MUSSELS OF CUMBEBLAND EIVEB AND TBIBUTAEIES. 



43 



distance below Burnside pearling has been recently in active opera- 

 tion, at Pittman and Fishing Creek. From Burnside down to 

 Burkesville Mr. Boepple had noted in 1910 that the river bed was 

 well filled with shells killed by pearlers, and in 1911 the same work 

 was being continued farther on downstream. At Patty Shoals below 

 Mill Springs in 1910 '^yellow mussels (Z. ligamentina gihha) had been 

 pretty well fished out, since the pearlers opened only this species. 



In order that due allowance may be made for the inevitable degree 

 of unfounded rumor on such subjects, we will give at first the reports 

 of the rivermen and supplement them later by our own observations. 



At Burnside we heard that a pearl had been found at the mouth of 

 Pittman Creek which was worth $250 or $300 and another that had 

 been sold for $40, and we were told of a man living down the river, 

 back some distance in the country, who had a fad for pearling and 

 buying pearls, and who had accumulated in this way about $20,000 

 worth of pearls, baroques, and slugs at the time our informant 

 visited him. Many pearls had been found in the vicinity of Eadsville, 

 the highest price any single pearl from that locality brought 

 being $800. 



In August and September 100 men were often pearling at once on a 

 ^hoal near Rowena, and the highest price paid for any single pearl 

 was $500. There had also been much pearling on a mussel bed below 

 Tear-coat Bar and on another at Clouds Island during the past five 

 years, sometimes as many as 50 men working at the same time. At 

 Goodall Island, for 20 years previous to the time of closing the 

 lock, pearling had been in active operation. At one time 150 men 

 isv:ere at work together on the bed, and in one week $30,000 worth 

 of pearls were found. Pearling had also been carried on near the 

 mouth of Goose Creek above Harts ville in former years, but it stopped 

 after the building of the lock below, which flooded the beds with lock 

 water and rendered it difficult to obtain the mussels. 



Not only the upper river but its tributaries also were famous for 

 pearls. At Carthage it was said that better pearls were found in the 

 Caney Fork than in the Cumberland, and that they commanded a 

 much better price. Mr. Boepple, who investigated the lower 26 

 miles of the Obey Kiver at Celina, remarks: Twelve to fifteen years 

 ago there was much pearl fishing here, and it seems to have paid 

 until, indeed, the mussels had been fisb«ed out by pearlers." Stones 

 River was in good repute as a pearling stream, and a merchant at 

 Clarksville stated that his father used to buy many pearls from there. 

 There had been active pearling on this river only a short time before 

 our visit, and some shells left by the pearlers and examined by our party 

 showed indications of pearl formation. Red River, which enters at 

 Clarksville, is said to be a good pearl-bearing stream in its upper 



