25 per cent, of the mussel shells caught in the Ohio river 

 today are practically wasted they are so small that the cutters in 

 the blank factories, who work by the piece, can't make anything cut- 

 ting them, so naturally they throw them in the waste shell if the 

 foreman of the shop isn't standing right by looking. In most shops 

 they work as many as 100 cutters, and one foreman ; so you see he 

 can't see many. 



My idea is that the State, through its Legislature, should take con- 

 trol and regulate the number of boats per mile that work these beds. 

 I think that four boats to the mile would be about right and only 

 allow them to catch 15 tons to the boat. In other words, confine the 

 production to 60 tons to the mile of shell beds per year. 



There are about 90 miles of shell beds in the Ohio river in Ken- 

 tucky's boundary from Cattletsburg to Cairo, and equally as many 

 in her tributaries. This would mean a production of from 5,000 to 

 10,000 tons per year. This production would save the mussel beds, 

 and they would continuously consume the sewerage, thereby purify- 

 ing the water, and would insure from 5,000 to 10,000 tons of raw 

 product annually for the button factories of this country. 



The Legislature could pass a bill granting the State the right to 

 protect the beds by license for a term of years, say on a royalty basis 

 of $1.00 per ton for all workable shells produced. This would give 

 the state a revenue from this source of from $5,000 to $10,000 per 



