Influenza in Iron County, 1918-1919
submitted by: Jay Jones Jones
01 Influenza |
From “The Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 in Utah,” printed in the Spring 1990 issue of the Utah Historical Quarterly: “Salt Lake City, as the ‘Crossroads of the West,’ began to report an outbreak on October 3, and, because of the large number of visitors the city felt the impact of the disease intensely. Within four weeks there were more than 1,500 cases of influenza and 117 deaths. On the single day, October 15, Salt Lake City officials reported 161 new cases and 6 deaths. Entire families were down in many instances. On that same day sixty-five other towns in Utah reported outbreaks of the disease.”
This event became known as the second wave of the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, often referred to as the Spanish Flu. An earlier wave had gone unnoticed in much of the nation.
On 11 October 1918, a front-page headline in the Iron County Record reported “Spanish Influenza Now in Cedar City.” The article revealed some five or six cases having developed in the city. Based on the severity of the disease in other areas, the closing of all public gatherings was anticipated. Of greatest concern was the tendency for the influenza to progress to a deadly form of pneumonia.
School superintendent L. John Nutall, as chairman of the Cedar City board of health, was given the responsibility to oversee the city’s response to the emergency.
The following week the Record reported the death of Anna Pendleton, who had been attending school in California. A small, open-air funeral service was held and she was buried in the Cedar City cemetery.
The next week came with the report of the death of Florence Mitchell Bergstrom in Parowan. She was the wife of Dr. Jacob Bergstrom. While Dr. Bergstrom was finishing his residency training at L. D. S. Hospital in Salt Lake City, Florence was staying with her parents in Parowan, and the entire family became ill. She left behind a baby daughter in addition to her husband, parents and siblings.
The 1 November 1918 issue of the Iron County Record reported the death of Urania Jones Foster, a young mother, the first resident of Cedar City to die of the epidemic in the city. That issue also reported on the short outdoor services for Frank Harold McConnell and John F. Clark, two Iron County soldiers that died from influenza and pneumonia at Camp Kearny, California.
But the flu/pneumonia crisis was not even close to being over in Cedar City. Two weeks later, Fouletta Adams, a popular 18-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert C. Adams died with pneumonia complications from the flu. She was buried after graveside services.
Others from Cedar City that lost their lives in this second wave were:
• Clarence Heyborne, age 21, son of Samuel Heyborne, died November 25;
• Mildred Adams, age 17, daughter of Lorenzo Adams, died December 3;
• William B. Smith, age 48, father of seven, died December 12; and
• Conrad Hunter, age 27, father of three, died December 15.
There was to be a third wave of the influenza pandemic in 1919. Hazel Flanigan, age 16, died on 24 March 1919.
Dr. Menzies J. Macfarlane had been kept very busy treating over 200 local patients during the influenza outbreak. Dr. Mac, as he was known, had his office in the Cedar Sheep Association building, part of which doubled as a “hospital”, as much as it could. Many patients of the influenza were treated in their own homes, and the doctor made home visits, which kept him exhausted.
From the book “Dr. Mac: the Man, his Land, and his People,” by L. W. Macfarlane, we find the following account:
“All of John Parry’s family was down with the flu, and word had gotten out that one of the boys had died. Bernella Gardner [later wife of Lehi M. Jones] and another girl were sent by the bishop to take care of them. It could not be said honestly that the girls weren’t frightened, but they did their duty.”
One night, a young girl in the family had a temperature of 106 degrees. Bernella went to get Dr. Macfarlane. She was told that the doctor had not had any sleep for three nights and could not move another step. She was given instructions on what to do until the doctor could get there in the morning, which she carried out.
“At six o’clock in the morning the doctor came. By that time the child’s temperature was down to normal. As he examined her the doctor said to Bernella, ‘Why, she’s had pneumonia and I hadn’t heard it, but now she has passed the crisis.’ The little girl recovered, and so did all the other members of the Parry family, including the boy who Bernella thought had died.”
Because of the high number of cases, the facilities of the Branch Agricultural College (which was closed during the outbreak) were used as a temporary influenza hospital. The rooms were well heated and ventilated, and it had a kitchen. Mrs. Rena B. Maycock, the county home demonstrator, headed the temporary organization assisted by Miss Amy Bowman of the BAC faculty and several volunteer nurses.
At one point, Dr. Macfarlane came down with a case of the flu. He called for his brother-in-law, Dr. Clarence M. Clark of American Fork, to come to Cedar City to take care of the patients while he was ill. Fortunately, Dr. Mac was able to recover quickly.
Miss Amy Bowman and several of the volunteer nurses at the temporary hospital facility also came down with mild cases of the flu.
In mid-December 1918, the Cedar City Council passed a resolution quarantining Cedar City against travel from other sections of the country. Travelers would need to quarantine for several days before moving about in the city. This was lifted in early February 1919.
In early January 1919, Ancel Adams and Gertrude Decker of Parowan noticed in the Deseret News that the Salt Lake Temple would be closing after January 10 due to the flu. All of the other temples in Utah were already closed.
Not knowing how long the epidemic would last and wanting to be married in a temple, they decided that they better take the opportunity while they had it, although they had not previously set a wedding date. Ancel borrowed his father’s open-top Model T Ford, and with Gertrude and two of Ancel’s sisters they were on their way.
Roads at the time were not improved, and they often wondered whether they were on the main road or just an animal trail. It took two days to arrive at Salt Lake City. Ancel wrote:
“As we came to the edge of most towns we encountered a guard camp, when they would brief us as to our plans, for because of the flu epidemic everyone was afraid of everyone else, a flag was placed on our car to be carried through their town as a warning for others to keep their distance; it was reclaimed on the other edge of town each time. We felt a little like the lepers of Bible times must have felt, as they encountered anyone, they were supposed to call out "unclean".
After their marriage, they started back. As night aproached they could not find accommodations in one of the towns where they had hoped to stay. Finally arriving at Cove Fort at a very late hour they were given a place to sleep. The flu had already afflicted the Kessler family (they had lost three or four family members) and they were not afraid of becoming re-infected.
Arriving back in Parowan, the newlyweds found that they were now considered “outsiders”. Bob Fenton, the principal at the Parowan School, was a guard at the edge of town and asked them about their plans. They planned to stay at Ancel’s father’s home for the present time, but wanted to stop to let the Deckers know that they had returned safely. Clarence Pendleton, a member of the Parowan City Council, let them know that they were not to go into the Decker home nor get close to any of them. Ancel wrote:
“To make certain that the orders were carried out, the Councilman on his horse beat us to the Decker home, before we could get there. This turned out to be our only Wedding Reception: An Official Welcome back to Parowan by a member of the City Council -- could yours have been more thrilling?”
Iron County suffered greatly from the influenza pandemic – some lives were lost, others were thrown into chaos, and it took years to begin to process what had occurred. However, many places fared much worse.
Dr. Mac made a huge difference in Cedar City, being credited with keeping the mortality rates relatively low. Many others made great contributions as well.
When Dr. Mac made a decision to move to Salt Lake City to join a practice with Doctor Middleton, an earlier doctor from Cedar City, local citizens convinced him to change his mind and stay.
One of the conditions for him to stay was for the community to build a hospital. Coming soon, the story of building the Old Hospital in Cedar City.