AN ACCOUNT OF THE MUSSEL FISHERY AND 

 PEARL-BUTTON INDUSTRY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



By LIONEL E. ADAMS, B.A. 



(Read before the Society, March 8th, 1905). 



The following account of the Mussel Fishery and Pearl-Button Industry 

 of the Mississippi has been extracted from the careful and interesting 

 Report^ on the subject by Mr. Hugh M. Smith, of the U.S. Fishery 

 Commission, who, when in charge of the U.S. Fishery Building at the 

 St. Louis Exhibition, kindly presented me with a copy. 



The manufacture of buttons from the native fresh-water shells began 

 in the United States in 1891, the inauguration of the business being 

 made jiossible by the high tariff on imported buttons imposed by the 

 tariff bill of 1890. This levied a duty of 2.5 cents per line per gross on 

 shell buttons and 25 per cent ad valorem. On account of an abund- 

 ance of suitable mussels in the vicinity, Muscatine, Iowa, was selected 

 as the site of the first factory and has now become the centre of the 

 industry with more than thirty factories. In 1898 a remarkable 

 development of the business was witnessed, some sixty factories being 

 started, chiefly in Iowa and Illinois. Button making gives employment 

 to large numbers of people, who would otherwise be idle, at what are 

 considered good wages for such labour. It also supports a very 

 important fishery at which many hundred persons make a living. 

 Besides the people thus directly connected with the business, many 

 others in more than a score of towns are benefited, including mer- 

 chants, machinists, boatmen, draymen, and transportation companies. 



While there are probably 400 species of mussels found in the 

 Mississippi and its tributaries, comparatively few are adapted to button- 

 making. Shells must be of sufficient thickness, uniform colour, and 

 sufficient toughness to withstand the necessary treatment without 

 cracking or splitting. Dead shells are useless unless quite fresh. 



The principal species used is the "Niggerhead" {Quadrula ebend) 

 which is about 3 inches in diameter. This shell, which much resembles 

 Cyprina islandica, has a smooth outside; while many other species are 

 covered with warty knobs, which cause the shells to split in the drilling 

 process. Other species which are also utilised, though to a less extent, 

 are the "Bullhead" {Pletirobema cesopus); the "Yellowback" {Lavipsilis 

 anodontoides); the "Black sand shell" {Lii/Jipsiiis rectus) ; the " Slough 

 sand shell" {Lampsi/t's fallaciosus)-. the "Mouquet" or "Mougat" 

 {La/npsilis ligainentinus); the "Deerhorn" or "Buckhorn" {Triti- 



I "The Mussel Fishery and Pearl-Button Industry of the Mississippi Riyer," U.S. Fish 

 Comniissioti Bulletm, vol. i8, for i8g8. 



