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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1931)
1 Oregon City, Pee., March 28, 1851 Salem, Ore., March 28, 1931 Page Five Flood Dec. 3, 1861, orst in History of Th W OUght Fr Tj his Valley Salem had no ark on the hill tops In 1861 and again In .1890, but nevertheless flood! facts are pretty definitely recorded ex cept exact height of the water. The flood which -eaehed Its peak December 3, 1861, la con sidered the greatest in local his tory." .-:!- While, the high mark on Feb ruary 3, 1890, was said. by resi dents, who saw both disasters to be about two feet under the one of 'CI, the later, flood goes down in history, a; -carrying more, wa ter , It Is - reckoned . there , were about 25 "feet of surplus water In 18(1. Wharf Xoaded With ' Stone Goes Down River . The C1 waters reached the h.lght at o'clock in the even log of - Tuesday; Monday morn ing, wheat was moved from Jthe Matheny warehouse, at the foot of -State; Monday night 'the warehouse, : a sawmill,' a cider . factory 'and all-, houses on the front were swept, away,: including a . high,. . chimney, .which it .was thought would stand against any water, A wharf loaded with stone went too Early Tuesday morning waters were flowing through the- town in a channel three or four feet deep and for more than a Quarter of a mile in breadth. - : Twelve persons' across the river from Salem were removed from a barn top. Just before the barn was swept away. Many rescues were made by boat and skiff; at I least two lives were lost. At Wheatland, a' ware house with 2,500 bushels of grain was swept away. The February, 1890, flood was more disastrous to Salem, and Long Admired! By Harris Ellsworth Editor, Roseburg Neics Revieiv "TT is a pleasure for us A to extend our greet ings and congratula tions to The - Oregon Statesman on the occa sion -of its 80th birth day. We have long ad mired The Statesman as a leading morning news paper in this state, and have the highest regard for its owners and pub lishers. It is our sincere hope that The States man may continue to en joy its position of lead ership for generations to come." had it not been for the fleet of four steamers that did noble work in rescuing many drown ing.' Electric "lights, train serv- icej and communication with the outside world were at a star" s till. No trains came in for nine or ! ten days. But that does not tell the wopt of the '90 flood: it sent to the bottom of the river the big bridge over the Willamette be tween Marion and Polk counties. "Awful Crash" as Bridge Gives way - The Statesman of the next morning describes' the crash: "At 20 minutes to t o'clock the south, one of the center piers on the Marion county side swung around "apparently from the bot torn, bent and cracked Just above the water . line, followed by - the two 1 mam spans of the big bridge. The crash was : awful. Water -was thrown high in the air and in a few seconds the bet ter part of that costly structure was floating down stream. When the pier gave way there were 100 persons standing under the trees watching the boiling, foam ing water. . . The north pier stood a half hour swaying from lire immense pressure below, and then toppled over with a mighty noise." : From 10:30 a. m. to 5:30 p. m. Sunday the rise was three feet and 10 inches. Person "Yesterday afternoon Stephen J. Chadwick and Mark A. Fullerton started for Colfax, W. T. where they Intend mak ing their home in future and where they intend to practice law. They are both rising! young attorneys of more than average ability, and wllj be missed great ly from this eity'-Statesman Nov. 19, 1885.; tl: SALEM MINSTRELS "Friday evening at Reed's opera house, this troop of home talent proposes giving! one of their in imitable entertainments tot the benefit of the Capital Guards of this city. Our , city should take a pride in this company, and see that they have a good house that i will net results that will give the Cap ital Guards a neat and tasty uni form, as that is the purpose of this entertainment." Statesman, May 23, 1877. . - "WAIT FOR THE WAGON" "Concord coach In the Oregon State Company's line of stages is one Concord coach (running be tween Oregon City, via Salem, and Corvallis,) the only one in Oregon. Its cost, laid down in Oregon, was $1100. It reminds one of the old fashioned days of stage travel, be fore railroads grid -ironed the States, and sent the traveler whirl ing over the country at a head swim pace." Statesman, June 14, 1859. . y 1 I MARCEL BLOCH PAUL BLOCH ; Proprietors of ) Bloch's Golden Rule Department