USA > Minnesota > Minnesota as it is in 1870 : its general resources and attractions for immigrants, invalids, tourists, capitalists, and business men ; with special descriptions of all its counties and townsand inducements to those in quest of homes, health, or pleasure > Part 6
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For the concluding part of this letter, see testimonials under the preceding head.
Rev. H. A. Boardman, D. D., of Philadelphia, who tried Minnesota for his health, wrote to the Philadelphia North American, October 21st, 1868, a letter from which we extract the following :
But I must come to my subject. I should not have troubled you with this letter were it not that the question is so often asked, "How far is St. Paul to be recommended as a resort for invalids ?". If one may judge from indications on the spot, inva- lids themselves have settled this question. I have never visited a town where one encounters so many persons that hear the impress of delicate health, present or past. In the stores and shops, on the street and by the fireside, it is an every-day ex- perience to meet with residents who came to Minnesota one, two, five or ten years ago for their health, and having regained
6
62
HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
it, decided to remain. I have talked with some who, having recovered, went away, twice over, and then made up their minds that to live at all they must live here. The common mistake with consumptives is that they defer coming until it is too late. Every train brings its quota of invalids, and among them there are apt to be some whom no skill but that of the Great Physician could relieve. Far better if they had stayed at home to "die among their kindred." But on the other hand, there are wit- nesses here by the hundred to testify to the healing virtue of this climate in the incipient stages of pulmonary disease. Let one example stand for many. Last evening I met a gentleman who gave me this narration : "In April last, my young daughter, 13 years of age, had a severe hemorrhage. She grew thin and pale, and was evidently hastening to the grave. My physician said, 'Take her to Minnesota.' I brought her here and rented a small house in the suburbs of Minneapolis, (at the Falls of St. Anthony,) and left her in charge of her nurse, with instruc- tions to ride out every day, except in the rain. I find her now with four inches added to her height and thirty pounds to her weight; the pain in her chest entirely gone, and no shred of disease left except a slight hoarseness."
Such examples are by no means unusual. There is an excel- lent physician, known to me formerly in Philadelphia as a medical student, who came here a few years since, after having several hemorrhages. The fatal process was arrested, and he is now well, and living here in the practice of his profession. It may be safely said that these instances are the rule, not the exception. What perplexes the uninitiated is that invalids can bear these severe winters. Severe they must be, for after the winter sets in it never rains, never thaws, and the mercury often dropping down to twenty and thirty degrees below zero, never rises above the freezing point. This insures a dry and com- paratively equable atmosphere-the two qualities most congenial to weak lungs. It is the uniform testimony of the residents that they suffer less from the cold than they did formerly in the wet and variable winters of lower latitudes. * And this helps to explain why their winters are at once healthful and comfortable.
The result, as shown by the official returns, is sufficiently remarkable. It appears that the mortality of St. Paul for 1867
63
LETTERS FOR INVALIDS.
was 1.30 per cent., or about four deaths to every three hundred inhabitants. As these statistics include strangers and so- journers, as well as residents, they illustrate the singular salu- brity of the climate more forcibly than any other class of facts.
It is pleasant to be able to add that the society of St. Paul is cultivated and refined, and its people eminently hospitable. These are graces which tourists, and still more invalids, know
how to appreciate.
*
*
On the whole, Minnesota
fairly deserves the reputation it has acquired as a grand sani- tarium. It will not cure all diseases ; diseases of the heart and some others are accelerated here. It will not always arrest pulmonary affections. But consumptive and bronchial patients coming here in time will ordinarily find great relief, and in no inconsiderable proportion of cases they will, by God's blessing, be restored to health.
From Sweetzer's Guide to the Northwest .- Two Letters for Invalids .- Fishing and Hunting .- Who should and who should not come .- Extract from a letter dated St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 24, 1865 :
It is not the object of your correspondent to court any argu- ment upon the relative merits of a northern or southern climate for the cure of that fell destroyer of human life and happiness -consumption, but merely to give his experience as an invalid during a sojourn of several months in a country which is fast becoming one of the most popular resorts for invalids from all parts of the Union. Neither do I wish to be understood as claiming for Minnesota entire immunity from disease, nor that the climate is a sovereign remedy for all cases of consumption ; but, from careful observation, I believe I am justified in assert- ing that there is no locality on this continent so exempt from " all the ills that flesh is heir to" as this. The dryness of the atmosphere, the peculiar character of the soil, the almost total absence of fogs and moist winds, all contribute to render the climate one of unrivalled salubrity.
