THE MUSSEL FISHERY AND PEARL-BUTTON INDUSTRY. 
299 
Ainoiig the more noteworthy mussel beds tliat have been worked in tlie i)ast few 
years are the following: 
In 1890 a bed of “niggerheads” and “muckets” in front of Muscatine, about 11 
miles long and mile wide, yielded 500 tons of shells. 
A very large bed was discovered near New Boston, 111., a few years ago. It was 
about 1.^ miles long and 00 I'ods wide, with the shells very thickly dis])osed. It is 
reported that fully 10,000 tons of shells, cliieOy “ niggerheads” and “muckets,” with 
a few ‘‘sand shells,” were taken during the past three years. The number of mussels 
represented by this enormous quantity was probably not less than 100,000,000. 
There is a very large and productive bed 3 or 4 miles below Clinton, on the 
Illinois side of the river; it is a mile long and several hundred feet wide. The shells 
in i)laces are reported to be several feet deep, but the greater part of those lying- 
deepest are dead. 
One of the most noted beds in the upper river is near Oamanche. 
In 1898 the principal mussel fishing was done between Davenport and Clinton. 
While other parts of the river were also resorted to by the fishermen, the bulk of the 
catch was from beds in the upper river that had not been so actively worked as those 
in the vicinity of Muscatine and other places as far down as Burlington. 
In July, 1898, when the writer visited the river, a number of camps of ‘‘clam” 
fishermen were met with between Davenport and Clinton. One of these, located 
directly on the bank of the river, was quite extensive and presented an interesting- 
scene as the numerous boats brought in the shells from the adjacent river, and as the 
catch was being cooked and piled up at the headquarters of each crew. The principal 
apparatus in use along this section was the grapple, although a few shoulder rakes 
and drag rakes were also seen. 
The shells for the Davenport factories come chietly from the vicinity of Princeton, 
where there is a great abundance of mussels. In May, 1898, the fishermen were 
restricted in bringing- in their catch, as the factories could not handle all of it. 
Although there are a good many “muckets” in the river in the vicinity of Davenport, 
there was in 1898 no demand for them. 
Beference has already been made to the iiroductive bed near Leclaire, Iowa. 
DEPLETION OF THE GROUNDS AND ITS CAUSES. 
Although the mussel fishery along this section of the Mississippi Biver is under ten 
years old and in most places began within the past two or three years, it has already 
had a pronounced inlluence on the productivity of the mussel beds and bids fair to lead 
to serious consequences to the capital invested in the button industry of the States of 
Iowa and Illinois. Tliroughout this stretch of river, wherever fishing has been at all 
regular or active, there has been a more or less marked reduction in the abundance of 
mussels of all kinds utilized in makiug buttons, and in some localities the depletion of 
the grounds has been almost complete. 
The manufacturers generally recognize the present tendency toward the practical 
exhaustion of the available grounds, and feel the need of some action that will place 
the industry on a permanent basis. The fishermen also, however loath they may be to 
acknowledge it, have pi-actical evidence tliat the mussel grounds are capable of deple- 
tion and are being greatly reduced in productiveness. The many persons financially 
interested in the mussel fishery and the button industry are very desirous that appro- 
priate measures be taken to insure the existence of a substantial business of this 
