Frontier Doctorin'

Of all the problems facing the pioneers on the frontier, illness and disease were the most dangerous.  Smallpox, cholera, typhoid, malaria, diphtheria, infections, and even the flu posed serious health risks.  In the Dakota Territory in 1880, 220 people died from diphtheria alone.  Epidemics of malaria (they called ague) and pneumonia were common. 

Along with the actual illness and disease came the superstition.  Germs were not discovered yet and most illness were believed to be caused by nature - the night air, the morning fog, the humidity even the change of seasons.  Living in sod houses on the Prairie was dangerous as well with dirt floors and sod roofs, always full of bugs like bed bugs, mosquitos, and flies.  There was no FDA to regulate food or water, so food was often contaminated and water tainted.  Diets were heavy on the grease and scurvy was common in some parts.

Pioneer doctoring was primitive at best.  Patient lived a good distance away, even on horseback, and doctors were a last resort.  The 50 cent a mile fee, plus the consultation and the cost of medicine could be a real sacrifice for families with just a few dollars.  Most people believed that doctoring was no better than their own remedies anyway...and often times it wasn't.

Mrs. Edith Wheeler of Texas reported that "Old Man Rufe Harper sprouted a skin cancer that the doctor swore would spread till it ate up his face.  Uncle Rufe came to me.  I remembered how my mother use to take warts off with an ointment made from the crushed leaves of sheep sorrel...I mixed in some gunpowder to make it extra strong and smeared it on his face fresh every day.  Rufe said it burned like hell but after five days that cancer slid off his face like a dried scab!" 

Not sure how Uncle Rufe's face looked after that,  but it didn't kill him. :)  And no, do not try this at home!

Next time...Home Remedies and Cures
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On October 1, 1890,  an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914) and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison and paved the way for generations of hikers, campers and nature lovers, along with countless “Don’t Feed the Bears” signs.

James Harrod, Another Kentucky Legend

Two years before Daniel Boone came to the bluegrass of central Kentucky, a 25 year old Pennsylvanian, James Harrod, explored the forests edging the Kentucky River.  This six footer followed wide buffalo traces and found a lake-sized spring and creek.  This site became Kentucky's first town.

Seven years later, he returned by canoe with 32 men down the Monongahela and Ohio River, and up the Kentucky River.  They cleared a wide path along the creek, called it Water Creek, lined it with 1/2 acre allotments and built five cabins along it with 27 more within 10 miles.  The men called it Harrodsburg, drew lots for land ownership and staked claims to all the springs within 20 square miles.  Harrod was to own 2818 acres and a farmhouse large enough to accommodate 65 guests at one time.

Indian threat came quickly, and Daniel Boone showed up to give them warning.  Harrod and his men left to take part in putting down a Shawnee uprising, but returned the following year to Harrodsburg.  Families and some slaves joined the settlement and they raised a fort for defense.

In 1777,  "The Year of the Bloody Sevens",  the Shawnee raids reached a peak.  So many whites died that the survivors left their crops and stations, crammed into the fort, hungry and short of gunpowder and lead for making bullets.  Harrod saved them all by sneaking past the Indian forces with 30 men to retrieve five large buried caches of gunpowder.

When it was practical, Harrod liked to disappear on long, lone hunting trips, surveying lands and spying on Indian camps.  He was superbly skilled at woodcraft, a rugged individual who was fond of food and drink and gambling as well.  Unlike most of his fellow wilderness men, he was literate.  He founded Harrods Latin School and was elected to the Virginia legislature in 1779 and 1784. 

In 1791, Harrod left home to search for silver mines but never returned.  His family thought he was killed by another settler over a land claim but more probable was that the Indians finally got him.  No one knows for sure so this legend's demise is indeed a "legend". 

Next time...The Western American Revolution
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Today in Pioneer History:  On September 28, 1542, the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay while searching for the Strait of Anian, a mythical all-water route across North America.

Pontiac and the Great Spirit Rally the Indians

Now that the British and her colonies were in control. The trans-Appalachian country Indians saw the future as one of being overrun by settlers.  General Jeffrey Amherst, British commander of the New World, actually recommended smallpox be spread among the Indians to destroy them!

The Indians' only hope was to attack the lightly defended forts of the west.  Enter one "Abnaki Prophet" who claimed to be the Great Spirit and who was charged with rousing the Indians against the British.

The chief of the Ottawas, Pontiac, believed him and roused his tribe in 1763 to strike the British
outpost at Detroit.  News traveled fast, within a month most of the tribes of the region followed Pontiac's example, surrounding Fort Pitts and leaving a trail of death while sending the British fur traders and farmers who were heading west, running for cover.  British reaction was swift and the rebellion was quelled within a few months, but not without opening the British eyes to the power of the Indian in the west.  (Remember the "west" at this time was the Ohio Valley)  Pontiac was later killed by an Indian, probably bribed by a white man.

On October 7, 1763, the British issued a proclamation limiting white settlement to the region east of the Appalachian crest.  The settlers, however, defied it, coming into Kentucky by the Ohio River, through the Cumberland Gap by wagon, or by the Wilderness Road.

Many easterners, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were land speculators who stood to lose fortunes if the proclamation stayed in effect. The British had no way to enforce the edict.  Pioneers moved into Kentucky, Tennessee, through the Alleghenies and established settlements around Pittsburgh.  The line became regarded as a temporary imposition, as the British kept moving the line westward to accommodate land speculators.

Next time...a familiar friend from the west
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Today in Pioneer Pieces History:  Early in the morning on September 17, 1868,  a large band of Cheyenne and Sioux stage a surprise attack on Major George A. Forsyth and a volunteer force of 50 frontiersmen in Colorado.

Wagons and Horses Still Rule the Trail

Wagons were still the most common mode of travel for pioneers going west in the mid 1800s.  Women were also more involved in the travel journey as 15 year old Eliza Warner notes in her journal:

"I drove four horses nearly all day, saw the most magnificent scenery I ever saw."

After finishing their work for the day, Mary says "we had a good time singing." 

When the weather was good, she and her Aunt Celia (a married lady barely out of her teens) rode
horseback for the sheer fun of it.  With all that open land, riding would have been a thrill with the wind in your hair, fresh air in your lungs.  Can't you imagine it along with Mary and Celia?

Next time - a more older a serious Katherine Dunlap

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Today in Pioneer History: On Mary 29, 1843,  John C. Fremont again departs from St. Louis to explore the West, having only recently returned from his first western expedition.