Not every mollusk contains a pearl, and the village belle, intent on her evening toilet, need not buy a bushel of clams with the pleasant anticipation of finding a sufficient number of gems for a necklace. Small and irregular pearls are not at all uncommon, but choice ones are decidedly scarce, and each one represents the destruction of tens of thousands of mollusks. Quantities of irregular and imperfect nodules known as slugs are collected, which sell for only a few dollars per ounce. In some sections of the Mississippi, the slugs are so very numerous that their aggregate value exceeds that of the choice pearls.
In the Mississippi, the percentage of pearls found in a definite quantity of mollusks is less than in the tributary streams, yet the much greater quantity of shells collected raises the total yield to a very considerable amount. Pearling is subordinate and incidental to gathering the shells for manufacture. In that length of the river from St. Paul to St. Louis, a fair average yield to the fishermen is about fourteen dollars’ worth of pearls and slugs to each ton of shells. Of course, this is not the individual experience, for a single Unio may contain a gem worth $5000, and on the other hand several tons of shells may yield only a few cents’ worth of baroques. The market for the shells places the Mississippi fishing upon an industrial basis, and guarantees a substantial income to every fisherman even when no pearls whatever are found.
Unios from the upper part of the Mississippi yield a much greater percentage than those from below Davenport. In 1904, for instance, from the 4331 tons of shells taken in Wisconsin the fishermen secured pearls which they sold for $91,345, an average of $21 per ton; from the 822 tons in Minnesota the average was $16 per ton; in Iowa the average was $12 for each of the 7846 tons; in Illinois, $5 per ton for the 2364 tons, and in Missouri less than $1 worth of pearls was secured by the fishermen for each ton of shells which they took in the year named. A large number of choice pearls weighing over thirty grains each were found in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien and McGregor. Within a river length of one hundred miles in that region, the fishermen in 1904 gathered pearls which ultimately sold for $300,000. It is therefore apparent that the returns vary greatly in the different regions; nevertheless, even in the less productive localities fine pearls are sometimes found, which contribute to make the industry a profitable one.
Success in pearling is like that in mining. In the White River in Arkansas, for instance, one man found $4200 worth in one month. Another discovered a $50 pearl in the first shell he opened. A Negro found an $85 pearl the first day he worked, while another fisherman worked seven months and secured less than $10 worth. It is a question of finding or not finding; the finding brings riches sometimes, and though the failures reduce the average profits as low as in other local ventures, the big prizes affect the mind, and the average is lost to sight. Taking the country as a whole, it is probable that the total find has been sufficient to pay the average fisherman little if any more than $1 for each day’s work.
The fresh-water pearls range in size from that of the smallest seed to that of a pearl weighing several hundred grains. There is relatively only a small quantity of seed-pearls, especially when compared with the output in the fisheries of Ceylon and Persia. Possibly this is due largely to a scarcity of the parasites which seem to perform so important a function in the regions noted. A further reason may be found in the manner in which the mollusks are opened and searched. Were the Ceylon method of opening employed here—which, however, is not at all practicable—it seems probable that the quantity of seed-pearls found in this country would be greatly increased.
The pearls from the tributaries of the Mississippi are noted for their great range of coloration. From a dead white, the color is gradually enhanced to faint shades of pink, yellow, or salmon tints, then to a more decided form of these. From the light shades, the range extends to purple and to bright copper red, closely resembling a drop of molten copper. Some are very light green; others rose, steel blue, or russet brown, while purplish and very dark brown are not uncommon. White pearls are probably the most numerous; but pink, bronze, and lavender are by no means rare.
A large percentage of the Mississippi River pearls are very irregular in form, many of them resembling dogs’ teeth, birds’ wings, the heads or bodies of different animals, etc.
As a rule the fresh-water pearls do not rank so high in value as those from oriental seas, since ordinarily they are not so lustrous. However, some of them have sold at very high figures. A round pearl weighing 103 grains, found in Black River, Arkansas, in 1904, was eventually sold for $25,000; and one of 68 grains, found, in 1907, on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, was recently marketed at $15,000.
One of the largest American pearl necklaces, brought together in 1904, consisted of thirty-eight pearls weighing 1710 grains in the aggregate, an average of 45 grains for each pearl. The central gem weighed 98½ grains and those on the left of it respectively 85¾, 79⅝, 65¼, 59⅝, 49⅜, 46¼, 45⅛, 43¾, 41½, 40½, 40⅝, 35⅛, 37⅝, 30, 25⅛, 22¼, 20¼, and 19 grains. The pearls on the right were graduated as follows: 85¼, 76⅛, 64⅞, 59½, 47¼, 46, 45⅛, 44½, 42½, 41¾, 38, 37⅞, 36, 35, 34⅝, 29½, 25¼, 21, and 20⅜, grains. This necklace was exhibited at the St. Louis World’s Fair. It was sold to a London merchant, who in turn sold it to a Parisian dealer, and it was finally purchased by a Spanish nobleman at a price said to be about 500,000 francs.
Another necklace shown at the St. Louis World’s Fair, was of American fresh-water pearls from the rivers of Arkansas. The total weight of these pearls, sixteen in number, was 861⅝ grains, an average of 61½ grains for each pearl. Of these one drop pearl weighed 77 grains, and two others each 65½ grains. A round pearl of 70 grains completed the adornment of the pendant. The circlet consisted of ten round pearls alternating with precious stones. The central pearl weighed 98½ grains and on each side were two of 61 grains, then two of 56 grains, two of 54⅞, and two of 48 grains, one of 45⅜ grains being at the back of the necklace.