Store Ready-tovwear, Shoes, Dry Goods MERCHANDISE OF QUALITY 220 X. Liberty, Salem - Phone lfiOrt Eighty Years of Scientific Medicine - What Has It Accomplished? Eighty years ago 'there were no hypodermic syringes, few clinical ther mometers -probably none in Oregon, no stethoscopes, no electric lights not even kerosene lamps, no autos, and no telephones. The x-ray had not even been dreamed of Microscopes were found in few universities, while ven these were cumbersome, faulty and seldom used. - Just eighty years ago Louis Pasteur, a young French scientist, was be ginning the study of fermentation and spontaneous generation, research which was to lead to a transformation in the practice of surgery and eventually conclusively support the germ theory of disease. Lack of antiseptic surgery caused gangrenous wounds and resulting amputations to be almost the rule rather than the exception. Childbirth was attended by a heavy mortality. Plagues of various kinds spread periodically over Europe and America. Smallpox was a dreaded pestilence; cholera menaced the seaports and often spread as far inland as Cincinnati, while cholera infantum was a scourge of .infancy. Malaria and yellow fever devastated the South and ravaged as far' north as Philadelphia and up and down the Mississippi valley. Typhus and typhoid fever, practically unknown in this day of knowledge of sanitation, were common and deadly. Measles possessed a virilence not known today. In, the late eighties diphtheria swept over the Willamette Valley. Salem, the center of the epidemic, was a city of grief-stricken homes for the dis ease proved especially deadly .to children and some families lost five little ones during those few terrible weeks. Those who did not actually contract diphtheria lived in constant fear, for with little 'knowledge off fumigation there seemed to be no way to stop its onslaught. At that time there were probably not more than six or seven doctors in the community, and they were kept busy all hours of the day and night. Other communities were facing the same problem so it was not feasible to Import physicians. Hospitals, as we know them, today, scarcely exxisted in the country, and there were probably none west of the Rockies. Salem's first hospital was .not built until about 1885. There were no trained nurses: the average housewife could acquire, usually by experience, whatever knowledge of nursing existed. Surgical skill was limited largely to amputations and the opening of ab scesses, and that with crude instruments and dangerously impure anaesthet ics. While as for the thought of local anaesthesia, if there was any, 'twas that such anaesthetics were to be found only in the distant future. The doctors of Salem served the country for a radius of many miles .around the town. Summoned by a messenger on horseback, they laboriously retraced with him the journey, often taking many hours in making one call. There iwas little help available for diseases of the eye and ear deafness and blindness were prevalent. Yiet witbal. Salem has always had outstanding doctors, many of whom have left an indellible impress on the city. Dr. Elijah White, th first doctor in this part of the country came around the horn on the ship Lausanne in 18S7. j Salem, previously known as Chemeketa, is said to have been named about 184 by Dr. W. H. Willson. a pioneer doctor, wile Willson park serves as a memorial to the same man. The name of Dr. J. Reynolds of Salem also appears frequently on the -pages of Oregon history. Djr, Robert Newell of Champoeg was present at the famous Champoeg meeting and has furnished historians with much of their knowledge of that gathering. Newell.. as were most of the western doctors of his time, was prom inent In the political life of the territory. He served twice on legislative committees elected to remake and amend the Provisional government. - Fjor many years Oregon was not connected with the eastern United States I by railroad. Young men and women who wished to fit themselves for the practice of medicine found it distinctly difficult, to do so without entail ing1 great .expense. True, doctors came out from the eastern schools, but a need vas felt for a western medical college. So the Department of Medicine was established at Willamette University in 1865, the first school of medi cine oh the Pacific coast and probably the first west of the Rockies. In 1872 there were ten M. D.'s n the faculty, most of them practicing physicians in Saljim, but a few came from Portland to give their lectures. ; -. Equipment for teaching medicine was scarce, as