The Spanish influenza epidemic reached the United States in the spring of 1918, with one of the first cases reported at Fort Riley in Kansas.
And by fall, the dreaded illness had reached Fremont County.
In October 1918, life in Fremont County stopped. Schools closed, meetings were canceled, and residents found themselves isolated and wearing masks in public to avoid contamination.
The first reports in the local newspapers about influenza affecting Cañon city residents are dated October 3 and consider 24 young men leaving for training camp on October 7. A telegram printed in the Cañon City Register says: “Due to quarantine due to the spread of Spanish influenza, Fremont County’s assignment under induction call number 1,376 on its board is hereby canceled” .
Cañon City soon had six confirmed cases and the City Council made motions to stop the spread by issuing an order on October 10.
“It was decided to order the closure of public schools and ban all public gatherings, whether for religious, social or entertainment purposes or other purposes until such time as the ban can be lifted,” the reports reported at the time.
The October 10 article continues to print guidelines issued by the Pueblo Health Department to help prevent contracting the disease.
“First, don’t be afraid of contracting influenza and dying, follow the instructions of the health department, stand up like men and women and know the situation intelligently and courageously,” said the health department.
The following are guidelines given at the time:
– Avoid unnecessary crowds. Flu is a mass disease.
– Chokes coughs and sneezes. Others don’t want the germs you would throw away.
– Your nose, not your mouth was made to breathe.
– Remember the three C’s: clean mouth, clean heart and clean clothes.
– Try to stay cool when you walk and warm when you ride and sleep.
– Your fate may be in your hands, wash your hands before eating.
– Open windows at home and in the office.
– Do not allow the waste product of digestion to accumulate, drink a glass of water or two when getting up.
– Do not use a napkin, towel, spoon, fork, or glass or cup that has been used by someone else and has not been washed.
– Avoid tight clothing, tight shoes, tight gloves: look for moisture to be your ally, not your prisoner.
– When the air is pure, breathe as much as you can, breathe deeply.
– Food will win the war – chew yours well.
A week later, nearly 20 people in the city of Cañón were affected, although their cases seemed milder than some in neighboring cities. In an interview with the Canyon City Registry, Dr. RE Holmes, county health officer, states: “Human life is paramount to all other matters and considerations, and authorities must take all security measures. For this reason, I think public schools should be kept closed and ban all public meetings for the next two to three weeks. “
Superintendent GA Cleland implemented remote learning for South Canon High School students on October 21. Teachers created study plans and mailed them to students weekly with the promise of written tests on the material as soon as schools reopened.
As the number of deaths increased across the country from the flu, telegrams began to appear notifying local families of loved ones lost in other states or cities because of the disease. The names of the lost sons, mothers, daughters, and fathers covered the cover of the Cañon City Record on October 24.
The numbers in Cañon City increased steadily, with 10 new cases averaging each day. New measures were issued statewide to help control the spread, including cancellation of public sales in the state for the rest of the quarantine. This order applies to all auction sales, including those held outdoors. More guidelines were also put in place that asked people not to spit on the sidewalks and to avoid the regular glass and towel in public places.
By the end of October, cases in the community had increased to 226, and approximately 15% of cases had developed into pneumonia. A municipal nurse, Mrs. E. Brandon was hired to help those with the flu. Her duties included bathing, cooking, and serving food to the sick.
As the death toll increased across the country, so did the fear of getting sick. Articles began to circulate about what to do if you started experiencing symptoms and how to better prevent them.
Dr. Franklin Duane bought ads in newspapers across the country, including the Cañon City Register, promoting a remedy for Dr. Pierce’s nice pellets. The pills were later thought to be a hoax since there was no evidence that they worked. Not only offering a potential cure, Dr. Duane also offered this advice: “The more you fear the disease, the more sure you will be of contracting it. Go well about your business and forget it. “
Health officials and doctors also offered advice on home remedies in the newspaper, including hot mustard foot baths, vegetable pills, drinking hot lemonade, and good herbal tonics as recommendations for those who experienced a cold.
