Ah-Gwah-Ching
Ah-Gwah-Ching, Cass County, Minnesota, USA
Tuberculosis - Introduction
from
"A Brief History of the Minnesota State Sanatorium --
Ah-Gwah-Ching Nursing Home
1907 - 1982
In Commemoration of our 75th Diamond Jubilee"
By Skip Oliver
© June 1982
Pages 1-4
Long before Minnesota State Sanatorium was born, --yea, long
before we were yet an idea in the mind of Dr. H. Longstreet
Taylor, and long before the Minnesota Legislature confonted
tuberculosis and engaged in battle with the dread disease,
the cause of tuberculosis was unknown.
The disease, tuberculosis, was known as early as prehistoric
days. The cause was debated since the days of ancient China,
Egypt, Rome and Greece. Was tuberculosis inherited or was it
contagious?
For nearly half of the 19th century no scientific evidence
was produced to prove whether tuberculosis was contagious or
inherited. However, six years before Minnesota became a territory,
H. Klencke of Germany inoculated animals with tuberculous
material and produced tuberculosis in their bodies. From 1865-1867
J. A. Villemin of France proved beyond doubt that the disease was
transmisable from man to animal and from animal to animal. While
tuberculosis had proved to be contagious beyond doubt, such
information was not readily available among physicians. No
medical journal had yet been published in Minnesota. Thus, the
debate continued among physicians -- inherited or
contagious?
While the debate flourished, theories abounded. During this
period one of the most farfetched theories was presented as
attributing to the spread of tuberculosis. W.W. Sweeney of Red
Wing, writing to Dr. A. B. Stuart, in 1870 said: "since the
completion of the Pacific Railway, each year has witnessed
at least one epidemic. More serious sequelae of the lungs
follows these prevalences than from all other diseases combined.
Can it be possible that direct iron communication from
ocean to ocean, has changed, disturbed, or modified the normal
electrical condition of the atmosphere and thus changed or
modified the climate and disease of the countries adjacent
to its course.....".
It had been suspected long before the days of Hippocrates,
that tuberculosis was "catching". The means of transmission
was uncertain. Minnesota doctors in 1870 were still divided
into two definite schools of thought. Some subscribed to the
"contagious" cause, --others the "inherited".
While the debate as to the cause of tuberculosis continued,
the spread of the dread disease in Minnesota reached catastrophic
propotions. The number of reported deaths from tuberculosis
and the mortality rate per 100,000 population indicated a
serious problem existed. The 1860 U. S. Census tables for
Minnesota showed one of every seven deaths in Minnesota (14%)
were front consumption.
The Minnesota State Board of Health reported 20,000 persons
in Minnesota lost their lives from tuberculosis during the
years 1887 through 1899.
Why was tuberculosis so wide-spread in Minnesota?
Minnesota, a newly created territory, was trumpeted in
newspapers and other forms of printed matter as a HEALTH
RESORT. As early as 1855 the state sponsored a commissioner
of emigration in New York to promote Minnesota's climate,
and induce immigrants to settle in Minnesota. In 1867 the
Legislature created a Board of Immigration and appropriated
$10,000.00 for its use in promoting Minnesota as a health
resort.) Pamphlets were circulated in the language of several
different countetries --- agents were - employed to assist
immigrants in purchasing railway tickets; a temporary home
for immiqrants was built in St. Paul. All of these means were
employed to induce the immigrant to settle in Minnesota.
Journalists wrote glowing tales of the Minnesota air, the
Minnesota climate. Little did they realize they were creating
a serious problem for Minnesota's future. In 1870
Minnesota had a population of 438,706. In 1880
the population increased to 780,773. In 1900
to 1,751,394.
Tuberculosis was present everywhere. Not only among the
invalid population, who had come to be cured of consumption --
but the native-born and the newly arrived immigrant. Doctors
did what they could, but because there were no health regulations,
the disease continued to spread rampantly throughout the state.
The problem of tuberculosis control emerged and with it
the organization of a State Board of Hea1th in 1872.
In 1872 Dr. Robert Koch of Germany startled the world of
medicine by announcement of his discovery and isolation of
the tubercle bacillus. In 1890 Dr. Koch's development of a
diagnostic agent, tuberculin, to detect the presence of the
tubercle bacillus in the body, was first introduced. Dr. W.
