Turning Lakes into Pearl Factories
A University of Washington professor claims the Pacific Northwest could dominate the global pearl button market by transplanting Mississippi mussels.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Pacific Northwest might easily become an important factor in the pearl button trade, if it would give attention to the propagation of the pearl mussel in its fresh waters, according to Prof. Trevor Kincaid of the University of Washington. Seattle, in particular, because of its fresh water lakes, is admirably adapted to the development of the industry and could become the pearl button port of the world.
Professor Kincaid has suggested to various eastern button manufacturers the transplanting of the Mississippi mussel, and they have considered it feasible. The present fields are being rapidly exhausted, due to extensive dredging. On the other hand, the mussel native to this coast is unfit for use because of its thin shell. The federal government now has a station where experiments connected with the raising of mussels fit for the button industry are being conducted. The scientists engaged in the work have had much difficulty because of the peculiar life history of the mollusk. The embryo must live as a parasite in order to develop. Fish, principally the trout, are found to be the hosts of the embryo mussel, which attaches itself to the gills, dropping off to lead an independent life upon reaching maturity.
“The Pacific Northwest might easily become an important factor in the pearl button trade... Seattle... could become the pearl button port of the world.”
This 1916 vision of industrial aquaculture mirrors today’s ongoing efforts to balance economic resource extraction with the ecological preservation of our regional waterways. While the industry never materialized in Seattle’s lakes, the local concern for the health of freshwater ecosystems—and the trout populations mentioned here—remains a cornerstone of modern Pacific Northwest environmentalism.
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