In its first stages, consumption appears to yield readily to the peculiar influence of the climate; and, even in the more advanced stages of the disease, the patient, by a continued residence in this country, finds permanent relief and compara- tive good health. I find that three classes of cases arrive in
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64
HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
this country in search of relief: 1. Those slightly affected, who take time by the forelock, get well in a few months, and return to their homes perfectly cured. 2. Those more seriously affected, who never fully recover the use of their lungs, but by a perma- nent residence in Minnesota enjoy comparative good health. 3. Those who wait until it is too late, and arrive here only to linger a few weeks and die among strangers.
It is to be regretted that the majority of the invalids who arrive here are not of the first class. Unfortunately, owing to the ignorance of physicians, the disease is seldom detected in its first stages ; and it is not until a hemorrhage takes place, or tubercles commence to soften, that they see the necessity for the removal of the patient to a more salubrious climate.
The second, or predominating class, are scattered all over the entire State, from the Iowa line to the shores of Lake Superior. Go where you will through Minnesota, and you will meet persons apparently in good health, who could not exist two years under the influence of the cold, moist winds of the Atlantic States. Many of them arrive here quite low, but, with the help of a good constitution and the peculiar salubrity of the climate, they manage to rally, and enjoy tolerably good health. In one or two instances which came under my observation, the patients had to be removed from the steamboat in a carriage, and several months elapsed before any visible improvement could be noted; but finally the patients commenced to mend, and the clear, bracing atmosphere of winter soon restored them to health. A few Sundays ago we buried one of the oldest residents of this city, who had been ill with consumption for fifteen years. He had been sick with the disease three years when he entered the State, and did not expect to live many months ; but he rallied, and by a continued residence in the country, managed to prolong his existence a dozen years. Some of the leading business men of this city, men noted for their enterprise and success in life, belong to the second class, and, although to all appearance in the full possession of health, tell you that it would be impossible for them to exist East.
Of the third class not much need be said. They never ought to come here, as the fatigue and excitement of the journey only tend to hasten death. Some die on their way up the river, some at the hotels and boarding-houses before they have been
65
LETTERS FOR INVALIDS.
domiciled among us a fortnight, and others, feeling that death is inevitable, start for home before they have been a week in the country.
A very intelligent gentleman from New York, whose ac- quaintance I made when I first arrived in St. Paul, estimated that about three out of every ten persons who came here afflicted with lung complaints recovered so as to be able to return to their homes, and that over fifty per cent. of the in- valids were afforded permanent relief. My informant, who is an invalid himself, has spent three years in the State, and, although in the enjoyment of apparent good health, says he will never be able to live in his native place again. He has therefore sent East for his family, and intends going into busi- ness here.
It would be a difficult task to arrive at anything like the approximate number of invalids in the State, for there are no statistics on the subject, but it is safe to estimate them by thousands. In the summer you find them scattered all over the State, amusing themselves by fishing and hunting. The attractions in this respect are superior to anything of the kind in the United States perhaps. The entire surface of the State is dotted with lakes, varying in circumference from one mile to one hundred, which abound in the largest and choicest kind of fish. Pickerel, weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds, bass, wall-eyed pike, and. trout in proportion, are caught in large quantities in all lakes and rivulets. Trolling on the lakes is especially recommended by the physicians as the most fitting exercise for invalids who are too reduced to follow the more fatiguing sport of gunning. In the fall of the year, which is certainly a delightful season, the woods abound with deer, partridges, and quail, while the stubble fields furnish the Nim- rod with all the prairie chickens he can carry in an ordinary sized wagon. Geese and ducks of the finest flavor frequent the lakes in immense flocks, and afford splendid sport. Occasion- ally you stumble upon a bear, but invalids are not very partial to Bruin as a general thing, and usually allow him to follow the bent of his inclination unmolested.
The cost of living in this far off Western country is by no means as expensive as some would imagine. Board at the best hotels in St. Paul can be procured cheaper than at the East,
66
HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
and in the country towns one can live very comfortably for about five or six dollars a week. As winter sets in, the invalids all flock to the towns, where they can spend the season more agreeably than they can in the country. Such places as St. Paul, Minneapolis, St. Anthony, St. Cloud, Faribault, and Wi- nona are crowded with them, and the citizens derive no little profit by the presence of such visitors. The pineries, which extend along the St. Croix River, and run as far north as Lake Superior, are much frequented by consumptives. A belief is prevalent here that the pine emits an odor which is peculiarly healing, and highly beneficial for invalids; hence it is no uncommon thing for small parties to take up their quarters in the wilderness, and spend the winter there with the numerous gangs of lumbermen engaged in felling trees and hauling logs to the banks of the neighboring creeks, with the view of float- ing them down the St. Croix in the spring. Those who have the strength and courage to endure this wild mode of life, generally experience the most beneficial effects, and in the spring are enabled to return fat and hearty.
