Vignette Vol.2 No.5
Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS
1918-19 Noxon. Excerpt--Spanish influenza invaded every town in 1918, hitting almost every family through one member or another. No one had ever seen the likes of it before. Worse than any cold, or ague ever known, influenza decimated population the world over. It plagued Americans, Canadians, European countries, and everywhere it raged. And there was no known medication to cure it. One either survived "the flu", or died. Influenza was highly infectious and contagious.
The deadly illness brought dizziness, fevers of 100-104, chills, coughing, congestion, aching, lethargy, a dangerously slowed pulse and unconsciousness. Victims vomited and suffered weakness, pains in eyes, ears, head or back, and they hurt all over their body. It made eyes and insides of eyelids bloodshot and caused a discharge from the nose. Fevers lasted 3-4 days. Treatment: Go home and to bed at once. Drink water, use cold compress to head, and sponge lightly with cool water. Wear a mask when attending patient.
Desperate counties passed laws. trying to curb influenza's spread and Sanders County Independent Ledger told readers late in October, 1918,
In the Montana Hotel. Mrs George Phillips, ex-wife of the NPRR telegrapher, and Elmer Angst, a 19-year-old man from Thompson Falls who had been living in Noxon working for Marion Larson, both died of the flu. But Harry never got it.
Montana Hotel in Noxon, Montana, ca. 1918. Courtesy Blanche
Gordon Claxton collection.
Visit: Five Star Review
Purchase PDF copies of all three volumes on DVD from M. L. Vanek, 13505 E. Broadway Ave., Apt. 243, Spokane Valley, WA 99216 or via email: mtscribbler@air-pipe.com.
Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume II
Please visit often, and share with friends and acquaintances. If you find anyone with family ties, please leave a comment and contact information and share a memory to grow your family tree!
Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS
1918-19 Noxon. Excerpt--Spanish influenza invaded every town in 1918, hitting almost every family through one member or another. No one had ever seen the likes of it before. Worse than any cold, or ague ever known, influenza decimated population the world over. It plagued Americans, Canadians, European countries, and everywhere it raged. And there was no known medication to cure it. One either survived "the flu", or died. Influenza was highly infectious and contagious.
The deadly illness brought dizziness, fevers of 100-104, chills, coughing, congestion, aching, lethargy, a dangerously slowed pulse and unconsciousness. Victims vomited and suffered weakness, pains in eyes, ears, head or back, and they hurt all over their body. It made eyes and insides of eyelids bloodshot and caused a discharge from the nose. Fevers lasted 3-4 days. Treatment: Go home and to bed at once. Drink water, use cold compress to head, and sponge lightly with cool water. Wear a mask when attending patient.
Desperate counties passed laws. trying to curb influenza's spread and Sanders County Independent Ledger told readers late in October, 1918,
"Emergency regulations providing for, among other things, the closing of schools, theaters and places of public amusement and prohibiting of public gatherings upon the outbreak of influenza in any Montana community."Late in 1918 Noxon and all the little hamlets along the Clark's Fork River were hard hit. Harry Talmadge was making posts on Dry Creek for Jim Saint when the storekeeper, George Buck and his wife both got the "flu" and sent for Harry to tend the store. Harry said,
"Sarah and I were living in a log cabin on Dry Creek. Buck had the post office in his store and I was sworn-in to work in it. I hated to go to Noxon, afraid I might bring the flu back to my family. But I went. They had two Spokane doctors in town. Mrs. Buck had pneumonia. They feared she'd die and, in desperation to reduce the fever ravishing her body, put her out doors in the snow, in a tent out back.
Harry Tallmadge, ca. 1916-18
"I told one of the doctors I was afraid of taking the flu back to my family, handling all the stuff in the post office. He told me to get a fifth of whiskey and take a swallow of it once in a while. So I did."Still worried that he might take the flu home to his family, instead of walking the five miles each night to their cabin, Harry stayed in the Montana Hotel operated by Mrs. Granville Gordon.
In the Montana Hotel. Mrs George Phillips, ex-wife of the NPRR telegrapher, and Elmer Angst, a 19-year-old man from Thompson Falls who had been living in Noxon working for Marion Larson, both died of the flu. But Harry never got it.
Montana Hotel in Noxon, Montana, ca. 1918. Courtesy Blanche
Gordon Claxton collection.
Visit: Five Star Review
Purchase PDF copies of all three volumes on DVD from M. L. Vanek, 13505 E. Broadway Ave., Apt. 243, Spokane Valley, WA 99216 or via email: mtscribbler@air-pipe.com.
Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume II
TO HAVE AN EXCERPT PUBLISHED IN BYGONE MONTANANS ABOUT A PERSON WHO MAY BE MENTIONED IN THIS REGIONAL MONTANA TRILOGY Email mtscribbler@air-pipe.com
Please visit often, and share with friends and acquaintances. If you find anyone with family ties, please leave a comment and contact information and share a memory to grow your family tree!
No comments:
Post a Comment