The Fremont Button Factory

Have you ever found a clam shell in the river? Did you open it up? The inside of a clam shell is very beautiful. Often the shells are very colorful and shiny. Years ago, someone opened a clam shell and exclaimed, "We could make buttons out of these!"

The residents of the small town of Fremont have always depended on the Wolf River. During the logging period, the logs were sent down the river to the lumber mills. After the logging ended, many people realized that the river could provide them with something valuable.

Living in the river were clams with beautiful shells. Some even contained pearls. People began to collect the clams. They realized that the shell could be cut up and used to make buttons for clothing. By the early 1900's a factory was built to make the buttons. It was called Pearl Button Works.

People living in Fremont were able to make a living by collecting the clam shells. During the summer, men called clammers went to the river early in the morning. Some went out in small boats and dug for clams from the river bottom with their hands. This was called "pollywoggin." Others used a larger flat bottom boat called a clam boat. This boat was about 20 feet long and six feet wide. It was powered by an engine. The men used a clam bar to pull in the clams. It was a long pipe which had hooks attached to it. It was dropped into the water off the back of the boat. When the hooks came near it, the clam opened its shell and bit down. The men would pull in the clam bar with the clams attached.

There was a problem. The clams were shut tight. To open the shells, the clams were put into pots of boiling water. This would kill the clam and would open the shell. The meat was taken out of the shell and the shells were put in large barrels. Then they were hauled by horse and wagon to the button factory. Clammers would receive between $60 and $80 for one ton of clam shells.

At the button factory, workers ran machinery that would cut buttons of all sizes out of the clam shells. The clammers worked hard all summer to collect the shells, and the factory workers spent the winter making buttons. The Pearl Button Works stayed in operation until about 1940. It closed for two reasons. So many clammers had collected clams on the Wolf River that the clams were nearly gone. Also, around this time, plastic buttons began being made. They were less expensive than the pearl buttons so less people were buying the Fremont buttons. The factory closed down, but many people still wore the clothing that had been made with the beautiful clam buttons. If you have a great grand-parent who lives in the Fremont area, some of their clothing may have some clam shell buttons on it.

 

Wild Rice in Lake Poygan

The white fluffy grain that we call rice comes from places like Lousiana and California. There is also a rice that grows in Wisconsin. It is sometimes called "wild" rice and it grows in the shallow waters of our lakes and rivers. Many years ago, Lake Poygan was so shallow that it was filled with rice. In fact, on a Wisconsin map drawn in 1769, Lake Poygan is called "Rice Lake."

The people living near the lake at this time were the Menominee Indians whose name means "people of the wild rice." They depended on the rice for food and stored much of it for the winter when the lake was frozen. The Menominee paddled through the lake in a canoe to harvest the rice. Rice grows on stalks that look like the wheat that many farmers plant in their fields. With a curved stick, the stalks were bent over the boat and the grain was pounded into the bottom of the canoe with a short wooden paddle. When the boat was filled, the

Indians poured the grain into a pot on the shore. They then cooked it until the grain separated from its shell, or husk. Then the grains were spread onto the ground and the Indians, wearing moccasins, trampled on it. This took all the remaining shells off. After letting the wind blow the shells away, the only thing left was a pile of clean rice.

Source: Velte, C. H., Historic Lake Poygan. Neenah, WI, 1976, at Omro Public Library.