Shell money most valued by the Native American tribes of the Pacific Coast from Alaska to northwest California was "Dentalium shell", a species of long narrow marine shelled mollusk, a tusk shell or scaphopod. The tusk shell is naturally open at both ends, and can easily be strung on a thread. This shell money was valued by its length rather than the exact number of shells; the "ligua", the highest denomination in their currency, was a length of about 6 inches. Farther south, in central California and southern California, the shell of the olive snail "Olivella biplicata" was used to make beads
Wampum, Pennsylvania of families and 17.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.9% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over. Wampum had its own school district called Wampum Public Schools from 1914-1962. The district also included students from nearby Chewton and, after 1954, New Beaver. Since 1962, children in Wampum proper and Chewton have attend Ellwood City Area School District, which is considered the legal successor to Wampum Public Schools due to state-mandated school consolidation in the 1960s. Due to a dispute with the former Big Beaver Township School District that had an