PEARLS AMD PEARL FISHERIES. 
415 
ing $1; and a New York circular states that a pink one of that size is worth $5. 
Most of the little ones, however, are averaged at 5 or 10 cents in quantity. From 
these lower limits the values rise with great rapidity as the sizes increase, till single 
pearls reach to hundreds of dollars, and in some cases thousands. The limits reported 
range all the way from a maximum of a few cents to $1,000 (Tennessee, 5 papers); 
$2,000 (Indiana and Tennessee); $3,500 (Tennessee); $8,000 (Wisconsin), and even 
$10,000 (Tennessee, 2 papers); but no other States report anything above $300 (Iowa), 
and $250 (Texas). The estimated values per grain, either given in the papers or 
calculated from prices mentioned for pearls of specified weight, range from $1 to $75 
(Wisconsin), and even $100 (Tennessee and Texas), but rarely exceed $15 or $20. In 
these extreme cases just mentioned the pearls must have been overvalued. Numerous 
cases occur where pearls have sold locally for many times more than they were worth. 
To consider a few of the most definite statements, the first undoubtedly belongs 
to the remarkable “ sky-blue” pearl from Ganey Fork, Tennessee, which was sold 
for $950, and subsequently brought $3,300 in London. The same papers (Tennessee) 
that refer to this, also state that the adjacent Cumberland River, into which Oaney 
Fork flows, has produced no pearls of more than $25 in value, though both streams 
have been very largely searched. One Tennessee paper reports a round pink pearl 
as having brought $650; another, which mentions $1,000 as a maximum value, adds 
that 30 cents and $700 are the actual limits of price obtained at that place. A Wis 
consin paper states that $30 a grain is the highest price obtained by the writer. One 
response (Tennessee) gives $ 12 as the value of an 8-grain pearl of good quality ; if pink, 
however, it is $18, and if yellow, $20 — illustrating the differences in value for color; 
another (Tennessee) mentions $20 as paid in New York for a fine pearl of 6 grains, and 
$300 for one of 31 £ grains; and another (Tennessee) gives $500 as the value of a pearl 
of 40 to 50 grains. 
One paper from Iowa states that the finder generally gets from one-tenth to one- 
fourth the value of the pearl. Two Tennessee papers refer to the business as far from 
profitable, one saying that it does not realize an average of a dollar a day, and another 
that the writer thinks of giving it up as not worth while at the prices obtained. 
Question 18, as to the method of taking the shells, is answered in 105 papers. Of 
these a number say merely that they are gathered with the hands, while 40 mention 
or describe some form of instrument as used in the deeper water. A Kansas paper 
states that the method is to pick them up along bars, etc., but the usual process 
indicated is to wade into the stream and take the shells from the bottom by hand, 
sometimes feeling for them and detaching them with the feet. In some cases a scoop 
or shovel is used. They are then thrown into a boat, canoe, or floating tub and taken 
ashore. In deeper water several speak of diving for them, but generally some form 
of rake or tongs must be employed — of course, with boats. Various descriptions are 
given, several mentioning simply a rake, “ clam rake,” or “ mussel rake,” others saying 
“oyster forks” or (Illinois) “a 6-tined fork bent in rake shape.” This method is the 
principal one reported in Wisconsin, and an account is given of “rakes,” made for the 
purpose, about 20 inches long, with 6-inch teeth, “and a wire netting on the other 
side to hold the mussels when raked up” (Wisconsin), and of a “garden rake with a 
wire basket back of the teeth, and others, similar but heavier, made by a blacksmith” 
(Wisconsin); and again (Iowa), a garden rake is mentioned “for sounding the bottom 
and driving away the mud turtles.” Another description is “ a rake in the shape of 
