American Pearl Rush
Arkansas Pearls
Arkansas's Pearl
Boom Begins
It all started in early 1897, when Dr. J.H. Myers found a pinkish
14-grain pearl in a Black River clam near the town of Black Rock.
While his was not the first pearl discovered, Dr. Myers is
credited with starting the industry in Arkansas. By year's end,
hundreds of people were searching the vast mussel beds that lined
both the Black and White rivers for many miles above Newport.
The "pearl rush" was on. Farmers left their crops
unattended; bankers, lawyers and merchants closed their doors;
and families relocated to shanties and tents along the rivers to
participate in the search that could net a year's salary in a
single day.
During the early years, pearl hunters could wade out to the
mussel beds and pick up shells by the thousands. When the shallow
beds were gone, other devices were brought in to bring the
mollusks up. Long-handled tongs, which could grasp shells up to
14-feet deep, were often used by boaters. Another method,
crowfoot drags, used a series of wire hooks to which mussels
attached themselves when the boat-mounted rig passed over a
mussel bed. Over-harvesting, floods and the economy contributed
to the pearl industry's decline by World War II.
While Pearls Unique sometimes buys newly-found river pearls, it
relies heavily on a storehouse of loose ones amassed by a Newport
businessman, the late Ralph Sink, during the 1920s and '30s.
"Mr. Sink owned a button factory here and had access to some
of the finest pearls being harvested from the river," Holmes
explains. "He bought pearls by the teacup during a period
when most people had lost confidence in the market."
After holding the pearls some 50 years, Sink sold most of his
collection to another Newport businessman, Bill Pratt. An
enthusiastic friend was eager to help manage the venture.
"I knew nothing about the industry, but became fascinated
after seeing my first White River pearl," Holmes recalls.
"I truly wanted to be part of the plan to re-open a local
market."
Established in 1985, Pearls Unique contracts with silver and
goldsmiths in Arkansas and other states to create special
mountings for their pearls. Some earring designs are crafted in
the Newport shop. Holmes and Coe learned the business quickly and
now lecture and present programs about Arkansas pearls.
Natural pearls are rarely found perfectly round, like the popular
human-assisted cultured pearls. "With all their different
shapes and colors, freshwater pearls work beautifully for
one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry," Holmes said. Colors range
from creamy white to peach, pink, gold, lavender and shades of
blue.
'Pearly' Stories
While Dr. J.H. Myers is credited with starting the industry,
Native Americans in Arkansas had used pearls for personal
decorations for centuries. And pioneers sometimes carried pearls
as good-luck charms or gave them to children as playthings.
Colorful "rags-to-riches" stories were reported in
publications during the pearl "boom" period. A few
lucky pearl prospectors finalized new homes, farms and other
major purchases in cash during the early 1900s. Sometimes pearls
were found in the strangest places. A Lonoke County farmer
reportedly uncovered a cache of gems while digging postholes in
an old channel of the Cypress Bayou.
Perhaps the most intriguing of all the pearling stories happened
in 1902 when a super-quality gem was found inside a large, rough
mucket shell, upstream from Black Rock. After a round of bidding
by dealers, a local jeweler purchased the pearl and hand-carried
it to St. Louis, New York and on to Paris. There it was sold for
a princely sum and reportedly became part of the British Royal
gem collection.
The Gemological Institute of America and "The Book of the
Pearl," first published in 1908, both classified the White
River among the richest pearling regions in the nation. After the
"boom" ended, a by-product of the pearl extended the
venture for many people along the rivers.
To Buttons and Beyond
Pearlers at first discarded mussel shells, believing that they
were worthless. By 1899, though, the shells were being shipped by
rail to Muscatine, Iowa, to be fashioned into buttons. During the
first three years, pearl and button sales pumped almost $1.5
million into Lawrence, Jackson, Independence, Randolph and
Woodruff counties. The industry was soon extended down the White
to Des Arc, Clarendon and beyond.
In 1900, the first shell-button company in the South opened at
Black Rock. Actually, the factory only cut button
"blanks" from shells and shipped them to finishing
plants in the north. Eventually, button factories were opened at
Newport, Batesville, Newark and other towns along the river.
Plastic buttons virtually destroyed the industry during the
1940s, but the demand for mussel shells continued for foreign
markets.
A procedure developed in the Far East during the 1920s brought a
renewed interest in Arkansas shells. Small mussel beads,
implanted into oysters, are later harvested as cultured pearls,
and that market remains today. Also, some shells are ground into
powder and used in cosmetics and other products.
Today, environmental stresses are taking a toll on some of the
nation's mussel shells. Several of Arkansas's 74 mollusk
creatures are on the endangered list and cannot be harvested.
Nationally, some 21 mussel species became extinct during the last
century.
The Arkansas anthem, first adopted in 1917, includes the words,
"'Tis a land full of joy and sunshine, rich in pearls and in
diamonds rare..." Efforts are underway to keep that
statement factual.