The Health Factor in the Gold Rush Era

Abstract

IN 1848 a virtually incurable world-wide infection commenced in California. It was the gold fever. The aftereffects of this spiritual malady were often to be homesickness, heartache, wanderlust, and, occasionally, lead poisoning. But those who contracted this age-old disease carried with them to California far more dangerous physical contagions. They brought illness by land and sea. Seeking to realize their disappointed dreams of liberty, two shiploads of Germans left Le Havre late in 1848. Both vessels were infected with cholera, and this plague broke out aboard before they reached their respective ports, New York and New Orleans. By January, 1849, the Crescent City was panic stricken, and in a short time river boats carried the disease throughout the Mississippi Valley. St. Louis was attacked, emigrants carried the disease onto the plains, and soon the trail all the way to the continental divide was lined with graves of the victims. New Orleans was also an important port of embarkation for the isthmian route. At Panama cholera flourished among the Argonauts awaiting Pacific passage, and in October, 1850, San Francisco was affected by this seaward attack.' The contagion was even more unmerciful to inland Sacramento. That city's death rate was estimated at 15 per cent, while that of San Jose was to per cent. The plague, following isothermal lines, took only 5 per cent of San Franciscans. At its peak, the Sacramento death rate reached twenty a day. With the coming of cooler weather, the epidemic waned, and it ended about December 1. Cholera came again in 1852, but with less force.! Its effects upon central California had been great. Death was sudden. As a result, panic occurred in the diggings, where little medicine and medical knowledge existed. Today, it is known that Asiatic cholera is primarily water-borne, making the prevention of epidemics dependent on a good sewage system and an adequate supply of pure water. San Francisco and Sacramento lacked both.