A gentleman who has tried the virtues of the Minnesota air, writes as follows to the New Orleans Picayune.
I stand to-day, after the rigors of a Minnesota winter, follow- ing a Minnesota summer, a well man. Of course I am grateful for the benefits received, and ought to be willing to communi- cate my experience for the benefit of those similarly situated. Hundreds come here annually from the far South, with the thousands from all parts of the continent, for their health. Of these hundreds, many are entirely cured of lung and liver dis- eases, and invigorated in their worn-out systems by a few months' stay. Others come too late. Their lives are usually prolonged by the change, but the grim monster has secured too firm a hold upon them. They die among strangers, bereft of many of home's endearments, and far away from the friends they love. To point out who should and who should not come to Minnesota, will be the object of this article.
The first of May, or as soon thereafter as possible, is the bet- ter time to start. The whole river is then one moving panorama of beauty, refreshing to the eye and to the heart. As the pale
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LETTERS FOR INVALIDS.
invalid proceeds northward, his blood thrills with new sensa- tions of vigor, caused by the change of air. His appetite increases. His weight and strength increase. He plows on and on, up the constantly varying stream, past scenes new and wonderful, all serving to excite his interest, and entice him to constant open-air life in the luxurious, glorious abandon of steamboat traveling, at pleasant seasons of the year. As he nears his destination, and sees the limpid clearness of the now diminutive Father of Waters, he feels as though he was approach- ing the fabled Fountain of Youth, where with one bath he may wash age, and wrinkles, and diseases away.
He reaches Minnesota. He secures quarters at a hotel or country house, on some of the thousand lovely lakes or rivers, and spends the summer fishing, hunting, wandering through the forests or over the prairie. His mind is withdrawn from books · and business. His body is free from conventional restraints. His habits are regular. He sleeps long and soundly ; he eats vo- raciously ; he improves ; he is cured ; his whole body is renewed and renovated. The fresh, pure, cool air, rich in life-sustaining oxygen, has been every how flooding his veins with new blood, and through it, has reached every defect in the system, and strengthened it. If he be brave enough, and can spare the time, he will stay through the winter, which is crowded with novel and lively experiences. If not, he returns late in autumn, to enjoy another summer in his sunny Southern home, where, with care to preserve his newly built constitution, he may feel his lease of life immeasurably lengthened. He will carefully resume his business, both with joy and hope, and throughout a long future life, treasure up the pleasures, and gratefully remember the benefits of his life in Minnesota.
This is no fancy sketch, as the experience of hundreds can testify. I had heard them before I came; I have heard them here from the lips of many enthusiastic beneficiaries; more convincing to me than all beside, I have felt them myself. But while many are thus benefited, others are unimproved : some, perhaps, injured by the change. To the young and constitu- tionally strong, in the first stages of consumption, or with weak lungs, the climate of Minnesota is a certain cure. With the lack of these conditions, the certainty of cure fails. The prob- abilities decrease as age, inherent weakness, and long course
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HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
of the disease have given it a firmer hold on its victim. Still, the proportion who are cured, at any stage of consumption, down to the very last, is greater by this than by any other method which can be adopted. But where the insidious de- stroyer has got so firm a grasp upon his victim that no mortal power can shake him off, it is useless-it is cruel-to rob the sufferer of home comforts, and take him far away, only, at last, to die. Cases of almost miraculous cures of emaciated, hopeless invalids are well authenticated in Minnesota. The subjects are still here, living witnesses. But they are rare; they are the exceptions, scarcely enough to warrant repetitions of the doubtful experiment.
For billious disorders, fever and ague especially, the Minne- sota dry, pure, elastic atmosphere is an infallible remedy. There is no malaria here. The water which, in lower latitudes, gathers in low places, stagnant and fœtid, to breed pestilent effluvia, here sinks into the sandy soil to reappear in gushing springs. Rivers and lakes are all clear as mirrors. Moisture is all frozen out of the air every winter. Vegetation is not rank enough to produce extensive accumulations of decaying matter. Every condition, in fact, is favorable, and the cura- tive process above given for consumption is repeated with increased rapidity of improvement and certainty of success.
