USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 93
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On March 7, 1875, snow fell to the depth of eight inches. During a thunder- storm on July 4, three different buildings in the northern part of the city were struck by lightning and several persons were severally shocked. Central and Southern Ohio were visited with an extraordinary rainfall in July. An almost total eclipse of the moon took place in an unclouded sky during the night of October 24.
A heavy snowfall on March 20 was the only special event recorded in the earlier meteorology of 1876. On August 10 Joseph Coleman was struck by light- ning and instantly killed in the northwestern part of the city. A remarkable meteor was seen during the night of July 8. Winter began early, the mercury sinking to seven degrees below zero on the morning of December 9. A long cold term followed, during which ice was frozen a foot thick on the Scioto.
On June 16, 1877, several houses were struck by lightning, and two men were killed by a bolt which deseended near the Stareh Factory.
July, 1878, was a month of intense heat. Temperatures ranging from 90º to 95° in the shade, and as high as 114º in the sun, are recorded. Many cases of pros- tration and sunstroke were reported. A house on North Neil Street and one in West Columbus were struck by lightning July 3. An eclipse of the sun took place July 29, but owing to rainy weather was invisible at Columbus. On August 5 a
711
CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. I.
washerwoman was struck by lightning and severally injured while at work in the open air on Cherry Alley. Two trees, on East Long Street, were struck August 19.
We have now reached the point at which the meteorological observations of the United States Signal Service at Columbus begin. Towards the end of June, 1878, a station for that service was established in the upper story of the Hunting- ton Bank Building, at the southwest corner of Broad and High streets, and daily barometrieal and thermometrical reports soon afterwards began to be officially communicated to and published in the newspapers. In lien, therefore, of continu- ing this record, which is necessarily imperfect, the following tables, with which the author has been kindly favored by Mark W. Harrington, Chief of the Weather Bureau at Washington, are hereto appended : 17
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE.
YEAR.
January.
February.
Marcb.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
December.
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
O
0
0
1878
94
89
85
81
63
48
1879
56
56
71
82
88
93
96
91
82
86
74
62
1880
64
65
67
78
90
92
97
90
87
78
63
59
1881
43
56
58
83
92
90
103
98
98
84
72
63
1882
59
63
69
81
77
91
88
89
87
80
72
51
1883
55
72
68
86
85
89
94
93
88
84
72
59
1884
48
62
67
77
86
92
89
92
92
87
65
60
1885
52
53
64
84
86
90
97
91
82
77
69
60
1886
56
61
73
82
85
87
93
91
89
81
68
59
1887
66
64
68
83
90
91
100
97
93
83
74
57
1888
59
55
70
84
82
97
91
96
82
76
73
58
1889
56
62
74
91
86
92
91
91
78
67
67
1890
67
66
62
75
86
93
96
94
87
82
70
53
MEAN TEMPERATURE.
Year.
January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
December.
Annual.
1878.
1879 __
25.4
29.0
41.4
50.5
65.1
71.7
79.1
71.6
61.5
61.9
43.9
36 9
53.2
1880
43.8
38.5
40.5
53.7
68.7
72.8
74.9
74.0
64.8
51.6
33.4
24.9
53.5
1881
24.4
29.2
36.7
46.8
67.5
69.9
78.1
75.2
73.7
59.7
43.6
39.7
53.7
1882
32.4
41.2
44 2
50.3
57.0
68.9
70.7
71.1
65.0
58.1
42.0
31.4
52.7
1883
26.6
33.9
35.0
50.4
59.5
69.8
73.4
69.5
63.1
53.6
43.4
34.5
51.1
1884 ..
20.5
36.4
39.3
49.0
61.2
72.7
73.4
72.7
70 6
58.1
40.7
31.9
52.2
1885
22.9
19.4
29.6
49.5
60.7
68.8
76.3
70.0
63.8
50.6
40.9
32.5
48.8
18-6 __
23.8
27.5
38.6
54.4
62.9
67.6
72.4
71.5
65.7
54.3
38.9
26.7
50.4
1887 __
26.8
36.1
37.0
51.2
67.4
71.7
79.8
72.5
66.0
51.3
41.4
33.0
52.8
1888 ..
