By 1922 the Illinois portion of the Mississippi River mussel fishery- 

 had been reduced, due to the northern and southern expansion of this 

 industry into other states, as mentioned previously. In that year there 

 were only 387 people from Illinois employed in all types of fishing on 

 the Mississippi River (Sette, 1925: 193) compared to the 322 Illinois 

 mussel fishermen on the Mississippi in 1899. The reported equipment 

 used by Illinois mussel fishermen on the river in 1922 amounted to only 

 82 crowfoot bars valued at $395 ($1,543 in 1977 dollars) (Sette, 1925: 

 222). These figures coincide with the reduced Illinois proportion of 

 the Mississippi River mussel catch in that year (Table 7 ) . Examination 

 of catch weight and values for 1922 show that prices paid for shells 

 ranged from $40-60 per ton ($156-234 in 1977 dollars), so the demand 

 for shells had raised prices above the 1899 levels but the supply of 

 suitable mussels had evidently fallen due to over-harvest. 



The shell processing and button-cutting aspect of the industry also 

 lends insight to the economic importance of the industry. In 1898 

 there were at least 21 towns in Iowa and Illinois with button factories 

 (Smith, 1899: 303). By 1922 there were 16 separate plants in Illinois 

 employing 455 people (Sette, 1925: 193). In that year these plants 

 produced over 2 million button blanks worth $454,613 ($1,775,718 in 

 1977 dollars) (Sette, 1925: 193). The by-products from these plants, 

 which included poultry grit and stucco, were valued at $3,794 

 ($14,819 in 1977 dollars) (Sette, 1925: 193). 



While the production of buttons from factories in Illinois, Iowa, 

 and Missouri had remained stable from 1939 through 1948, most of the 

 shells used in production during this time were imported from Tennessee 

 and Arkansas (Carlander, 1954: 51). By the mid-1960's the last pearl- 

 button factory at Muscatine closed as the industry could no longer 

 compete with the low cost of plastic buttons (Parmalee, 1967: 4). 



Recent Trends. The renewed interest in mussel fishing which re- 

 sulted from the pearl-culture industry markets of the 1960 ' s not only 

 resulted in an increase in the number of mussel fishermen and in the 

 catch (Table 7; Lopinot, 1968: 6), but also changed the species of 



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