THE MUSEUM 



»5< 



which were undoubtedly of the former, 

 seem exaggerated, but the recent finds 

 referred to substantiate them. The 

 process is described, moreover, of 

 gathering the shells and opening them 

 by heat, which was shown to De Soto, 

 at his request, by a friendly chief. In 

 the same way. several early English 

 travelers from New England to Flor- 

 ida refer to the Indians as having 

 pearls, undoubtedly from the fresh- 

 water Unionadif. 



No particular attention, however, 

 was given to the subject until about 

 forty years ago. The natives had 

 been dispossessed, and the white race, 

 occupied with other interests and ne- 

 cessities, took little note of the hosts 

 of fresh-water shells inhabiting the 

 streams and lakes, and did not suspect 

 their power of producing pearls. In 

 the rivers of Saxony and Bohemia, in- 

 deed, and those of Scotland and Ire- 

 land, and the lakes of Finland, such 

 pearls have long been known and val- 

 ued, although the Unio life is far less 

 abundant than in our great river 

 streams of America, but not until the 

 middle of the present century was any 

 search begun or any important discov- 

 ery made. 



This was all changed, however, by 

 the first great pearl excitement in 

 1857, when large and valuable Unio 

 pearls were first discovered in New 

 Jersey. First, a pearl of fine lustre, 

 weighing ninety-three grains was 

 found at Notch Brook near Paterson. 

 It became known as the "Queen 

 Pearl," and was sold by Tiffany & 

 Co. to the Empress Eugenie of France 

 for $2,500. It is today worth four 

 times that amount. The news of this 

 sale created such an excitement that 

 search for pearls was started through- 

 out the country. The Unios at Notch 

 Brook and elsewhere were gathered 

 by the million and destroyed, often 

 with little or no result. A large round 

 pearl weighing four hundred grains, 

 which would undoubtedly have been 

 one of the finest pearls of modern 

 times was ruined by boiling to open 



the shell. Within one) ear pearls were 

 sent lO the New York market from 

 nearly every state; in 1S57 fully $15,- 

 000 worth. In 1868 it fell oH to some 

 $2,000; in 1859 about $2,000; in i860 

 about $1,500; in 1860-63 only $1,500. 

 The excitement thus abated until 

 about 1868, when there was a slight 

 revival of interest, and many fine 

 pearls were obtained from Little Mi- 

 ami River, Ohio. 



Some of the finest American pearls 

 that were next found came from near 

 Waynesville, Ohio, $30,000 worth be- 

 ing collected in that vicinity during the 

 pearl excitement of 1876. Since 1880 

 pearls have come from comparatively 

 new districts further West and South, 

 the supply from which is apparently 

 on the increase. At first few were 

 found, or rather few were looked for, 

 west of Ohio, but gradually the line 

 extended, and Kentucky, Tennessee 

 and Texas became the principal pearl- 

 producing States, and some pearls 

 were sent North from Florida. 



A few years later the interest ex- 

 tended to the Northwestern States. 

 During the summer of 1889 a quantity 

 of magnificently colored pearls were 

 found in the creeks and rivers of Wis- 

 consin, in Beloit, Rock County; Bos- 

 cobel and Potosi, Grand County; 

 Prairie du Chein and Lynxville, Craw- 

 ford County. Of these pearls more 

 than $10,000 worth were sent to New 

 York within three months, including a 

 single pearl worth more than $500, 

 and some among them were equal to 

 any ever found for beauty and color- 

 ing. The colors were principally 

 purplish red, copper red and dark 

 pink. Within the past eight years 

 over $200,000 worth of pearls have 

 been sold from this district. 



These discoveries led to immense 

 activity in pearl-hunting through all 

 the streams of the region, and in three 

 or four seasons the shells were almost 

 exterminated. In 1890 it extended 

 through other portions of Wisconsin, 

 especially Calumet and Manitowoc 

 counties, and appeared also in Illinois, 



