The Great Arkansas Pearl Rush

There have been many gold and gem rushes that have hit various parts of the United States throughout history, but did you know there was another rush on gems that took place in a spot you wouldn’t first expect.

The gems in question are pearls, and things got started when a shoemaker in New Jersey pulled a 93-grain pearl (one pearl grain is the equivalent to 0.25 carats) from a mussel in a freshwater brook in 1857. He sold what was dubbed the “Crown Pearl” to Tiffany & Co. for $1,500 (about $47,127 in today’s dollars). This set off a pearl rush that spread from the eastern coast into the central United States.

Pearls began to be found in Vermont, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas, as people started to give up their jobs to hunt for pearls in freshwater streams and rivers. But another big pearl rush hadn’t yet begun.

Pearls had been discovered in Arkansas in the early 1880s, and in 1888, a 27-grain pink pearl was found in the White River. But one discovery really put Arkansas on the pearl hunting map. In 1897, Dr. J.H. Myers discovered a 14-grain pink pearl in the Black River near Black Rock, Arkansas. The news of this find set off the Arkansas Pearl rush and started the Arkansas pearl industry.

Hundreds of people began setting up along the shores of the White and Black Rivers to hunt for pearls. The mussels…