Natural Science Forum / Earth Science / Mineralogy / July 2005

JJ, you have devilishly eclectic interests! Thanks for the opportunity to
read about Twain.
Clyde

Missouri Meerschaum pipes are still being made (straight and curved
stems) 10 miles down the road from where I live, in Washington,
Missouri. http://www.corncobpipe.com/ I have two of them. No, I don't
smoke, but they come in handy as props for various theatrical occasions.
Such as last year when we did a float trip and the dress up theme was
'Beverly Hillbillies."

Washington, Missouri, in fact, the Missouri River valley from St. Louis
halfway across the state to Jefferson City was settled by two waves of
German immigrants. The first were Utopians and other idealistic gentry
in the 1840s, following the reports of Gottfried Duden, who promoted the
Missouri Valley as being nearly indistinguishable from the Rhine Valley.
Many of these people were not farmers, and ended up retreating to towns
and cities, and subletting their lands to more agrarian types. The
second wave, many of them poor farmers destined to be cannon-fodder for
the Kaiser,  came in the 1870's-80s as they fled German politics, and in
general they were successful. I have ancestors from both waves of
settlement.

The early German pipe-factories in Washington *did* make "Missouri
Meerschaum" clay pipes from the mid-Missouri kaolinite, fireclay and
burley clay deposits, however these were expensive (not as expensive as
the Turkish clay ones) and supplies of excellent pipe clay were limited.
In contrast,  there was an potentially unending supply of corncobs.
Being naturally frugal, there was more demand for the cob pipes, and
the name migrated to them.

So there is the connection between a German name for a clay mineral, and
corncob pipes.