322 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



This was all changed, however, by the first great pearl excitement in 1857, when 

 large and valuable Unio pearls were first obtained in Sew Jersey. First, a pearl of 

 fine luster, weighing 93 grains, was found at Notch Brook, near Paterson. It became 

 known as the "queen pearl," and was sold by Tiffany cS: Co. to the Empress Eugenic 

 of France for $2,500. It is to-day worth four times that amount. (See colored plate 

 No. 8, Gems and Precious Stones of North America.) The news of this sale created 

 such an excitement that search for pearls was started throughout 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 400 grains, which would 

 doubtless have been one of the finest pearls of modern times, was ruined by boiling 

 to open the shell. Within one year pearls were sent to the New York market from 

 nearly every State in 1857 fully $15,000 worth. In 1858 it fell off to some $2,000; in 

 1859, about $2,000^ in 1860, about $1,500; in 1800-63, 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 Miami River, Ohio. 



Some of the finest American pearls that were next found came from near Waynes- 

 ville, Ohio, $30,000 worth being collected in that vicinity during the pearl excitement 

 of 1876. Since 1880 pearls have come from comparatively new districts farther 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 extended to the Northwestern States. During the 

 summer of 1889 a quantity of magnificently colored pearls were found in the creeks 

 and rivers of Wisconsin in Beloit, Eock County; Brodhead and Albany, Green 

 County; Gratiot and Darlington, Lafayette County; Boscobel and Potosi, Grant 

 County; Prairie du Chien and Lynxville, Crawford 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 coloring. The colors were principally purplish red, copper red, and dark 

 pink. Within the past eight years probably 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 the search extended through other portions of Wisconsin, especially Calumet 

 and Manitowoc counties, and also in Illinois, along the Mackinaw River and its 

 tributary creeks, in McLean, Tazewell, and Woodford counties. 



In 1889 the exhibit of American pearls received an award of a gold medal and 

 the collaboratenr a silver medal for the literature. At the Columbian Imposition at 

 Chicago, in 1893, large and beautiful exhibits of pearls of great variety of tints, set 

 in the finest jewelry, were exhibited in the Manufactures building, and formed notable 

 features in the Wisconsin State building and the Mines building. 



The northwestern pearl excitement subsided in a few seasons, as the others had 

 done in turn before, by the exhaustion of the mussel beds and the consequent cessa- 

 tion of product. About every ten years or so a new wave of interest arises in 

 connection with fresh discoveries at some point where the shells have lain long undis- 

 turbed; it again absorbs the attention and excites the imagination of the community 



