AN INIDENT AT THE ST. LOUIS QUARANTINE - JUNE 1850

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Wednesday, December 28. 2005

AN INIDENT AT THE ST. LOUIS QUARANTINE - JUNE 1850

From a letter written by an unknown lady named Mary,June 12 1850.

We left Cincinnati about dark (on Saturday on the Steamboat Mount Vernon) and were at St. Louis the next Wednesday night or should I say Thursday morning about 12 or 1 o"clock. The quarantine was about four miles below the city - when we were near - our boat gave every signal to the officers in their power - but it was storming dreadfully - the night was very dark - and as none made their appearance - and the Capt. could not find the place - he decided to go on - But as soon as we reached the city - he was arrested - and back we had to go - amid thunder, lightening and rain - and submit to an examination - which was so thorough - that the Dr’s came to even the door of the ladies cabin - with a bow and a "good morning ladies how do you all do? - pretty well here?" and off they went - We might have had fifty cases of cholera - and they been none the wiser - well - that performance over - we returned to the city - the Capt. all the while remaining in custody - and then the matter was taken to the mayor’s office and the Capt. honorably discharged as having done his duty - That was the way I decided also - I think they should at least have been compelled to pay for our breakfast - as the Capt. had all of us to feed that morning - when he expected to have landed us long before - and it is no small allowance that satisfies three or four hundred.

Posted by Michael Marleau in Western Rivers at 19:18 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

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After the cholera epidemic in 1849, a permanent quarantine station was set up on Arsenal Island in the Mississippi River. All visitors to St. Louis were required to be examined before they could continue into the City. Residences were set up on the Island to provide temporary housing.
#1 Michael Marleau on 2005-12-30 19:27 (Reply)
Dear Michael:
Interesting fine in the 1850 letter Re: Str. MOUNT VERNON. The threat of disease was from the virile strain of Asiatic Cholera that swept the U.S. from 1848-1850. It was not Yellow Fever. Immigration introduced the disease here via various ports handling immigrants from Europe, Russia etc. Fumigation of steamboats/steamships and early steam trains with often a hit-or-miss proposition using various techniques like burning tar, lime, acids or plain soap/water and 'airing' of spaces, cabins, clothing etc.

The "Dr's coming to the door of the ladies cabin" is revealing about customs and manners of the day. It was the high Victorian era and men (even doctors) had to show utmost respect. There are accounts of male doctors examining female patients through a curtain or even standing at a distance to ask about symptoms etc.
#1.1 R. Dale Flick on 2006-01-03 12:10 (Reply)
Dear Michael:
'Steamboat forensics' on the early photo of the Str. SPARTAN is interesting and I think you did a pretty good job with what you had to work with. The 'enclosed' lower deck is obviously for climatic/weather considerations up there and reminds me of the steamboats operating in Alaska, Pacific Northwest and even California. The 'links' to the Lacine Rapids at Montreal on the St. Lawrence River and photos of various steamboats over the years says a lot.

In the early 1970s I descended the St. Lawrence at Montreal at the Lacine Raipds on the M/V MOUT HOPE--one of Capt. Luther Blount's passenger boats. Reminded me somewhat of the Falls at Louisville. The St. Lawrence, being a wide estuary river, is tidal at Montreal. North Atlantic steamships did/do dock there. Early on a competition arose between Montreal, New York, Halifax and Boston as a more convenient terminus for arriving ships. In time the port of New York won out.
#1.1.1 R. Dale Flick on 2006-01-04 08:50 (Reply)
Michael: Congratulations and thank you for finding this eye-opening letter. My ancestors came up from New Orleans in 1849. The family legend says they were not allowed to disembark at St. Louis, but we don't know where they did. Then the family legend says they walked out Gravois Rd. into Jefferson County, walking about 40 miles. According to everything I have found, the quarantine island was not operating in 1849, Koch Quarantine Hospital was later. But Arsenal Island is just about 4 miles south of the Poplar Street Bridge, so possibly it was in use but not established in 1849. Can you suggest where I might look for further information?

Thank you.

Bill Sullivan
billandsue@sullivan.name
#1.2 William Sullivan on 2006-01-24 15:44 (Reply)

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