A little over a month and a half after what Cañon High School students called “flu vacations” in their yearbook, newspaper articles began to report a hopeful slowdown in the disease as cases dropped to less than 20 new cases per day for the first time. Time in more than a month. By November 14, 1918, 700 cases had been reported to the public health official and a dozen deaths.
In coal cities where water, housing and sanitary conditions were often lacking, the death toll was quite severe. In late October, case numbers soared in Rockvale when Dr. WA Willamson reported 119 cases in the camp city. Employed by Colorado Fuel & Coal Co, Dr. Willamson was the only physician in Rockvale, Williamsburg, Bear Gulch, and also covered Coal Creek when there was no physician there.
With so much territory to cover, it became clear that Dr. Willamson and his only registered nurse needed help. Healthy miners and their families quickly got to work turning a community building into a makeshift hospital, and teachers who found themselves without classes to teach put on Red Cross caps and veils and became volunteer nurses. The ice cart that brought ice to doors in the summer was now serving as an ambulance transporting people to the new hospital. Records indicate that Dr. Willamson treated more than 600 patients in the hospital and only lost 10.
Authorities began offering hope that life would return to normal and encouraged locals to make masks to help prevent the disease from escalating again. An article in the City Record Canyon gives detailed instructions on making masks from 1918.
“Each mask measures 6 × 8 inches and is made of five layers of gauze and two layers of white bunting, or cheesecloth,” the instructions state. “Take two layers of gauze, put one gauze on top of it, one more gauze and another gauze, and then the remaining two pieces of gauze.”
The masks were then sewn together and straps were added to tie them behind the head. Sterilization of the masks should be done after each use by boiling for 10 to 20 minutes or placing in a mixture using a teaspoon of formaldehyde in a cup of water or using a solution of 1 to 500 zinc sulfate in water.
Despite the hope it brought in mid-November, case numbers began to rise rather than decrease.
On December 5, two months after Spanish Influenza arrived in Fremont County, case numbers increased to 1,298 with 95 cases that turned into pneumonia and 28 deaths, according to an article in the Cañon City Record. While schools and churches were closed and public meetings canceled, Fremont County had never issued a quarantine order like other counties in the state did. Seeing Denver and Gunnison’s success in decreasing cases by issuing a quarantine order, residents began asking local health officials to issue one in Fremont County.
While some residents called for stricter bans to be put in place, other residents asked for less, and requests were soon filed with City Hall to allow restrictions on public meetings to be lifted. However, under the guidance of Dr. Webb, the City Health official, the order was kept as cases continued to grow.
“Given the circumstances, it was agreed that no time could be set to cancel the ban on public meetings or to reopen schools,” the state reports.
During that meeting, an ordinance was also passed limiting hospital visits to families of patients only and only when they are given special permission from the treating doctor. Physicians were also issued orders that they must inform the health officer of the names and addresses of all new influenza patients each day.
As the weeks went by, reports of the flu declined in local newspapers. The 1918-1919 yearbook Cañon City High dates the return of seniors to school on December 30 with the motto: “Everyone’s trouble begins, the flu continues.” In mid-January, a handful of young women were allowed to return and the rest joined on January 28, according to the Miss Senior Leaves Journal in the Yearbook.
While life slowly resumed to a new normal in 1919, communities and doctors still grappled with the Spanish influenza epidemic until April 1920. However, not much is reported about the flu after the initial outbreak in the county. Fremont County in 1918, however, records indicate that the winter of 1920 saw an outbreak in western Fremont County.
A Daily Record article from February 12, 1920 reports on the situation in Texas Creek and Cotopaxi. The understaffed local doctors asked for help from the Red Cross to treat the influenza outbreak. Mary DuPaul, an official Red Cross nurse, was forced to abandon her duties by providing health services in Fremont County schools and was sent to help in western Fremont County.
Between Cotopaxi and Texas Creek, Miss DulPaul found entire families ill and without enough clothing, food, or water. By bringing together healthy neighbors in the area, she formed a committee to help care for the sick until other arrangements could be made.
While the flu seemed to be sweeping western Fremont County, it was significantly less in Cañon City than the 1918 outbreak, which killed about 8,000 people in Colorado.
