WHERE PEARLS ARE FOUND 45 



tinction of being very prominent in the button manufac- 

 turing business. 



Muscatine, Burlington and Davenport are the leading 

 cities in the button business. 



This State has some great- advantages for the pearl 

 hunter, or "clammer," as they insist upon calling a shell 

 digger there. The great Mississippi and the smaller 

 rivers are good pearl streams; and the shells, which are 

 mostly niggerheads, bring a good price in the neighbor- 

 ing cities. 



The people of the State of Iowa are especially progres- 

 sive in regard to the study of the mussel supply. Some 

 of them have formed an organization for the protection 

 and artificial propagation of fresh-water mussels. 



The United States Fisheries Bureau has a good biolog- 

 ical station at Fairport, Iowa, which is a valuable aid in 

 maintaining the mussel supply. 



The many valuable pearls found in Iowa places it 

 among the leading pearl States. 



Kansas is not an important pearl State, although some 

 nice lavender pearls have been found there. 



Kentucky is known to have yielded some pearls. Some 

 nice ones have been found in the Cumberland and Little 

 Rivers. Two men reported that a Green River and Barn 

 River, near Metcalf county, have very large mussels in 

 them. It is possible that some nice pearls may be found 

 there. 



Louisiana is now coming to the front as a pearl State. 

 Many nice pearls have been found in the northern part 



