NATIONAL FISHKRY CONGKKSS. 327 



and accumulated large stores of them iii the course of time. The ancient tribes of 

 Brazil have left shell heaps along rivers tributary to the Amazon, composed of fresh- 

 water shells of that region (Hyria and Castalia); and though no such stores of pearls 

 have been found, yet the shells themselves have been much employed as ornaments 

 among these people; so they also were in the United States. 



When it is remembered that the native tribes of both North and South America 

 made large use of the river mussels as an article of food, it seems extraordinary that 

 only one instance of any attempt so to utilize them should appear in these accounts; 

 although Canadian lumbermen catch them by allowing bushes to drag after their 

 rafts in shallow streams, using the mollusk for food. They could, perhaps, often save 

 life, if explorers or hunUrs knew of their existence; while the shells, which are so 

 capable of being wrought and polished into an immense variety of beautiful objects of 

 ornamental art, should command a remunerative price, instead of being thrown away 

 and wasted. The small ones are often as brilliant as an opal in color. 



UTILIZATION OF UNIO SHELLS FOR BUTTONS. 



Several references, from time to time, have been made to the valuable possibilities 

 of the abundant shells of the Unios for various purposes of manufacture, and some 

 few instances noted of their being polished as ornaments or cut into buttons. It is 

 highly interesting to learn that this latter use has at last attracted attention and is 

 developing into an important industry. A correspondent of the St. Paul (Minn.) 

 Dispatch, under date of November 13, 1897, gives an extended account of the shell- 

 button manufacture at Muscat ine, Iowa, where already a number of factories are in 

 operation. No dates are specified; but the statement is made that it was begun 

 within a few years past by Mr. Boepple, a German, who recognized the possibilities of 

 such an industry and established a factory at Muscatine, soon employing 200 opera- 

 tives, besides a number of outside people gathering shells from the Mississippi Itiver 

 at that point. The enterprise proved profitable, even under an unfavorable tariff, and 

 several other factories were established; but -since the recent protective legislation 

 has gone into effect the business is increasing largely. Eleven or twelve factories are 

 now in operation, running 300 saws and employing 1,500 people. One of these was 

 working on double time to fill orders for 20,000 gross of buttons for the " holiday 

 trade " of 1897. The business is already an important element in the prosperity of 

 the town; and as the supply of shells is enormous, it is expected to increase in 

 extent. Other works exist also in Iowa. There are also eastern factories referred to 

 that cut the shells into " blanks," i. e., unfinished disks, and send them to Muscatine 

 to be polished and perforated. 



The shells have been gathered by men and boys wading in the shallow water and 

 working from boats in the deeper parts with rakes provided with a wire net or basket. 

 Now, however, steam dredging is to be employed. One such boat has been built and 

 another is under construction. The dredge will take up a ton of shells in an hour, 

 and the steam will be used to cook the animals and clean the shells a process now 

 slowly conducted in small furnaces. As the gathering can not be carried on in winter, 

 when the river is frozen, prices rise in autumn. Several species are capable of being 

 used, of which, two are particularly mentioned; these are "nigger-head" shells, which 

 have risen with the approach of winter from 35 cents per 100 to 70 cents, and u sand" 

 shells have advanced correspondingly from $1 to $2 per 100. 