Who Should Not Come to Minnesota .- From the Saint Paul Daily Press, June, 1869.
The Medical Record contains an interesting paper by Dr. Brewer Mattocks, of St. Paul, upon the effect produced upon the lungs by the peculiar climate of Minnesota, and in answer to the oft-repeated questions, " Who will be benefited by a resi- dence in Minnesota ?" and "At what stage of the disease tuber- culous patients should be brought here ?" To the first question he replies, all who would be benefited by a tonic course of treatment. Minnesota, he says, possesses a tonic climate, bracing and stimulating; and that it afiords remarkable immu- nity from disease is proved by the fact that in 1868 but six American-born persons died of consumption in St. Paul, and the entire mortality was but one in eighty-two, But a certain class of pulmonary patients should not come here; those who
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WHO SHOULD NOT COME.
cannot endure cold, and who are seemingly " withered up " by it. They are, as a general thing, of a phlegmatic tempera- ment, anæmic and bloodless, having no life or vitality, and desiring none. Such should be sent South, although there is usually but little hope for such patients. But another class, who are of a nervous-sanguine temperament; who say they will or they won't, and dread and shrink from the South, saying they cannot breathe there, will be benefited by the dry, bracing air of Minnesota. Bronchial patients, also, contrary to the general supposition, should come here.
To the second query, "At what stage of the disease should consumptives come to Minnesota ?" Dr. Mattocks replies, as a general rule, when they can travel without inconvenience or much fatigue. "The sooner the better, even before the cough, if consumption is expected. The golden opportunity is missed if the patient waits beyond the period which the inconsiderate call laziness, for the cure of which, perhaps, the well-meaning, but injudicious physician prescribes exercise; a period often overlooked at the time-a stage called the 'pre-tubercular stage.'"
The Doctor adds :
" It is held that in the New England States the reason for so large a death-rate by consumption is cold and moisture, brought about by sudden changes. The same rule holds true in most, if not all, of the other States, so far as each State is exposed to such influences ; that the general treatment for the disease is the removal or modifying of the cause, so far as we are able ; and as in many instances the cause is climatic, we think the treatment should be such. As remedies are prescribed suitable for individual cases, so should we prescribe a climate, ever bearing in mind that the same remedy given for the same dis- ease oftentimes affects two persons entirely differently, by reason of peculiar idiosyncrasies. This holds true as regards climate-hence the necessity of a patient and careful examin- ation into all the circumstances connected with each case; and by all means let it not be confined to the chest, but let age, sex, temperament, tastes, individual preferences, means and general condition of health exert their influence on the mind of the physician before venturing an opinion as regards a change of climate."
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HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
MORTALITY OF THE STATE COMPARED WITH OTHER AMER- ICAN AND EUROPEAN STATES.
Population.
Deaths.
Per centage.
One for every
Alabama
964,201
12,760
1.32
75
Arkansas.
435,450
8,860
2.03
49
California
379,994
3,705
.97
102
Connecticut
460,147
6,138
1.33
74
Delaware
112,216
1,346
1.11
90
Florida
144,425
1,769
1.25
79
Georgia
1,057,286
12,807
1.21
82
Illinois
1,711,951
19,263
1.12
88
Iowa
674,913
7,260
1.07
93
Indiana
1,350,438
15,205
1.12
88
Kansas,
107,306
1,443
1.34
74
Kentucky
1,155,684
16,467
1.44
70
Louisiana
708,002
12,329
1.74
57
Maine.
628,379
7,614
1.21
82
Maryland
687,049
7,370
1.07
93
Massachusetts.
1,231,063
21,304
1.73
57
Michigan.
749,113
7,399
.98
101
Minnesota.
172,123
1,109
.64
155
Mississippi
791,305
12,214
1.54
64
Missouri
1,182,012
17,557
1.48
67
New Hampshire
326,073
4,469
1.37
72
New Jersey
672,035
7,525
1.11
89
New York
3,880,735
46,881
1.20
82
North Carolina
992,622
12,607
1.27
78
Ohio
2,339,511
24,724
1.05
94
Oregon
52,465
251
.47
209
Pennsylvania
2,906,115
30,214
1.03
96
Rhode Island
174,620
2,479
1.41
70
South Carolina
703,708
9,745
1.38
72
Tennessee
1,109,801
15,176
1.36
73
Texas
604,215
9,369
1.55
64
Vermont
315,098
3,355
1.06
93
Virginia.
