NATIONAL FISHERY CONGRK-. 323 



around and spreads to other parts of the country; a fresh campaign of ignorant 

 extermination is carried on for several summers, then the yield is exhausted, and there 

 is nothing more but to leave nature to recuperate, if possible, and slowly to restore, 

 in limited amount, the abundant life that has been destroyed. 



During the season of 1897 the pearl fever has broken out in various parts of the 

 country, the particular scene of discovery and excitement being the hitherto undis- 

 turbed streams and bayous of Arkansas. These waters teem with Unios, and pearls 

 have at times been found by the rural population for years past; but there has been, 

 usually, no knowledge of their nature or their value. They have been simply regarded 

 as "pretty stones," and used as playthings by the children like the first South African 

 diamond, that attracted the notice of a trader in 1866 as he saw it in the hands of the 

 children of his Boer host at the Vaal River. 



Several valuable pearls, however, were this year found by persons from St. Louis 

 and Memphis, who at once sent them to those cities and ascertained their reality and 

 value. The same parties then searched for more, and took steps to lease the land 

 where pearls were found abundant. Ere long the facts became known, and a wild 

 excitement set in and spread through large portions of Arkansas, extending into 

 Missouri, Kansas, and the territory of the Choctaw Nation. The first important dis- 

 coveries were on small lakes or bayous, formed by affluents of the White lliver, in 

 White County. The subsequent activities prevailed along the general valley of 

 White River and its branches, then on the Arkansas, the Ouachita, and the Black, 

 Cache, and St. Francis rivers, thus affecting almost all sections of the State. In one 

 district an entire lake was leased, guarded, and fenced for its pearl contents alone. 



The newspapers took up the subject and published highly sensational accounts 

 of the treasures to be had in what was largely proclaimed as "the Arkansas Klon- 

 dike." These articles were copied all over the country, and led to a great amount of 

 pearl-hunting in many States, both east and west. Iowa, Tennessee, Georgia, New 

 York, and Connecticut were all more or less stirred up to activity. The former pearl 

 region of Tennessee was less affected than a new section in the eastern part of the 

 State, along Clinch River, where great crowds have been searching for pearls, and 

 large quantities were obtained. The Georgia interest has been chiefly along the 

 Oostenaula, near and above Rome. The New York activity has been in the north- 

 western angle of the State, along Grass River, in St. Lawrence County. Connecticut 

 has yielded some good results to the searchers on the Mystic and the Shepang 

 rivers, at almost opposite ends of the State. 



REASON FOR THE PEARL INVESTIGATION. 



In view of the great interest and possible importance of discoveries from time to 

 time made in various parts of the United States, particularly in the Mississippi Val- 

 ley, of pearls yielded by the fresh-water bivalve shells ( Unionidfc) so abundant in 

 many of our inland waters, I was invited, in 1*94, to undertake a systematic inquiry, 

 for the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, to ascertain, as far as pos- 

 sible, the facts relating to the occurrence and distribution of the pearl-bearing species, 

 and the extent and conduct of the pearl industry as thus far developed. The value 

 and elegance of many of the pearls, especially as shown in exhibits made at the 

 Columbian Exposition in 1893; the popular excitements or "pearl fevers "at times 

 arising in districts where a few pearls have been found, and characterized by whole- 



