Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-05-17
PINE WOODS CURE
FORMER VARSITY STUDENT
TAKES TO THE FOREST.
/ AND SAVES HIS LlFE
Attacked by tuberculosis He Roughs
1t on Minnesota Lake Through
out the Winter and Returns to Civ
ilization Robust, Ruddy and Re-
covered.

A. T. Sammis and Albert Ward
have arrived from the north shore of
Sandy lake, Minnesota, where they
have been encamped scince last Octo-
Der, says the Minneapolis Journal. Mr..
Ward is sufferer from tuberculosis
in it's early development, and before
taking to the woods he had exhausted
his resources on trips to Colorado and
other localities said to afford climatic
advantages to persons with pulmonary
trouble. Mr. Sammis is a cousin of
Dr.. Ward, who was educated at the
University Of Wisconsin, and has been
prevented from practicing by i'll
health. Sammis owns a timber claim
up on the Big Sandy and on the claim
is log house 14X16, equipped with a.
range cooking stove, a couple of hunks
and some bed quilts, besides a varied
assortment of guns and fishing tackle.
He persuaded DR.. Ward that a res
idence in the woods during winter
would not hurt him if it did him no
good, and the two went north October
last.
The two gentlemen showed up at
sporting goods store in MINNEAPOLIS
for SUPPLIES. DR.. Ward had on a cotton
shirt open at the neck and displaying
chest that would make most prize
fighters pale with envy. He talks in
deep bass voice that seems to have
borrowed something from the storms
of a northern Minnesota winter, and
looks as little like consumptive as
can be imagined
L believe firmly in the efficacy of
the pine woods for pulmonary
trouble" said DR.. Ward. 81 believe
in it so strongly that I am going to
spend the whole summer up on Sandy
lake and after that to open practice
at Ripon, which is my old home Be-
fore | went north several Of my med
zeal friends in this city and Madison
told me I was sure to develop a true
case Of consumption unless l got away
from this climate and went to Arizona
or New Mexico or some other faraway
locality. l could not go to any of
these places because my purse was not
long enough, so I took the advice of
my cousin and went to the woods with
him. We had been living all this last
winter on fish caught through the ice,
on vension we killed ourselves and
such game as grouse, rabbits, etc.
For the first month or so after
winter set in l suffered with cold and
was tempted to strike for steam-heated
quarters. | am now extremely glad
that | did nothing Of the sort. The
chilly feeling soon wore off. We
would turn out at daylight in the
morning and go five or six miles over
the ice to look after traps we had set
along the river, and sometimes to fish
through the ice. l got in the habit
of tramping ten or twelve miles, be-
tween breakfast time and the next
meal, and by the time we turned up at
the shanty for dinner I was invariably
SO hungry that I could have eaten
everything in the place. The rough
and ready food we prepared for our
stomach. Before we had been there
six weeks I found myself cooking my
own fish over a wood fire and picking
pieces out of the pan because I was so
hungry 1 could not wait until the
meal was thoroughly cooked.
From that time to the present I
have continued to gain health and
strength, and [ do not believe there
has ever been a moment since | was
born when l felt so thoroughly well
as at present | have called on some
Of my medical acquaintance here
since yesterday and they have eXami-
ined me for any evidence Of the for
mer lung weakness. There is no such
evidence so far as any of them have
been able to discern.
Il believe that residence in the
pine woods is a positive panacea for
pulmonary disease in its earlier
stages [ am now preparing for
publication a pamphlet l wrote while
in the woods which will be entitled
How to Deal with Weak Lungs"
This outlines the plan Of living that
should be followed by those in search
of health by the pine wood route. To
summarize it, the formula is exercise
all day and sound sleep all night.
have never enjoyed an experience
more in my life than the last seven
months in Minnesota forest country.
For advanced cases of tuberculosis the
treatment might be too heroic, but
proper discrimination would be the
only thing necessary to curing humid
reds Of developing pulmonary troubles
per the piney route"