A Mutiny Against Mussels

(La Crosse Public Library Archives)

Although the Wisconsin Pearl Button Co. publicized about fair wages for their workers and good conditions, a riot broke out in 1910. Tensions over unfair pay and the company’s violation of child labor laws led to a riot eleven days after a fifteen-year-old boy was illegally hired. In the chaos, the foreman, John Studier, was shot by one of the company’s employees. The following year, the employees’ concerns were realized when the button maker’s union successfully pressured the company for fair wages.

Where Did the Mussels Go?

(Mississippi Harvest by Lisa Knopp)

The Mississippi River and other midwestern rivers used to be home to rich biodiversity and the most species of freshwater mussels in the world. It is hard to put specific numbers to how much intensive clamming affected the mussel population in the Mississippi River. However, accounts from before 1890 say that the bottom of the river was covered in mussels and compared to a cobblestone street. Companies took the abundance for granted, and the industry used 40,000 to 60,000 tons of mussels each year from the 1900s to the 1920s. When the mussels population of an area was depleted, companies simply harvested from a new area. The environmental effects are still felt today: 70 percent of freshwater mussel species in the Midwest are extinct, endangered, or protected. Beautiful pearl buttons are all that’s left of many species.

Dangers of Deforestation

(Wisconsin Public Radio)

The views of fields and grassy hills while driving in Wisconsin makes it hard to believe that up to eighty percent of the state used to be covered in forests. This change was precipitated by the arrival of logging companies. Conservation and wildlife preservation were not a part of the public consciousness, and profit and “progress” came first in the minds of loggers. Diana Peterson, coauthor of “Logging in Wisconsin” explains, "In the 1890s, they really thought that they could cut almost forever without damaging the land, and that there was an infinite supply of trees…And sadly by 1920, they had pretty much depleted the whole state. During those 60 or 70 years they really changed the geography of Wisconsin, building dams, changing the course of rivers, cutting down trees.” The logging companies moved on or died out, leaving rows of stumps in their wake.

Logging Dangers

(Republican and Leader, 6 April 1886)

Logging was and still is one of the most dangerous professions in the United States. Fires were a constant risk because slash piles, or the material left by loggers, caught fire easily. The fire could also spread quickly across the areas where loggers worked. There was the danger of being crushed by falling lumber, and workers transporting logs down the river could slip and be injured or drowned. Lumber mill owners in La Crosse and Onalaska also had to continually rebuild lumber mills lost to fire, indicating that fire also posed a danger to employees within the mill.