26.6
32.7
35 3
51.0
60.4
71.6
73.2
71.4
61.3
48.7
44.1
34.2
50.9
1889 __
34.2
26.4
42.2
51.8
61.4
67.7
74.1
70.2
63 8
49.0
41.2
44.6
52.2
1890 .-
39.1
40,6
35.2
52.3
60.0
74.6
73.6
70.2
63.1
53.8
44.6
31.8
53.2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
O
0
0
78.7
73.7
64.8
52.4
42.7
26.4
712
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
Note .- From July, 1878, to July, 1888, the averages were deduced from tri-daily observa- tions made at hours corresponding to 7 A. M., 3 and 11 P. M. Washington time. From July, 1888, to December, 1890, the averages bave been obtained from the readings of self-registering maximum and minimum thermometers.
MINIMUM TEMPERATURE.
YEAR.
January.
February.
0 |March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
| October.
| November.
December.
0
o
o
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1879.
-20
4
15
18
38
48
61
51
37
25
19
5
1880
15
11
23
28
36
53
56
54
40
29
- 5
-12
1881
· 3
2
16
15
42
50
60
56
50
39
15
17
1882
11
20
25
23
38
48
54
52
47
36
22
- 4
1883
- 3
10
26
34
48
54
50
39
35
12
12
1884
-20
0
30
39
55
55
51
46
29
15
- 8
1885
- 8
-11
23
35
46
51
50
39
29
24
1
1886
-11
- 5
10
23
41
44
55
51
40
32
00
1
1887
- 5
13
14
24
50
49
61
42
36
20
co
1
1888
2
4
6
30
38
45
53
47
32
31
24
13
1889
16
1
21
22
36
42
56
51
38
29
21
20
1890
00
17
7
28
35
53
50
48
38
33
24
14
The minus sign indicates temperatures below zero.
MAXIMUM WIND VELOCITY.
MILES PER HOUR.
YEAR.
January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
December.
1878
42
36
24
24
27
1879
29
35
32
31
36
25
43
30
26
25
36
25
1880
28
38
40
42
28
36
28
26
23
32
36
39
1881
28
40
32
26
44
36
23
28
26
30
36
36
1882
46
44
54
44
24
30
22
24
24
24
31
32
1883
33
24
36
30
40
29
28
37
40
32
36
32
1884
38
38
31
34
32
32
28
29
30
28
42
43
1885
36
35
33
32
30
32
22
28
27
24
26
36
1886
34
32
32
28
28
22
39
34
29
45
40
40
1887
38
56
51
46
32
38
45
31
30
48
32
39
1888
34
36
37
42
39
30
36
26
26
46
30
40
1889
49
37
5
38
31
24
36
24
40
26
27
38
1890
44
30
38
52
42
52
36
28
22
36
36
38
1
1
I
1878
59
53
43
26
24
- 7
HOOD
NOTE .- The velocities given in the above table are for 5 minute periods, as indicated by Robinson anemometer. A correction to reduce to true velocities should be applied if great refinement is desired.
713
CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. I.
PRECIPITATION.
Year.
January.
Februery.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
December.
Annual.
