History of Mussel Harvest on the Mississippi River

[Caitlin]

I have been looking for pictures of mussel shell MoP beads and found this article:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/mussel/harvest.html

The picture of nuclei isn't big enough but the story is a nice bit of American pearl history.

Look here are all the topics you can get to from this link

Species, Photos and Identification • Threatened and Endangered Mussels • Life History • Ecology
Mussel Harvest on the River • Current Threats • Mussel Conservation Activities
Ongoing Studies and Projects • Multimedia • Teacher Resources • Frequently Asked Questions
Glossary • References • Links to Other Mussel Sites • About this site

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Department of the Interior • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service • U.S. Geological Survey

 

[jshepherd]

Great link! I just printed out the "Billie Button" story for light reading on my next 12 hour flight

 

[Caitlin]

I started reading it and got roped in. Now I have to do 13 different downloads to get it!

Have a great trip...heh, heh, heh!

 

[Pearls_by_Angela_Carol]

I remember that when I was a child, my mother collected buttons. She had this tin canaster just full of them. After looking at the button display they have pictured from the Muscatine Art Center I realise that there are a lot of those same buttons in that tin.

I know she stilll has them - she never threw away anything.

 

[PearlBirthstone]

Great Stuff!

Great Stuff!

Hi Caitlin,

Great information. I never realized how many species of mussels there were. Thanks as I enjoyed the reading!

 

[Hyun-Yoon Yoon]

Good information!

I will really save time to read the articles.

thanks for Caitlin.

 

[Caitlin]

...my mother collected buttons. She had this tin canaster .....I realise that there are a lot of those same buttons in that tin...

I am likely your mother's age. here is one section of my button box. Doesn't everyone have one?

I love the one on the lower left. Wouldn't it be great to have some beads made out of that?

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

Beads out of buttons....

Beads out of buttons....

Yes those would make wonderful beads!

Cheers

 

[Pearls_by_Angela_Carol]

I am likely your mother's age. here is one section of my button box. Doesn't everyone have one?

I love the one on the lower left. Wouldn't it be great to have some beads made out of that?

Actually you are younger than my mother - but we will not go there

The next time that I visit with her, I will see if she will dig them out for me so that I can take some photos. It would be worth it just for historical purposes because I know that a lot of them came from clothing from when she was a child.

Personally I like the Abalone one that is lower right. But then again, I have always liked that look on other things. I always preferred multi colors marbles over cats-eye marbles and I like Damascus steel.

 

[Caitlin]

Yes, abalone is my first seashell love, but that MoP is especially pretty- make good beads. I wonder if nuclei look like that. I am still trying to get some pix of nuclei.

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Pearl culturing nuclei

Pearl culturing nuclei

Hi Caitlin,

Here's a link to a nucleus seller for pearl culturing. http://shenfu.en.alibaba.com/group/50067903/Pearl_Nuclei_Nucleus.html

Zeide