Sickness and Death

Some of the diaries written by the pioneers speak of little else but sickness and death. There were many accidents of course that accounted for the deaths of a number. Children were known to have fell off wagons.

Amelia Stewart Knight wrote this in her diary...."Friday, July 22, 1853. Just as we were getting ready to start Chatfield, the rascal, came around forward wheel to get into the wagon, and at that     moment the cattle started and he fell under the wagon. Somehow he kept from under the wheels and escaped only with a bad scare"

Other children were not so fortunate. Other ones died when they were shot by mistake by the guards at night. Men were swept away when driving the cattle across the rivers. However, the most common cause of death was disease: measles, typhoid, mountain fever, dysentery (or the bloody flux) and above all the dreaded cholera. Asiatic cholera was brought to America in 1848 and then it spread everywhere with bad water supplies and poor plumbing. Wagon trains, with no proper toilets, and who were camping and watering in the same places as previous trains, were particularly hit by this disease. These people had a variety of medicines on hand to try and cure everything. Laudanum (tincture of opium) and camphor for cholera, harshorne for snakebites, citric acid for scurvy, castor oil for bowel disorders, borax and alum for boils and sores, and whiskey of course, with dried herbs for just about everything else. 

When someone was very ill, the captain of the train might try to find a doctor. These were quite rare, and advertised their services on the 'roadside telegraph'. The fees varied considerably. Some only took money for the medication, others charged for just visiting. A typical charge, for a cholera victim would be $2. If an amputation or setting of limbs was required, this would be $5. But even the doctors of this period did not know about the cause and prevention of most of the diseases. They did know that dirty water was associated with disease, but not that boiling water would kill the germs. The people who drank strong boiled coffee with every meal were less likely to catch the illness. However, even the healthy ones were afflicted by mosquitoes. It was common for people to have been bitten so often, that their blot stopped being able to clot.

Excerpt from Mrs. Larkins Diary: "So many of our company have died of the cholera that I cannot recount their names"

DEATH AND BURIAL

When someone died, most of the burial's were at night. This was for fear of the Indians robbing them. Then the graves were concealed by the building of a fire on them, and driving the entire wagon train over them, so that there would be no trace of the grave. Most families lost someone, but it was a tragedy when it was the husband, as the wife was then on her own to continue the grueling journey. Very often, the widows would marry a single man just to have protection. Death was a common traveler for these pioneers.
There were also the terrible stories of whole wagon trains dying because of weather conditions in the mountains, or poor judgment in setting out too late when the winter had come, of not having enough supplies and dying of starvation. Good planning was essential, and most important of all, a leader who knew what he was doing. Death was a constant companion on the Oregon Trail.

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