New-York tribune., 1900-08-12
NURSING in DAWSON.
THE VICTORIAN ORDER OF NURSES DIS
CONTINUES ITS WORK IN THE
YUKON DISTRICT.

Probably all those who were interested in the
work of the four heroic sent to the Klondike
a little more than two years ago by the Victorian
Order of Nurses will be sorry to learn that the
order has now definitely withdrawn from the Yukon
district
The conditions OF life have much improved In
Dawson during the last two years and so many
private nurses are practising their profession
there, that there is longer the need for
the presence of the Victorian order, and In view
Of this and other circumstances 1t was thought
best TO discontinue the work. 1t was the hope Of
those who planned the expedition and the earnest
desire of the superintendent Miss Georgia Powell
that permanent service might be established in
Dawson. and some disappointment was felt, par
ticularly by Miss Powell. at the failure to do So
But the conditions of mining town made 1t quite
impossible to organize local association to assume
the responsibility of carrying the work, and the
Board of Governors felt unequal to the task OF
directing il any longer from such distance. House
10 house nursing, moreover, was found to be out
OF the question IN such primitive dwellings as those
OF Dawson and II the work had been continued it
would have had to be a somewhat different plan
from that adopted at home
But though the expedition failed in part Of its
purpose it accomplished more than was even hoped
for in ctner ways, and its work constitutes
brilliant chapter in the history of nursing. the good
done during the first year being quite beyond com
putation.
LADY ABERDEEN's IDEA.
| IT will be remembered that the Victorian nurses
! were sent to Dawson on account of the terrible
| outbreak Of typhoid fever which occurred when
the rush to the gold fields began. The Victorian
Order was not even organized at that time It's
affairs being managed by provisional COM
mttee, and the work had not been started in the
| Eastern cities But the news of the
/ typhoid epidemic received Lady Aberdeen con-
ceived the idea of sending nurses to the klondike
| II seemed the fitting way possible to inaugu-
rate the work of the new society, and was cordially
indorseI both by those connected with the order
! and by the country at large A special fund TO
! the expenses of the expedition was speedhy
raised and May IS 1898, the nurses left with the
troops under the command of Colonel Evans
reaching Dawson just the typhoid epidemic was
| at its height
Miss Powell arrived first on August s. 1898. with
the advance guard of the soldiers without her as
sistant nurses and practically without baggage or
| necessary provisions. She Immediately assumed
| charge of the Good Samaritan Hospital an nstitu-
tion consisting of two log buildings 25 feet long by
| 80 wide built i'll drained bog and only par
| TALLY completed. The furnishings of the hospital
! We're primitive its construction. There were
few mattresses, which were reserved for the very
! sickest patients. The others thankful If they
could get a sack of shavings, and often a patient
| lay for days with only blanket between him and
| the boards. Blankets were also scarce, and the
patients generally used their own, which oftener
! than not were alive with vermin. To get blanket
washed cost 81. and the laundry bill ranged from
| $50 to $57 a week. There no sheets. no night
clothes and pillows. Each man rolled up his
! Mackinaw coat his overalls for a pillow, and
! slept in the underclothes he had which were
! often all he possessed.
| DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED.
There were no disinfectants materials for
! dressings and only few towels. The dishes con-
| sisted of a few cups and plates which had to be
| used In The cooking done in a tent, on
a small that it could easily have been car
ried under the arm, and the utensils consisted OF
two baking pans and some butter cans. The ground
was covered with shavings to keep the cooks feet
from the dampness, and here many patient threw
himself down TO wait till place prepared for
him. be told, alas that he could not possibly
be taken in. Another served sleeping
room for Miss Powell the bed being postal sack
filed with sha wings and boards-chiefy boards.
The disease which Miss Powell had TO nurse un-
der these conditions called typhoid, but It was
such typhoid as she had never seen before, though
she thought she had 1t in Its worst form. The
had in many walked five, nine and
twelve miles from some of the creeks in the broi-
! ing sun, with their temperature ranging from lOl
to 103 degrees. and IN two or three instances TO
Their strength often failed before they reached
to their undoing, in pile of stumps and roots
that had been cleared from the building place, and
| surrounding tents daily for stray sufferers
There were seven patients in the hospital on Miss
| Powelrs arrival; by the end of the week there
| were eighteen. and at the end OF another week
| there were thrty-sx. All these she had to
and cook for, with no assistance but what the
miners could give and under the conditions de-
| scribed. But at the end Of four weeks out
for want Of rest, sleep and nourshing food. she,
| too, succumbed 10 the fever.
At the end Of three days the other nurses came,
| and two Miss Payson and Miss Scott, were imme-
diately placed in charge Of the hospitals while
Scott was to the barracks hospital. which