Part 2. FRESH-WATER MUSSEL FISHERY.^ 



VALUE AND EXTENT OF THE FISHERY. 



The fresh-water mussel fishery is older than the fresh-water pearl-button industry, 

 since the mussels have been taken in the search for pearls since 1857 at least, although 

 but locally and irregularly. The importance of the fishery, in its two phases of pearHng 

 and shelling, dates from the beginning of the manufacturing industry, in 189 1. It is 

 interesting to note that at the present time the value of the pearl product is equal to 

 about one-half that of the shell product. In some streams, chiefly the smaller ones, the 

 pearls bring a better return to the fishermen than the shells, the Black River of Arkansas 

 being a notable instance; but generally the value of the shells is considerably greater 

 than the return from the pearls'; the usual ratio is about 2 to i . 



The present paper is intended to refer primarily to the shelling industry and to give 

 somewhat briefly an account of the territory and methods of the fishery. Since the 

 pearls are usually taken incidentally in preparing the shells, the pearling methods are 

 essentially the same, except that in regions where pearling is almost the exclusive object 

 the practice of cooking out is not followed, owing to the belief that heat is detrimental 

 to the pearls. In the shell fishery many noneconomic mussels are taken and cooked out 

 along with the commercial shells with the hope that additional pearls may be found. 



It would be of interest to compare the shell production of earlier years with the 

 more recent statistical data for the mussel fishery. The earliest available estimates of 

 the mussel fishery are contained in Statistics of the Fisheries of the Interior Waters of 

 the United States, by Hugh M. Smith. ^ The quantity of mussel shells taken in 1894 is 

 stated at 195,500 pounds (equivalent to 97.75 tons), having a value of $2,737. I'he 

 small quantity of shells and the high unit value indicate that the industry was in a very 

 rudimentary condition then, when few shells were required, and those bought were by 

 the pound. It is well known from other sources that, owing to the great abundance of 

 shells in proportion to the market demands, the price soon reached a low level, about $5 

 per ton, fluctuating from $4 to $10; but the supply was such that the fishermen made 

 better wages then than at the present time, when the price received per ton is many 

 times higher. 



Smith ^ states that in 1897, 3,502 tons of shells were taken in Iowa and Illinois with 

 a value of $40,408, and in 1898, 3,641 tons with a value of $37,008. Almost the entire 

 fishery was within the limits of these two States at that time. It would appear that 

 the average price per ton was about $11.50 in 1897 and about $10 in 1898. 



A census report for 1889 shows that 23,824 tons of shells were taken, with a value 

 of $216,404 (average price, $9.04 per ton), and a census report for 1908 gives the tonnage 

 as 38,133, worth $386,000 ($10.02 per ton). 



a Ernest Danglade, formerly assistant in the Bureau of Fisheries, aided materially in the preparation of the description of 

 the methods of fishery. 



b U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries: Report oftheCommissionerfortheyearendingJuneso, 1896. Washington, 1897. 



c Smith, Hugh M.: The mussel fishery and pearl-button industry of the Mississippi River. Bulletin, U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion for 1898, Vol. XVIII, p. 289-314. Washington, 1899. 

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