The record-union., 1895-09-25
CHOLERA IN CALIFORNIA.
People Who Drank River Water Suf-
fered Most.
Terrible Mortality In the Cities of Sac
ramento and MarysvilIe In
the Early Fifties.

The recent reports of cholera in Homo
lulu state that one man has died aboard
the United States Runboat Bennington,
and that twelve others are down with the
disease. the Bennington lies outside the
reef at Honolulu, flying the quarantine
! flag. The United States cruiser Olympia,
which recently arrived at Honolulu, also
anchored outside the reef, warned by the
yellow flag flying at the peak of her sister
ship. 1t is stated that the bennington
may be ordered to San Francisco harbor.
doubtless for the purpose of killing the
germs Of the disease. Many years ago
in 1865 if we remember rightly-the ship
Resaca, United States man-of-war,
came to this harbor from a southern port
with cholera aboard, and lay on the north
side of Yerpa Buena Island until the dis
ease disappeared.
Cholera does not thrive in San Fran
| CISCO, doubtless owing to the GOODNESS OF
the weather here. According to the
| ARCHAEOLOGICAL theories of the present
| day, cholera is communicable only by
the disease germ being taken into the
alimentary canal. \ ct it is none the less
true that heat and humidity aid the lie
OF the germ. We never hear of cholera
in Greenland, while cholera IL India
seems 10 be endemic
When the cholera epidemic" prevailed
in California In early days, it was
| brought here from the East and not from
| the West. In 1913, cholera ragged in the
States OF the Mississippi Valley and in
| the Gulf States. 1t prevailed only slightly
In the Atlantic States; but in Louisville,
| st. Louis, Nicksburg, Natchez, New Or
| leans and other Western cities the dis
ease was deadly. Such was the horror cre-
| "A
| OF thousands fled i'll every direction. The
disease prevailed throughout 1919 in the
| West, and the wave of California gold
seekers was added to by the fugitiyes
| from the cholera. 1t appeared in San
| Francisco Immediately after the ceIebra-
| ton OF the admission of California into
! the Union, which was celebrated here on
! October %, 1880. The doctors declared
that it was brought by the steamers from
| Panama.
| In Sacramento it appeared about the
same time. and the doctors there claimed
that it was brought overland by immi-
grants. 1t reached its hight during the
mild winter of lS50-5l, when the rainfall
was very slight, Only seven inches fell
at San francisco during the entire twelve
months following September, 1850. Only
four inches fell at Sacramento. The epi-
demic apparently disappeared in the
spring of 1851, but reappeared in 1852.
In lo5O-5l the population of San Fran
cisco was about $4,000. Sacramento 10000
/ and Stockton 5000. When the disease
| broke out in San Francisco a number of
| citizens, then prominent, fell victims to
1t. DR.. Peter Smith, the man who had
laid claim to so many thousands of lots
! in San Francisco by his Sheriff. 5 title,
had the City Hospital al the time, and
most of the cholera patients were treated
there by him. His assistant was DR..
! Mills. Among the other well-known
physicians then were DR.. Colt father OF
| Howard Colt, DR.. Dimon, DR.. Nelson,
| DR.. Gerry, Dr. Gray, DR.. Hastings, DR..
Rogers and DR.. Stout. AS we have said,
! the disease did not thrive in San Fran
cisco, although the people were badly
scared. Only about one hundred deaths
occurred in this city from cnolera, but
! upon the Sacramento and along the
| Feather, uba and American Rivers the
disease was nearly always fatal. 1t is
probable that the rivers became polluted.
In MaIysyllle the death rate was higher
| than in any other interior city except
| Sacramento. In Sacramento the ravages
of the disease were terrible, and they
were added to by the continual arrival of
| immigrant trains, many OF them report
| ing cases OF death from cholera and many
of them bringing in patients still suffering
| from the disease. The physicians in Sac
/ ramento were exhausted by their efforts
! to attend upon the numerous patients.
! The two leading physicians were Dr. II.
J. White, whose daughter married L. J.
/ c. kewen, and DIR. Wake Brlarly. There
were the usual strange stories of people
suddenly stricken. Men would turn
! CHASTITY blue white while at the faro
! table, be carried OFT to the hospital and
! die in few hours. Such was the panic
/ that there was wild rush to leave Sacra-
/ mento.
/ The steamers which piled were not suf-
! icient to carry the passengers, and
schOoners and all sort OF craft were
i pressed into service. The fare then by
the steamer Senator from Sacramento TO
| San Francisco was so 80 in gold dust. on
| the way down cholera broke out among
/ the passengers on number OF the boats,
and many of them perished. one
schooner came into the bay OF San Fran
/ cisco with but one man, printer named
/ Bugbee, alive. All of the others had
died, and been thrown over board by Bug
/ bee.
In the book entitled "California-'46 to
49," by Jacob Wright Harlan, the
writer tells of being attacked by cholera
| in San MateO, in 1850, while on his way
from San Francisco to San Jose. DR..
| Townsend, who was going down the
road. was called in, and leaving some
medicine, told Harlan that the chances
were hundred to one against him and
that he would probably be dead before
morning, Harlan spent some days
struggling with the disease, succeeded in
recovering his strength by the aid of the
medicines which had been left him by
| DR.. Townsend, and continued on his
| journey. When he reached San Jose he
was told that Dr. Townsend and his wife
| had died of cholera about an hour before.
The Federal, State and City Boards Of
Health are working together harmoni-
ously TO keep out the disease. 1t is not
probable that it could acquire a foot
| hold in San Francisco. The climate, as
we have said, is against it; further than
that, the water supply of this city is un
usually good, and as the supply reser-
voirs are practically remote from human
| habitations, it Is difficult to conceive how
the water could become polluted. But
if cholera should get into the interior
valleys of California, where the water
supply is largely from rivers which might
! easily become polluted, it would, as was
foreshadowed by the epidemic of years
ago, be difficult to stamp out the disease.
-Argonaut.
STONE SAMPLES WANTED
| ust,o