1878
3.58
5.00
2.84
3.17
3.06
3.88
1879
1.66
1.43
3.77
0.92
2.09
2.68
3.67
4.64
2.33
0.26
3.52
4.29
31.26
1880
4.49
1.70
2.42
5.08
3.21
3.30
4.86
6.95
1.80
2.35
4.54
3.98
44.68
1881
2.25
4.44
4.01
2.04
2.00
4.02
5.33
2.09
1.54
8 64
5.35
5.28
46.99
1882
4.69
5.94
4.76
4.87
9 59
6.01
2.62
3.14
2.91
2.44
2.05
2.28
51.30
1883
3.20
6.18
3.20
2.85
6.38
3.75
2.54
2.43
6,11
3.87
4.12
48.88
1884
2.25
4.95
3.59
2.11
3.79
2.16
0.70
3.46
1.66
0.99
2.77
31.02
1885
3.75
2.39
0.53
4.61
5.83
5.08
3.28
5.90
2.84
3,11
3.08
1.85
42.25
1886
4.36
1.26
3.90
3.57
7.67
2.69
4,17
2.44
3 61
1.13
4.18
3.41
42.39
1887
2.35
6.48
2.56
3.44
2.97
2.82
1.45
2.21
1.35
0.30
2.45
1.87
30.25
1888
3.73
1.30
3.79
1.53
3.89
1.62
5.81
4.34
0.91
3.77
3,26
1.11
35.06
1889
3.37
1.06
0.66
0.83
3.92
2.77
2.94
1.59
3.34
1.83
3.83
2.36
2×50
1890
5.73
6.12
5.63
4.32
5.12
4.95
1.80
2.75
7.13
3.02
1.97
2.19
50.73
MEAN RELATIVE HUMIDITY.
Year,
January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October
November.
Derember.
PER
PER
CENT.
CENT.
CENT.
PER CENT.
PER CENT.
PER CENT.
PER CENT.
CENT
CENT.
CENT.
CENT.
C'ENT.
CENT.
1878
1879
65
67
64
54
54
60
59
69
67
3
69
78
164
1880
74
66
61
58
58
64
62
67
66
67
69
74
65
1881
76
74
71
63
61
64
58
58
65
73
68
73
67
1882
74
68
62
6%
69
70
67
74
71
72
70
70
69
1883
72
72
66
63
62
69
65
63
66
72
65
71
67
1884
76
76
68
66
65
66
60
60
69
72
76
82
70
1885
80
82
75
77
76
72
72
79
76
78
80
78
11
1886
79
72
76
69
73
78
80
73
73
66
70
71
73
1887
70
74
67
60
65
65
63
60
63
61
67
72
66
1888
71
67
68
54
62
62
67
72
72
75
75
73
68
1889
78
77
67
61
67
75
70
6-4
72
70
80
74
71
1890
79
75
73
65
72
74
65
70
77
79
73
75
73
70
70
74
70
69
73
Annual.
PER
PER
PER
PER
PER
PER
PER
.
NOTE .- Observations were made three times per day prior to July, 1888. Subsequent to that date twice daily at hours corresponding to 8 A. M. and 8 p. 3. 75th meridian time.
4.25 2.59
714
CLEAR, FAIR, CLOUDY AND RAINY DAYS.
YEAR
JANUARY.
FEBRUARY.
MARCH.
APRIL.
TAY.
JUNE.
JULY.
AUGUST.
SEPTEMBER.
OCTOBER.
NOVEMBER.
DECEMBER.
ANNUAL.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
FAIR.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
CLOUDY
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
FAIR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
CLEAR.
CLOUDY.
RAINY.