J. Mayo, the first physician in Minnesota to use it, reported
that it almost invariably led to a correct diagnosis. In 1897,
Dr. G. D. Head, of Minneapolis set set out to determine whether
or not the use of tuberculin was a sound and proven
diagnostic test in determining the presence of tubercle
bacillus in the body. Experimenting with 0.24 cubic centimeter
of tuberculin, administered subcutaneously, produced
reactions in those with tuberculosis and no reaction in those
with no disease. Dr. Head later conjectured that -- "if the
disease could be recognized in its earliest beginnings with
the use of tuberculin, possibility of effecting a cure in a
large percentage of tuberculosis cases would ensue."
Following the discovery of the x-ray in 1895, the editor of
the St. Paul Medical Journal announced that early stages of
tuberculous lesions and cavities in the lung could be diagnosed
accurately by means of the x-ray.
Minnesota had now recognized the enemy, TUBERCULOSIS, and had
determined it was a dangerous communicable disease. The 1901
Legislature authorized Governor Samuel Van Sant to appoint a
commission to investigate the advisability of establishing a
state sanatorium for cansumptives. In 1903 the Ninnosota
State Tuberculosis Commission, composed of James L. Camp,
George S. Wattam, and H. Longstreet Taylor, advised as follows:
"every civilized community recognizes that it is a duty of the
government to protect its citizens from danqerous communicable
diseases...... tuberculosis is the scientific term used to
define the disease which in its last stages is popularly called
consumption, and which was proven to be a communicable disease
when its cause was discovered to be a bacillus, which obtaining
entrance to the body produces tuberculosis . . . since the cause
is known and the method of transmission so well understood -- it
becomes theoretically possible to restrict its spread ...... it
is in other wods A CURABLE DISEASE. In the, state of Minnesota
its ravages are on the increase... the most successful means of
dealing with this disease will be through the establishment of
sanatoria."
"State sanatoria should be established and maintained by state
appropriation."
"The site of an institution should have a southern exposure
and be protected by hills or forests from the most severe and
prevalent winds of the winter; should have a good water supply
and good drainage and a sandy soil. An elevation above the
surrounding country is also desirable. With these facts in mind
the Commission after traveling extensively throughout the state
and inspectIng a number of localities, unanimously recommends a
site on the hill just south of Walker, Cass County."
"The location of Walker has been selected for the following
reasons. It is in a pine region. It has the immense forests
of pine upon the Chippewa reservation all around it and under
the Morris Bill a great deal of this must be reseeded with pine,
thus insuring the presence of pine forests. It is a sparsely
populated region, one not well adapted to agriculture, and hence
the atmosphere can not become contaminated as it always is to a
greater or less extent in thickly populated districts."
"It slopes toward the South, away from the lake, thus at once
securing protection from the cold winter winds and from the
humidity of the lakeshore. The local elevation above the level
of the water in Leech Lake is two hundred feet. The surface of
the lake is 1,300 feet above sea level and the hills attain an
altitude of from 1,500 to 1,550 feet."
"The soil is of till, or intermingled clay, sand, gravel and
boulders, which guarantee good drainage. A good supply of pure
water is assured. The location is reached by lines of the Great
Northern and Northern Pacific railways and is not far north of
the geographical center of the state."
"The commission feels that is a source for mutual congratulations
that such an ideal place can be secured for the erection of a
sanatorium."
"The institution should have a large farm connected with it, ---
a section would not be too much land for these requirements and
would insure the institution from any undesirable neighbors.
The Commission advises that a sanatorium be built large enough
to accommodate at least 250 patients. The plan would require
several two-story pavillions containing wards....."
"The Commission advises the erection of a sanatorium in Minnesota
is a necessary protection to the people, not as a charity,
although no institutions do more to relieve human suffering
and misery than these in which the victims of the "Great White
Plague" from among the poorer classes, are nursed back to health.
Consumption is the greatest impoverisher of the working class
and brings more misery, suffering, want and hardships to the
families of its victims than any other disease."
In 1903, the Minnesota Legislature acting on the recommendations
of the Minnesota Sanatorium Commission, authored the establishment
of the State Sanatorium.
Thus were we born!!!!
E-mail: dwagner2@isd.net
©2004 DJW
Last Modified:
January 1, 2004