Early Industry
Portable sawmill 
Sawmill in operation
Lead smelting furnace
millinery shop
Fountain Spring Mill
Miners with mule-drawn cart
Punched pearl button shells
Old shot tower
Clamming Operation
Coal Mining Towns
Iowa's Population Shifts
Lumber Milling in Iowa
Clamming Operation
Time Frame: Late 1800s
A couple at their clamming operation. Clams were thrown into big pots of boiling water to kill them. Men and women pried the loosened shells apart and cleaned out the whitish meat. Clamming for button manufacturing was big business in the late 1800's along the Mississippi River.
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