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -
I
-
I
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1878
1879|2|15 14 15
5 8 15 11
7
12
8 10
8|15 10
6 7 912 9 12 13 12
6 9 17 4 10 10| 6 18
6 7 10 17 4 6
4 12 14 11 0 8 23 15
100 134 131 123
1880
6 12 13 16 7|11 11 12
7 10 14 12 17 7 6 12 17 9
5, 8 15 9 6 11 14|14 3 11 11 11 9 15 10 14
6 12 12 8 11 13 9 9 12 14 13 14 14 18
128 128 110 154
1881
6 7 18 17 3 11 14 14
3 10 18 18 8 9 13 16 13 11 7 13 6 14 10 14 8 20
3 12 16 14 1 7 10 13 7 13 8 11 12 18| 3 19 8 13 5 10 16 16
89 149|127 171
1882
0 14 17 19 4 9 15 10
3 16.12 14 7 11 12 12 5 17 9 20 3 13 14 16 8 18 5 10 4 14 13 18 12 10 8 11 10 17 4 10 5 12 13 11
2 14 15 19
63 165 137 170
1883
2 9 20 17 2 12 14 15 5 14 12 15 10 8 12 12 7|13 11 16 8 18 4 16 13 14
4 13 16|10 5|11 |10 11
9 12 5 9 17 13 7 14 9 10 5 10 16:17 90 142 133 167
1884
6 8 17 18 3 15 11 19 3 11 17 18
6 10 14 15 12 15 4 11 10 13 7 9 10 16
5 9 14 13 4 6 13 13
4 10 13 13 5 5 10 10 10 6|4 10 17 14 104 147 115 140
94 161 110 145
1886 3 10 18 18 7 10 11 | 5|2|19 10 16 11|10 9 14 12 13 6 12 11 12 7 13 |10|14 7 10 10 16 5 9 10 18
2|10 16| 9
6 5 7 13 10 15 10 10 11 16 109 154 102 143
1887
3 14 14 19 2 11 15 21 3 12 16 13 8 16 6 8 11 14 6 12 12 13 5 9 11 16
4 9 13 14 4 9 6 16
8 10 12 13
6 5 11| 8 11 10
4 11 16 14 96 158 111 139
1888 5 9 17 20. 7 12 10 13 7 10 14 15 17 8 5 11 7 15
9 12 12 14| 4 7 15 14 2 11 12 10 9 14 11 17
2 5 8 914 14 8 15 7 14 8 11 12 11 117 134 115 147
1889| 6|11|14 13 7 12 9 14 12 11 8 10 9 7|14, 7 5 17 9 12 4 13 13 14 9 13 9 12 21 5 5 8 10 13
7 10 12 8 11 9 5 7 18 17 8 11 12 10 108 128 129 136
1890, 6 10.15 18 7 5 16 16|4| 9 18 19| 12| 6|12|12 |8|11 |12 17 10 16| 4|15 24 4 3 9|12| 9|10| 8|10 11
9|14 5|10|16 14 9 7 14|12| 7|12|12|11 114|110 141 |163
--
--
--
--
--
3 20
8 12 11
13
7 16 15
9 6 111
9 14
8 12
8 9 13
9
3
7 21 19
--
-
-
1
-
-
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
"Rainy " days are days with 0.01 inch or more of precipitation. A " Clear " day is one having less than threetenths clouds. A " Fair " day three to seventenths, and a "Cloudy " day one on which the sky is eighttenths, ninetenths or completely covered with clouds.
CLEAR.
CLOUDY.
CLOUDY.
CLOUDY.
FAIR.
FAIR,
--
1885 10 11 10 12 9 9 10 11 8 10 13 13 5 14 11 15 7 15 9 14 7 18 5 9 10 16 5 12 10 18 3 12 10 14
6 6 9 11 11 14 5 12 13 13 |4 13 14 14
10 14 12
-
FAIR.
715
CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. I.
NOTES.
1. Atwater's History of Ohio.
2. Autobiography.
3. Atwater.
4. Ibid.
5. Columbus letter to Samuel Appleton, Boston.
6. Communication to the Ohio State Journal.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. According to the tables kept at the State Library, the lowest temperature reached during the five winters next preceding that of 1850 were as follows, the number of degrees stated meaning, in each case, the extent of depression below the zero mark : 1845, December 20, 6°; 1846, January 23, 2° ; 1847, Jannary 8, 2°; 1848, Jannary 10, 12º ; 1849, January 11, 8o.
10. Ohio Statesman.
11. Card in the Ohio State Journal.
12. Ohio State Journal.
13. Ibid.
14. Ohio Statesman.
15. Ibid.
16. Ohio State Journal.
17. These tables cover the period from the beginning of observations at the Columbus Stations until December, 1890, but for the sake of historical completeness the following additional events which took place during the period covered by these tables will here be mentioned :
1880 .- On May 10 the rods on the Statehouse were noticeably struck by lightning, and a ball of fire was perceived on top of the cupola. Various buildings were struck at the same time.
