In 1901 pearling excitement developed in the mountain regions of eastern Tennessee, especially in Clinch River. These newly-discovered resources proved so valuable that the local interest became very great. Vivid and picturesque accounts published in the local papers reported hundreds of persons as camping at various points along the streams, some in tents and some in rough shanties, and others going from shoal to shoal in newly-built house-boats. They were described as easygoing, pleasure-loving people, the men, women, and children working hard all day, subsisting largely on fish caught in the same stream, and dancing at night to the music of a banjo around the camp-fires. The center of the new industry was Clinton, the county seat of Anderson County, whither the successful hunters betook themselves each Saturday, the preferred time for selling the catch. The next outbreak of pearling excitement was in Arkansas, in the region referred to by Daniel Coxe two centuries ago as the location of great pearl resources.[322] Although in recent times little had been heard of pearls in Arkansas previous to 1895, they were not unknown in that State. For years they had been picked up by the fishermen, and used as lucky stones or given to the children for playthings. Some had come into the possession of persons acquainted with their value. About 1875, a few pearls were collected by a party of men engaged in cutting cedar poles on White River; in 1888, a brilliant pear-shaped pink pearl of twenty-seven grains was secured from the same river, and sold to a prominent resident. Little had been said about these finds, and in general the people of Arkansas had slight idea of the occurrence or the value of pearls in those waters. In 1895, a surveying party on White River found pearls in the Unios of that stream, and collected them to the value of about $5000. News of this discovery attracted attention to the resource, and other persons sought for the gems in the White River and its tributaries, in the St. Francis and the Arkansas rivers. The unusually low water in 1896 facilitated the fishery, and resulted in the discovery of many large and valuable gems. The interest developed rapidly, and within twelve months nearly every stream of water in Arkansas yielded pearls, with the finds most extensive and valuable in White River and its tributary the Black River, which has proved to be the richest pearling region in America. The industry centered at Black Rock, more than a thousand persons fishing within twenty miles of that place. It is estimated that within three years following the development of this fishery, this State yielded pearls to the value of more than $500,000.