The Spoon River, which eventually runs into the Illinois River, has a long
history with freshwater shells.  The river lies in a beautiful valley of
rolling plains which now is mostly farmland but there is some evidence of strip
mining.  One town, Maquon, was located on the river at a location of an Indian
town the natives called Maquonissippi (Maquon for the shells which the Native
Americans used for spoons, hoes and jewelry and the 'issippi' which stands for
river). So both the aboriginal name and the recent settler name for the river
both relate to freshwater shells.  I remember live Quadrula pustulosa and
rarely a live Q. metanevra, of course the Lampsilis cardium (ventricosa) and
others, but that was back in the 1970's.  Only remnants of Elliptio dilitata, a
common shell almost everywhere else but rare in the state outside eastern
Illinois.  The river also boasted a nice covered bridge (Wolf Covered Bridge)
until it was swept away by the horrendous 1993 floods.  Again, no one had a
real good reason why only a very few bridges were built covered.
Dr. Strode, a local physician, who wrote in the 1890's in the early Nautilus
years was an early freshwater shell collector.  He chronicled shells there in
1892 and wrote how he would load the family into the horse driven buggy on
Sundays and hunt shells which he brought back in moist burlap bags.  A simpler
time, and some would say a happier time, however as you read Spoon River
Anthology (which I heartily recommend even for those who do not think they care
for poetry), not all the characters lived carefree lives. But nonetheless, a
beautiful place.

Alan Gettleman
Former Illinois Resident,
Merritt Island, Florida and
Happy to be in the Location for COA 2001, Cape Canaveral, FL July 7-11.


"Andrew K. Rindsberg" wrote:

> The following is an epitaph, one of the many that make up "Spoon River
> Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters (1915). The poem refers to Tyndall, who was
> a popular lecturer on the natural sciences in the late nineteenth century.
> Yeomans is unidentified, but may be the name of a nursery that sent out
> catalogs. The Spoon River is real; it flows through central Illinois. The
> community of Spoon River is Masters' invention, though some of the epitaphs
> are based on real people.
>
> This is not the only epitaph to mention river mussels, but it is my
> favorite. In an era of internet communications, it seems curiously apt.
>
> Andrew K. Rindsberg
> Geological Survey of Alabama
>
> +++++++++++++
>
> William Jones
>
> Once in a while a curious weed unknown to me,
> Needing a name from my books;
> Once in a while a letter from Yeomans.
> Out of the mussel-shells gathered along the shore
> Sometimes a pearl with a glint like meadow rue:
> Then betimes a letter from Tyndall in England,
> Stamped with the stamp of Spoon River.
> I, lover of Nature, beloved for my love of her,
> Held such converse afar with the great
> Who knew her better than I.
> Oh, there is neither lesser nor greater,
> Save as we make her greater and win from her keener delight.
> With shells from the river cover me, cover me.
> I lived in wonder, worshipping earth and heaven.
> I have passed on the march eternal of endless life.
>
>         Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology (1915)