1881 .- Eelipse of the moon June 9. On June 24 a comet began to be visible. July 10 said to have been the hottest day ever experienced in the city.
1882 .- The transit of Venus took place December 7.
1884 .- Buildings were struck by lightning as follows: On May 3, a house at the corner of Third and Fulton streets ; May 30, a small dwelling near the Panhandle Roundhouse ; June 20, a house on Miller Avenue. An earthquake tremor of considerable distinctness passed over the State on the afternoon of September 19.
1885 -A brilliant meteor shot athwart the sky at midnight, July 30-1.
1886 .- An eclipse of the sun took place March 5. A furions tornado called a cyclone, but scarcely deserving that name, passed over the city at 1:30 r. M., July 30. The Union Station building was nnroofed, and numerous others were damaged. An earthquake shock was felt throughout the city during the night of August 31. Three distinct vibrations were perceived. A large meteor darted across the western sky abont 11:30 p. M., October 24.
1887 .- Intense heat prevailed in July ; drought in August.
1888 .- A light precipitation of snow descended from an apparently cloudless sky March 11. A violent gale of wind swept over the city during the evening of October 1. Several buildings were unroofed.
In connection with this general subject should be inentioned the singularly philosophi- cal weather forecasts of Professor George H1. Twiss, of Columbus. These forecasts have had the distinction of being based upon a careful study of meteorological phenomena, and have justly attracted a great deal of attention, both popular and scientific.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. II.
The bilious fevers and other climatic disorders to which the early settlers of Central Ohio were subject have already been frequently referred to. The descrip- tion of these maladies, and their ravages given in the letters of Mrs. Betsy Green Deshler, quoted in a previous chapter, leaves little to be said concerning them which is not of a professional character. Their historical beginning, however, antedates by nearly twenty years the period covered by the letters just referred to. The Indians who preceded or were contemporary with the first white settlers were by no means exempt from these maladies, which were treated by their " medicine men" according to their own superstitious methods. In his diary, which has elsewhere been reproduced. Mr. James Kilbourn mentions the bilious and febrile ailments which prevailed in Central Ohio when he arrived in that part of the State in 1802. " In the autumn of 1806," says Atwater's History of Ohio, " a fever of the remittent type made its appearance, extending from the Ohio River on the south to Lake Erie on the north." Of this disease Mr. Atwater furnishes the following description :
Its symptoms were chills in the forenoon, between ten and eleven o'clock, which were succeeded by violent fever afterwards in an hour and a half. The fever continued to rage until about six o'clock in the evening. During the exacerbation great pain or depression was felt in the brain, liver, spleen or stomach, and frequently in all these organs. The sweat- ing stage took place about midnight. By daylight there was a respite, but not a total exemp- tion from the urgency of these symptoms. This was the common course of the disease, but there were occasionally found distinct intermittents, and a few cases of continued fever.
These maladies, continues Atwater, were followed by a " most annoying and incorrigible affection of the skin." The socalled " milksickness," which was a con- temporary scourge, is thus described :
Its most prominent symptoms were, first, a sense of uncommon lassitude, and a listless- ness and aversion to muscular motion. A slight pain about the ankles, which seemed grad- ually to ascend the calves of the legs, and, in a few hours more, a dull pain, which soon term- inated in a spasm, or a cramp of the stomach. This was quickly followed by violent efforts to vomit, which continued for four, five, six or seven days, until death closed the scene. . . . Where the cattle are kept from wild grass this disease is never found.1
A bilious malady popularly called the " cold plague " ravaged the settlements, says Atwater, in 1813 and 1814. The editor of the Freeman's (Franklinton)
[716]
717
CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. 11.
