Hi Mickyy
Isn't Billie Button from Muscatine?
LINK
I am not talking about commercial harvest, but the hunt for pearls, by families in the smaller rivers and creeks. I was primarily talking about the kinds of streams and rivers people could get mussels by wading. Kunz' account details the actual finds in various rivers (pp252-278). I am talking about the 19th century when many of the Small rivers and streams were entirely depleted of mussels.
I just scanned the first page I saw and saved it: There are 26 pages of details in that section.