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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES IN RECENT YEARS. 
Although the gathering of pearls from the fresh water shells of North America 
is a matter of comparatively recent Hate among the present inhabitants, it really goes 
back very far, as already indicated, into the unrecorded past. The first European 
explorers speak frequently of the number and beauty of the pearls in possession of 
the natives. Full references have been given previously to the striking accounts in 
connection with the great expedition of DeSoto from Florida through the present 
Gulf States to the Mississippi in 1540-41 and to the process of gathering the shells 
and opening them by heat, as shown to DeSoto, at his request, by a friendly chief. 
In the same way several early English travelers, from New England to Florida, refer 
to the Indians as having pearls. No particular attention, however, was given to the 
subject in the United States until about forty years ago. The natives had been 
dispossessed, and the white race, occupied with other interests and necessities, took 
little note of the hosts of fresh-water shells inhabiting the streams and lakes, and did 
not suspect their power of producing pearls. 
In 1857 a pearl of fine luster, weighing 93 grains, was found at Notch Brook, near 
Paterson, N. J. It became known as the “Queen pearl,” and was sold by Tiffany & 
Co. to the Empress Eugenie of France for $2,500. It is to-day worth four times that 
amount. The news of this sale created such an excitement that search for pearls was 
started throughout the country. The Unios at Notch Brook and elsewhere were 
gathered by the million and destroyed, often with little or no result. A large, round 
pearl weighing 400 grains, which would doubtless have been the finest pearl of modern 
times, was ruined by boiling to open the shell. Within one year pearls were sent to 
the New York market from nearly every State — in 1857 fully $15,000 worth. In 1858 
it fell off to some $2,000; in 1859 about $2,000; in 1860 about $1,500; in 1860-1863 
only $1,500. The excitement thus abated until about 1868, when there was a slight 
revival of interest, and many fine pearls were obtained from Little Miami liiver, Ohio. 
Some of the finest American pearls that were next found came from near Waynes- 
ville, Ohio, $3,000 worth being collected in that vicinity during the pearl excitement 
of 1876. At that time Israel H. Harris, of Waynesville, began what has since become 
one of the finest and best-known collections of Unio pearls in this country, purchas- 
ing during many years every specimen of value that he could find in that part of the 
State. Among his pearls was one button-shaped on the back and weighing 38 grains; 
also several almost transparent pink ones, and an interesting specimen showing where 
a pearl had grown almost entirely through the Unio. His collection contained more 
than 2,000 pearls, weighing over 2,000 grains, and is in all probability the last collec- 
tion that will be made from that district. It was exhibited in the jewelry department 
at the World’s Fair held in Paris during 1889. Since 1880 pearls have come from 
comparatively new' districts farther west and south, the supply from which is appar- 
ently increasing. At first but few were found, or rather few were looked for, west of 
Ohio, but gradually the line extended, and Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas became 
the principal pearl-producing States, and some pearls were sent north from Florida. 