Chronicle of January, 1813, refers to the prevailing sickness of that season, and excuses himself for issuing a half instead of a full sheet of his paper because of the illness of members of his own family.
Governor Ethan A. Brown began his annual message of December 6, 1821, with the words : "A season unusually sickly has visited this and some of our sister States since the last adjournment of our legislature." The bilions disorders seem to have reeurred indeed, almost every year. Ensuing from a prolonged rain- fall in the spring of 1823, a great June freshet, says the author of the Sullivant Memorial, " overflowed and saturated the country when in the full flush of a most luxuriant vegetation, and the hot sun of July and the decaying matters ushered in a season of unparalleled sickness and deadly fevers." Among the prominent citizens who were carried off by this scourge were Lucas Sullivant, John Kerr, Barzilla Wright, Warden of the Old Penitentiary, and Judge John A. McDowell. The fever of this season, says Atwater, was of a remittent type, and more or less affected nineteentwentieths of the people. Up to this time there had been very little pulmonary consumption in Ohio, and epilepsy was equally rare. The dis. eases of 1823, says Martin, " were bilious and intermittent fevers of all types, from the common fever and ague to the most malignant." The year 1824, continues the same author, " was also very sickly, but not so much so as 1823. Amongst the prominent old citizens carried off this year were Captain Joseph Vance, Billingsły Bull, Esq., James Culbertson, John Starr, Senior, and others."2 In 1827, says Atwater, " the inhabitants of the river country were healthinl, but the dwellers along the small streams were affected with dysentery." A citizen whose memory extends back to that period makes to the writer the following statement :
At first the physicians treated the bilions fevers with bleeding and physic, but not very successfully. Doctor Turney, a Chillicothe physician, departed from the common prac- tice, allowed his patients to eat all they wanted, gave them as much brandy as they could drink, and generally cured his cases. Within a day or two after a rain, a green scum gathered on all the ponds about the village.
During the winter of 1825-6, a disease called influenza afflicted most of the inhabitants of Columbus, including the members of the General Assembly and other sojourners. Its symptoms are not deseribed, but we are told that it was sometimes serious. It was possibly similar to the malady now known as la grippe.
A passage in the Ohio State Journal of April 27, 1826, reads :
The citizens of the town of Columbus, during the fall months, have for sometime past been afflicted with bilious fevers. A great majority of the citizens confidently believe that the milldam immediately opposite the town aggravates the diseases with which, ever since its erection, they have been afflicted. Messrs. Jewett & Smith, proprietors of the mill, were at the present April term of the court of Common Pleas indicted under the statute which provides a remedy to abate stagnant pools that cause sickness. Messrs. Jewett & Smith, a few days before the appointed time for trial, left the county, and are not to be found, conse- quently the cause must necessarily be continued until the August term of the court. A goodly number of respectable citizens, finding it impossible to obtain an immediate abate- ment of the nuisance by the process of law, and Messrs. J. & S. having refused to rent the mill to the corporation on experiment for a reasonable sum, they proceeded on the twenty- fourth instant gently and peaceably to navigate the Scioto River. Finding, as they antici-
718
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
pated, an obstruction by Jewett & Smith's dam, they proceeded to render the river navigable, and to abate the dam as a public nuisance.
The editor proceeds to deplore such conduct on the part of "respectable citi- zens." Whether or not the health of " the town of Columbus" was improved thereby we are not informed. We learn, however, from the same paper of May 3, 1827, that in the judgment of the citizens the canal dam which was then abont to be erected a few rods below the Jewett & Smith dam, would " not affect the health of this town," as the water would rapidly flow over this new obstruction " during freshets," would "remain undisturbed by water wheels," and would " be almost entirely taken up in the fall months by the current of the Lateral Canal."
