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Did
You Know...?
that there was a thriving pearl industry along the Wabash
River in the early 20th century? The button industry began
pre-1905 when men worked the Wabash River for shells to sell to the button
factories in the area. The meaty part of the shell was fed to hogs
and soon men and boys were digging for the pearls that could be found in
the feed lots. The rush for the pearls began in 1905. Hutsonville was the headquarters for the many pearl dealers, having
buyers come from all over the world. Small pearls ranged in price
from $3 to $50. At first the shells were worth little with two
local brothers, Ken and Tom Wallace, paying as little as $1.25 per ton
but the price later increased to $63 per ton. Besides being used
by the button factories, the shells were also shipped to France and
ground up for face powder and Japan for the cultured pearl industry.
The mussels were found in the riverbed, an average mussel shell being
three to five inches long, having two halves that were tightly hinged.
Two men often worked the river together, one hunting for the shells, the
other sorting and cleaning. Legend has it that one of the pearls
ended up in the crown jewels in the necklace known as the Dagmar
Necklace, made for Queen Alexandra. It was originally found by
Jumbo Adams who is said to have sold the pearl for $800, which was later
sold by the buyer to Tiffany's for $2,000. Although there are
still a few mussels to be found in the Wabash River, the river is now
too polluted for them to be worth anything. The mussel industry
was banned for commercial harvesting in 1992. Taken from "The
Crawford County Wanderer", Robinson Daily News, November 3, 2001.
More
information about Palestine's history can be found in books and
newspaper articles here at the library. |
