“Mussel Shells and Pearls” is the subject of a program that the Wade brothers, Loyd and Wayne, will give at the Old Independence Regional Museum on Saturday, August 1st at 2 p.m. They will tell about their years of diving for mussel shells, and sometimes finding pearls, in Arkansas’ rivers. The brothers will show some of the equipment they have used in their dives in the White and Black rivers, and will tell about some interesting diving experiences.
Their talk will include answers to several questions, like: How do they sell shells? What is it like to find a pearl in a mussel shell? How have the mussel beds changed over the decades?
They learned to dive from his father when they were just boys in the late1960s. “Dad had been shelling for some time, but then he started diving with a helmet and Mom and I took over running a boat using crowfoot hooks,” Wayne said. “My grandfather went shelling and now my son has started diving. That makes four generations of us.”
Wayne Wade started diving for a living about 1989. They dive from a boat and sometimes go down 20 feet to feel for the mussels in the murky river bed. The market has fluctuated over the years, depending on the Asian countries need for seed pearls or for other jewelry use. “We haven’t dived this year because the bottom has dropped out of the market, due to the world-wide bad economy,” Wayne stated.
The Wade brothers are two of Arkansas’ few remaining commercial mussel-shell harvesters. “A license costs $100, plus another $100 for a helper, and then it takes about $1,000 to set up for diving,” Wayne Wade said. “It’s legal to dive for mussels in the Black River from Jacksonport to the Missouri line and from Batesville to the Mississippi River.”
The museum has a significant exhibit in place titled “Summer: Time to Go Pearling and Shelling.” It contains early homemade diving helmets, crowfoot hooks, tongs and a drag-fork, plus a variety of White River shells and some pearls. Text and picture panels tell about pearling history in the region, how families looked for pearls during the Great Depression, and when the shell button industry was important in the area.
Old Independence Regional Museum, located at 380 South Ninth Street in Batesville is non-profit institution serving 12-counties in north central Arkansas. The Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The museum is located at 380 South 9th street, between Boswell and Vine Streets in Batesville. The Museum’s Gift Shop is open to the public and has an extensive collection of books, historical reproductions and gift items related to local history and culture for all ages. Call 870-793-2121 for more information.
