How
Are Mussels Used?
The harvesting of mussels to supply pearl buttons for clothing, fish bait, chicken and grit and feed, and roadbed material is an integral part of the cultural and economic history of towns along the Illinois River. It begins with the invention of a pearl button-cutting machine by John F. Boeapple, a German immigrant in Muscatine, Iowa. There are 27 different jobs associated with the production of the freshwater pearl button (Meredosia Historical and Genealogical Society 1989).
Commercial harvests begin in 1892 in Meredosia and reach their peak in 1909 when 2,600 boats are engaged in mussel fishing between Peru and Grafton (Cummings 2003). Congress supports the mussel industry by enacting the McKinley Tariff in1890 to protect the Midwestern mussel industry, making freshwater shells the cheapest source of buttons (Cummings 2003). In 1912, the Illinois River is considered the most productive stream per mile in the entire country. Shell production in the Illinois River valley reaches 9,500 tons in 1908, 8,000 tons in 1913, but dwindles to less than 3,000 tons by 1923 (Thompson 2002). Two of the most used mussel species for buttons are Quadrula and Lampsilis, in part, because of the thickness of their shells (Figures 60 and 61).
The “puddling” technique is used for the first mussel harvests - one wades into shallow waters at the river’s edge, feels for shells with one’s bare feet, and retrieves each mussel by hand. Later, rakes and tongs are used and finally, boats are outfitted with handmade “crowfoot bars” or brail hooks (Figure 62). Fifty to 100 hooks shaped like crow’s feet hang from 10-14-foot bars that are dragged across the bottom of the river to snag mussels (Meredosia Historical and Genealogical Society 1989) on the hooks as their valves open.
Figure 62: Brail Hook for Harvesting Mussels
As the bar is pulled from the water, the mussels are attached to the hooks (Figure 63).
Figure 63: Fishing for Mussels on the Illinois River
