CascAda History #11 - Clam Harvesting Traditional Cache
Hidden : 9/14/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


CascAda History #11 - Clam Harvesting
The Cascade & Ada Township History Series

The Grand and Thornapple Rivers both supported a busy and profitable clamming industry from the turn of the 19th century until the mid 1940’s. Clamming was done by wading and raking or boats. On land, people would tend the fires and shelling the clams and the piles of clamshells would be as tall as a house by the end of a season.

If a person waded out into the river to get the clams, they could feel them with their feet. That was the simple way to do it, but for a bigger operation a boat was used. At one time many flat-bottomed clam boats were in use, sixteen to twenty feet long and four feet wide. Sometimes they used small outboard motors but more often a "mule" was lowered into the water for propulsion.

There was a rectangular piece of canvas, about twelve feet long and four feet wide, which acted as a sort of underwater sail. When sunk in front of the boat and bowed out in the water, it would take advantage of the current and give just the right speed. From the sides or stern one or two long pipes ("drags") would be pulled along, and from these dangled a series of chains, each with a four-pronged hook at the end. There might be as many as one hundred of these chains, and as the hooks came in contact with open clams on the bottom, the shells would close and they would be neatly snagged.

Clam harvesting was a picturesque and profitable way for riverfront farmers to make some extra cash. Occasionally they would find a pearl, and in the years of the industry these would bring from $5 to $100. Most of the clams harvested were used for producing buttons and if one had a good month, they could take in $1,000 or more.

Pollution in Michigan rivers, plus the advent of plastic buttons slowed down the clam operations. Additionally, a state law limited the season to one month. In 1946, a ton of clamshells sold for about $100, but the demand was lacking, and the clammers turned to other means of livelihood.

Information provided by the Cascade Chronicles, published in 1987 by the Cascade Historical Commission

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Cnvagrq crnahg ohggre wne ng onfr bs shegurfg evtug fznyyre gerr

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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