BROOCH, RENAISSANCE STYLE, SET WITH BAROQUE PEARLS, FROM AMERICAN STREAMS
Pan-American Exposition, 1901

one hundred and twenty leagues up the River Meschacebe [Mississippi], on the west side, in a lake made by the river of the Naches, about forty miles from its mouth, where they are found in great plenty and many very large. The other on the River Chiaha, which runs into the Coza or Cussaw River (as our English call it), and which comes from the northeast, and, after a course of some hundred miles, disembogues into the Gulf of Florida, about one hundred miles to the east of the Meschacebe.[[317]]

It is interesting to note that the first place mentioned by Coxe as the location of a great pearl fishery is not far from one of the most productive pearling regions of the last fifteen years, viz., the eastern part of Arkansas. The second place noted by him appears to be identical with the Iciaha, where, nearly two centuries before, the Indians exhibited the methods of their fishing to De Soto and his companions.

Excepting Coxe’s notice, for 250 years following 1600, little was heard of the occurrence of pearls within this country. This does not indicate necessarily that the gems were absent from the waters; but, not using the Unios for food as did the aborigines, the residents had little occasion to open them and in this way learn of their contents. And even where pearls were occasionally found in mollusks opened for fish-bait, the people were in few instances informed as to their market value, and did not attempt to sell them, although the most attractive ones may have been treasured as ornaments or as keepsakes. This was paralleled in the diamond fields of South Africa, where gems worth thousands of dollars were used as playthings by the farmers’ children. A jewel, like a prophet, is frequently without honor in its own country until the residents of that country learn of the great esteem in which it is held elsewhere.

And yet, in some localities a few pearls were collected from time to time. The Moravians—familiar with the pearls of their native streams in Europe—gathered many from the Lehigh River near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, over a century ago;[[318]] and from Rhode Island and elsewhere a few were obtained.

The first awakening to a realization of the value of fresh-water pearls in America occurred fifty years ago, when several beautiful gems were marketed from the northern part of New Jersey. The story of this find has been frequently told. A shoemaker named David Howell, who lived on the outskirts of Paterson, occasionally relieved the monotony of his trade by a fishing excursion to some neighboring stream, where he would usually collect a “mess” of mussels. Returning from one of these visits to Notch Brook in the spring of 1857, the mussels were fried with the usual abundance of grease and heat. After this preparation, one of them was found to contain a large, round pearl weighing “nearly 400 grains,” which possibly might have proven the finest of modern times, had not its luster and beauty been destroyed by the heat and grease.[[319]] Had the pearl been discovered in time, its value might have exceeded $25,000, thus making poor Howell’s fried mussels one of the most expensive of suppers.

Hoping to duplicate his wonderful find, Howell collected and searched other mussels, and his example was followed by several of his neighbors. Within a few days a magnificent pink pearl was found by a Paterson carpenter named Jacob Quackenbush. This weighed ninety-three grains, and was bought by the late Charles L. Tiffany for Messrs. Tiffany & Co., New York City, for $1500. Mr. Tiffany later described with much interest the feelings he experienced after making the purchase. Said he: “Here this man finds a pearl within seventeen miles of our place of business! What if thousands should be found, and many perhaps finer than this one! However, we risked buying the pearl, and as no one in New York seemed interested in it, we sent it to our Paris house for sale, and a French gem dealer offered for it a very large advance on the original price, paying 12,500 francs.” From this dealer it passed into the possession of the young and beautiful Empress Eugénie, from whom and from its great luster it derived the name “Queen Pearl.” Its present market value would doubtless amount to $10,000 or more.

When news of the very large price received for Quackenbush’s find became public, great excitement developed in the vicinity of Notch Brook. Persons came from all directions to search in the shallow streams for valuable pearls. Farmers of the neighborhood tried their luck, and also mechanics and other residents of the adjacent villages and towns, and even some from Newark, Jersey City, and New York. An old resident, who was an eye-witness, describes the scene as one of great animation, the crowds of people and the horses and wagons along the shore giving “an appearance of camp-meeting time.” At least one schoolmaster in the vicinity is said to have closed his school to give his pupils an opportunity to engage in the hunt.

With trousers rolled up, the people waded into the shallow water and sought for the mussels in the mud and sand on the bottom. Many pearls were secured, but none approached in size or value the two above noted.[[320]] During 1857, the New York City market received about $15,000 worth of pearls from these waters, and in addition many were sold locally or retained as souvenirs of the hunt. At the low price of pearls existing then, this figure would mean possibly ten times as much at present, or $150,000.

The active search soon depleted the resources of the little stream, so that in the following year the reported value of the yield was only a few thousand dollars. The decrease continued until in a few years practically every mussel was removed, and at present scarcely a single Unio is to be found in these waters.