Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-08-07
Cholera InvasiOns,

IL VIC u1tG 81 IaVOTdUie 1OF lie us
ease. As these persons return to their
homes the scourge is scattered
throughout the country, and then it
follows the paths of commerce to the
north and west around the world. 1t
moves by fits and starts, blazing UP
learlully IN one place where the con-
olUons arc favorable and completely
dylng out IN another. running for
hunureds OF miles almost as fast as q
faiiroao tfaln can go, and again creep
ing men by inch, lying so dormant in
winter as TO be almost forgotten. and
sometimes taking years to get to its
journeys end. II comes to this conn
very irregularly, and sweeps ou;fe
across to the Pacific or dies ont after
attacking few exposed citi,s as han
pens, but yet it comes often enouGb
and so far always from the East. al
though 1t RACES terribly in China at
tunes when communication with the
Pacific coast is constant. Irregularlv
and 10 no great number of times the
plague sweeps around from east TO
west, Killing tens In one place and
tens of thousands in another. and the
whole world suffers from these poison-
breeding pilgrimages again and
again.
The present visitation first attracted
attention in the Sooloo islands. eastof
India and southeast of China, in Au-
gust, 1867. There was no attempt at
quarantining, the disease spread TO the
Philippine and other neighboring is
lands, and the mortality was fear
tul. 1t is said that 20, 900 persons died
on the little Soeloo group alone. The
scourge spread to Japan and some
parts OF CHINA, where there were many
deaths, and then came winter and its
progress stopped. The cholera began
to move westward from India in Nav
of last year, and made its way up to
the Red STA. An international quar-
antine was established at the southern
end of the Suez canal by IA nations.
the United States among them, but
this soon broke down from the action
of the British government. It's repre-
sentatives insisted that the interests
of commerce should be considered as
much as those Of health, the rules were
constantly broken over, and soon
cholera was in the Mediterranean.
From there its transportation toEurope
could hardly be more than question
of time. whether the particular means
Of conveyance We're known or not
and so it is that the cholera appeared
IN France and that Europe, to say
nothing eff this country, is once more
exposed to t.e old danger.
Toe first cholera "wave" to reach
this country started at Hardware, the
great resort of pilgrims at the source
of the Ganges. In 1926. went slowly
along the great caravan route to
Orenburg in Russia, which point it
reached in 1929, whence it went to
Moscow and Riga on the Baltic, where
English coast1ng vessels took it and
carried it to Sunderland and New castle.
The disease travelled overland through
Germany to London also, and was
finally brought to Quebec in June,
1885, by a shipload of English emf
grants. It went up the river and lake
to Detroit, and there are recorded the
first cases of the scourge on American
soil. 1t happened that the soldiers
detained for the Black Hawk war were
just starting out from there, and they
carried the disease to Fort Dearbourn
at Chicago and to the Rock Island
arsenal and other points on the Mis-
sissippi river. The soldiers them
selves suffered SO much that the ex-
petition was practically broken up.
From the forts and camps the disease
went down the Mississippi river to
New Orleans, and up the Ohio to Gin
where it was met by cases
brought across the state of Ohio from
Lake Erie. The scourge also went
from Montreal down lake Champlain
travelling northward from New York,
where it had been brought from Havre
by the immigrants little later than
at Quebec.
The next epidemic to find its way ia
this country started in 1912, and was
brought to New Orleans by an emf
grant ship from Havre in the fall of
1S48. The scourge spread a little in
the vicinity during the winter, and
the next spring went up the Mississi-
ppi river and the Ohio, and the Him
DIS to Chicago. This was the moment
of the great rush 10 the newly discOv-
cred gold fields in California, and
they carried the cholera from St. Louis
across the plains to the Pacific, and
more than 1000 died on the road.
Another visitation came IN 1853, VIXEN
there were $500 deaths ia New York
and Chicago, and some other cities
suffered severely; and in 1866 came
another great epidemic, which started
in India the year before and was
brought to New York by an emigrant
ship. It is estimated that II, 900 lives
were lost here during the three full
months. And the last wave was in
1873, when an emigrant ship from
Broenaen brought the cholera to New
Orleans, and it spread northward as
far as Chicago, but did its worst work
in the South.
This plague takes the readiest
means of transportation sthat offers,
whether by land or sea, and it's rate
of travelling has increased practically
as much as the rate of travel In com
MERGE, if allowance be made for the