was also equipment for practicing it. The school, depended for its existence upon the gifts of friends and the fees of its student body, which usually numbered less than thirty. After Ta time it was moved to Portland where It was believed there were greater facilities, for actual clinical experience, but was finally returned to Salem and placed under .the deanshlp of Dr. W. H, Byrd, who with Dr. J. N. Smith, remained active In the work of , the school during the rest of its ex istence. ... .;. i -In spite of the struggles and hardships which caused the life of the. school to run less smoothly than was desirable, the Department of Medicine furnished rOregon in general and the Willamette valley in particular with a large percentage of Its doctors. The 1879 roster of the Oregon State Medical Society reveals that at that time 44 of Its 88 members were graduates of the Willamette medical depart ment. The mere fact of the great distance intervening between the sources of medical knowledge and Oregon has not kept the people of this state from obtaining the best care such knowledge could provide. For the knowledge of the physician is that human life and of greater interest than any other type of learning. This natural tendency to spreadj the story of new developments could not be blocked by poor systems of transportation and communication, and Oregon doctors, early received reports of what was' happening in the out side world. . ; ' ! It was. partly to provide for the spread of such , knowledge that the Ore gon State Medical Society was organised in 1875. Dr. Alfred C. Kinney, who had formerly lived in Salem and now makes his home in Astoria, was the first president of this brganization. . In 1896 or 189.7 the Marion county medical association was formed. Dr. Calvin C. White was first president of the organization and Dr. W. Carl ton Smith was its first secretary. Both of these men were outstanding in the work of the society. Berth died during the past year after long careers of service. . : Ten of fifteen years after its organisation, while under the presidency of Dr. II. j- Clements, the Marion county association merged with those of Polk andYamhill counties to form the PolkfYamhill-Marion Medical Society, the local 'organization which is now active. The hardships 'attendant upon the practice of medicine eighty years ago have largely vanished before scientific study, but scientific study has not been given up. Eighty years from now in looking back upon the history of medicine, people will marvel at the progress revealed. The Ideals of the profession are much the same as they have always been and may best be stated as contained in the excerpts from "Principles of Medical Ethics" published by the American Medical Association. "A physician should not base bis practice on an exclusive dogma or sec tarian system, for 'sects are implacable despots: to accept their thaldom is to take away all liberty from one's action and thought. (Nicqn, father of Gal en, 130 A. D.). "He should also be modest, Bober, patient, prompt to do his whole duty without anxiety; pious without going so far as superstition, conducting him self with propriety in his profession and in all the actions of his life." (Hippo crates, 40-370 B.C.) ' HOW DO YOU SELECT YOUR PHYSICIAN? , When we select persons for any position of importance, we are wont to delve Into the subject of the educational preparation and fitness of the applicant tor the work. Does our school board employ a teacher without knowing much of his school work and success, his professional standing? But I when it comes to selecting a 'doctor, many leave the matter to the last moment and then call a physician recommended by a next-door neighbor, the corner ' groceryman, , or anyone of a : dozen Individuals not particularly interested In the matter, ; j i Tet, It Is possible to ascertain a doctor's; worth as surely as we ascertain that of a teacher and by somewhat similar methods. What of his . schooling, his record his professional standing? Does he keep up-to-date In his meth ods through the fine medical journals at his disposal? We insist that our teachers must continue their education does our doctor take post-graduate courses? ; " K; Too often external appearance and affability alone are the sole criteria of judgment. e In order to help anyone select; a physician or dentist for general or special work, the Medical-Dental Headquarters, 154 S. High St., has especial facilities for information which are available to all. (Published under the auspices of -the Polk-Yamhill-Marion Medical Society)