The Quad Cities has a long history with freshwater mussels in the Mississippi River and other local tributaries.
Mussels were first used for tools and food by the Native Americans that lived along these rivers. Then in the late 1800s, it was discovered Midwest mussels were perfect for making buttons. The harvest across the Midwest was impressive. Within a couple decades though, resources became depleted.
This content is restricted to subscribers of OutdoorNews.com. If you are already an OutdoorNews.com subscriber, you can log in here. If you are not and would like to read this and all the other great content OutdoorNews.com has to offer, click here.