1,596,318
22,474
1.40
71
Wisconsin
775,831
7,129
.92
108
District of Columbia.
75,080
1,275
1.69
58
Nebraska
28,841
381
1.32
75
New Mexico,
93,516
1,305
1.39
71
Utah
40,273
374
.92
107
71
DR. MATTOCKS.
Oregon alone excels Minnesota in a light mortality ; and this is only apparent. It is explained by the absence of families of children in a country so new as that in 1860, and by the absence of non-resident consumptives who come to Minnesota too late and die-swelling our mor- tality list; while the humid atmosphere of Oregon pre- vents it from being a resort for consumptives.
According to Professor Guy, the proportion of deaths to population is as follows :
Austria, 1 in 40.
Belgium, 1 in 43.
Denmark, 1 in 45.
England, 1 in 46.
France, 1 in 42.
Norway & Sweden, 1 in 41.
Portugal, 1 in 40.
Prussia, 1 in 39.
Russia, 1 in 44.
Spain, 1 in 40.
Switzerland, 1 in 40.
Turkey, 1 in 50.
United States, 1 in 74.
Upper Canada, 1 in 102.
Lower Canada, 1 in 92.
Dr. Mattocks, Superintendent of Health, at St. Paul, in a letter to the Journal of Chemistry, on the climate of Minnesota, July 18, 1868, after discussing the old custom of recommending consumptives to southern latitudes, says :
A tonic, bracing air is now recommended for lung difficulties, a dry atmosphere, a healthy climate : such an one is Minnesota. The question is often asked, "Why is Minnesota a good cli- mate for consumptives ? What do you claim for your climate ?" First we claim that Minnesota is one of the healthiest, if not the healthiest State in the Union, all things considered. I con- ceive it folly to send a patient to India from England, to be cured of consumption, at the expense of a liver disease; or to the Mediterranean, to die of inflammation of the lungs; or to Cuba, or to Florida, to die of cholera or yellow fever, or some disease of the bowels. The Mediterranean is a great resort for invalids, yet, the natives to an alarming extent die of consump- tion. The same, I think is true of the Sandwich Islands. In the city of Mexico they are to a wonderful degree free from phthisis; yet in other diseases they have an alarming mortality.
Dr. Mattocks, in the letter above quoted, to the Journal
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THEORY OF THE CLIMATE.
of Chemistry, says : "The average of deaths the world over is about 22 per 1000 inhabitants. The death rate of St. Paul (official report of 1867) was 11 per 1000, just one half the average number. In the State at large of course the death rate would be much less."
In his official report, as City Physician, Jan. 1st, 1869, he says : "The proportion of deaths by disease to our population is as follows (this does not include invalids who came here for their health :)
1867-In St. Paul 1 in 90
1868-In St. Paul 1 in 82
" In contrast, I would respectfully refer the Council to the death rates of other cities, from official reports :
Average-New York, about. 1 in 33 Average-London. 1 in 45
1855-Boston 1 in 39
1863-Boston
1 in 41
1854 to '67-Providence, R. I.
1 in 43 to 57
Average-Liverpool .
1 in 44
Average-Philadelphia
1 in 44 to 57
1867-Chicago
1 in 49
1868-Chicago .
1 in 45
1868-St. Louis
1 in 42
CHAPTER VI.
THEORY OF THE CLIMATE .- Its anomalies explained ; its daily temperature given; and the mean temperature compared with that of other places.
1
Spring .- The rivers generally open from the 20th of March to the 1st of April. Plowing generally begins about the 1st of April-sometimes earlier. Wheat has been sowed in March several years. The springs are
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AUTUMN.
cool, and April very windy, and like the March of the Middle States. The weather becomes warm about the 15th or 20th of May-sooner than this it is unreliable. The mean temperature of the spring, at Fort Snelling (Central Minnesota,) is 45°6 ; Chicago, 3º south of us, 44°9 ; Detroit, 45°9 ; Rochester, N. Y., 44º6 ; Newport, R. I., 45°9. We are from 2 to 10 degrees warmer than Eastport, Maine, which is 40°15; Fort Kent, Maine, 35°22 ; Concord, N. H., 42º60 ; Buffalo, N. Y., 42º73 ; and other places, all in lower latitudes. These figures are mostly the result of observations for 30 to 40 years, at the different military posts, officially reported. In Europe our spring finds its equivalent in Bremen, Ger- many, and Edinburg, Scotland.
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