A writer under date of December 7, 1827, on climate and health in the Seioto Valley, makes these observations :
This valley, like all other rich countries which are new and but partially cultivated, is sometimes visited by bilions antumnal diseases. They are, however, mild, and readily yield to proper medical treatment, and will no doubt become less and less frequent as the country becomes older and more extensively cultivated. Chronick diseases, and especially those of the lungs, are excedingly rare. Consumption . .. is scarcely ever contracted in this climate, and there are hundreds of examples in which a radical cure has been effected by the sufferer having emigrated from those [eastern] States to this country.3
The report of the Canal Commissioners for 1827 contains this passage :
The past season has been peculiarly unfavorable for the vigorous prosecution of the work on the Ohio Canal. Much rain fell in the spring and the early part of the summer, particu- larly in the northern part of the State, and since the middle of October few days have occurred in which work could be carried on to advantage, owing to the same cause. The heavy rains which fell in the latter part of June and first of July, succeeded, as they were, by weather extremely warm and dry, or some other cause to us unknown, occasioned the prevalence of sickness to an unusual and alarming extent, especially in the valley of the Tus- carawas and the Muskingum.
In one of the Jewett letters, from which various quotations have already been made, occur the following statements nnder date of August 10, 1831 :4
The mortality which has prevailed here during the preceding month exceeds that of any preceding year. The average number of deaths has been one per day, and that in a popula- tion of less than three thousand souls . . . The natives are reckless to a proverb. They wander about in the damps at night without reflecting that he who promenades at that omin- ous hour walks with the fever hanging on one arm and the ague clinging hold of the other. And then the mornings, which in New England are clear and refreshing, have been with us stupid in pestilential vapors, rolling their murky volumes about out habitations.
In a later letter bearing date in the same month and year, Mr. Jewett writes :
The chills and damps of summer are now succeeded by excessive heat and consequent drought. This change is what we dreaded. . .. The frequency of deaths is no wise dimin- ished. ... There are many just lingering on the verge of the grave. Young children are the most usual victims of the destroying epidemic, which is something in the nature of the cholera in miniature. Still onr citizens are as reckless as ever.
On November 1, 1831, Mr. Jewett wrote: "The epidemic called 'chills and fever,' which has visited us after an interval of seven years, is fast abating, leaving for its traces a most deathlike sallowness of visage, and a most wolflike voracity of appetite."
719
CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. II.
During the spring and summer of 1832 the cholera began to appear in various parts of the American Union. Most of the towns and cities along the Ohio River were visited by it in May, June and July. From Wheeling, Virginia, it spread into Ohio, and visited St. Clairsville, Mt. Pleasant and other Eastern Ohio towns. In October it was very bad in Cincinnati. During the summer of 1833 it became epidemie in Columbus. The first ease is said to have been that of a negro woman dwelling in a cabin on the east side of Front Street, about eighty fect south of Broad. Next a white woman was seized in a stone honse which stood on the north- west corner of Fourth and Town streets. These cases occurred about the middle of July ; the first appearance of the pestilence in the Penitentiary is ascribed to the twelfth of that month.
The filthy condition of the town at that time was a subject of remark. The streets abounded in "chuckholes," ponds of stagnant water stood on the commons, primitive swamps remained yet undrained, ashes, shavings and trash of all kinds were tossed promiscuously into the first alley or other convenient space, pigs and other foul creatures were permitted to roam at will, and the carcasses of dead aminals were left rotting in the sun. To correct these evils and prepare for the approaching emergency, a Board of Health was appointed June 7, of which the following prominent citizens were members: Doctor Peleg Sisson, Doctor M. B. Wright, Hon. J. Campbell, Joel Buttles, John Patterson, William Minor, Alfred Kelley, P. B. Wilcox, R. Brotherton, Christian Heyl, George Jeffries and John Noble. The sum of fifty dollars was placed at the disposal of this board by the Borough Council, which also appointed a committee of three of its members to procure a suitable place for a hospital, if needed. That it would be needed, and that badly, soon became evident enough. Meanwhile the street committee was directed to drain the ponds, fill up the holes containing water, and have the vile street culverts cleaned.
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