TYPHOID TROUBLE

In 1908, the Montana Board of Health addressed concerns over the spread of disease, including typhoid, by these resorts. Both were piping raw sewage into Prickly Pear Creek, and allowing seepage from outhouses to contaminate groundwater. The contaminated water was routinely pumped aboard Great Northern trains for use as drinking water by passengers, some of whom would become ill later and not know the cause.

From the Montana Board of Health minutes, April 2 1908
COURTESY OF CHARLEEN SPALDING

The Clancy matter was again taken up. Dr. Tuttle said he hardly
knew what to do in regard to it. The people over there don't seem to realize
that the Board is trying to benefit them, and if ordered to build water
tight closets they would only take their refuse and dump it in a place where
it would be as harmful as it is now. Alhambra and Sunnyside Springs should
have a septic tank or filter bed system, or else pipe the sewage down the
river to a point suitable for a sewer farm. The are a great many water
closets belonging to the Great Northern located right on the bank of the
creek, and these should be put back about fifty feet. It would aid
materially if they would dig deep enough so that they could fill in with
about four feet of gravel and sand, so that the contents of the closets
would be filtered before they could do any harm. Dr. Tuttle also spoke of
treating the infected wells with a solution of copper, and illustrated the
advisability of so doing.

Dr. Treacy said the greatest danger came from the sanitariums.
Many sick guests were entertained there, causing conditions that soon became
a menace to the people. A penalty should be provided for the lack of action
on the part of the proprietors of these hotels, the same as is provided for
the Spring Hill people.

Governor Norris asked how far typhoid fever germs could be carried
down a stream and Dr. Tuttle said as far as a river will flow in twenty five
days. The Governor thought that if that was the case, and the typhoid fever
germs existed in the streams coming from Clancy there would be danger of
this city becoming infected.

Dr. Bruning said that the conditions at Clancy applied to all the
rivers of the State, and whatever action was taken with regard to Clancy
should also be taken with regard to the other places.

Dr. Knowles asked what suggestions Dr. Tuttle or Dr. Starz had to
offer in regard to the matter. He said it was a great proposition and one
that needed immediate attention. A sewer farm seems expensive, but if it is
the only way to handle the matter they must have a sewer farm.

Dr. Starz said in regard to the out-houses, that some of the waste
matter could be disinfected with sulphate of copper. That would kill at
least a good deal of the infectious matter and the wells could also be
treated in the same way. As to the effluent from the springs, the only thing
to do was to force the owners of the springs to pipe the sewage to some
place where it could be properly purified. The excreta and everything from
all the sick people at Clancy goes into the stream, then the water of that
stream is put directly in the big tank from which so many people drink the
water. The tanks on the railroad cars are filled with this water, and the
people who drink the water become sick after they leave Clancy, without
knowing the reason. Something must be done. Since Clancy is not an
incorporated town they haven't enough money to build a sewer system, so the
only way is to prohibit them from dumping the sewage in the stream until it
is purified and they can do this only by putting it on a sewer farm.

Dr. Knowles suggested that the Secretary have a consultation with
the owners of the two sanitariums. Tell them that it is the desire of the
Board that they find some way to take care of this sewage - that the Board
is willing to wait a reasonable length of time and then if they have not
taken some steps the Board will have to find some other measures.

Dr. Bruning asked if there wasn't a definite law prohibiting such
disposal of sewage and Galen read a portion of a law to that effect.

Dr. Treacy said that the matter should be attended to at once, not
only at Clancy but all over the State. Dr. Bruning moved that the Secretary
of the Board be instructed to tell these people to provide some means of
escape for the sewage.

Attorney General Galen offered us an amendment to that motion that
the Secretary of the Board should recommend the measures to be taken to
render the water safe. Let the Secretary investigate the matter thoroughly
and determine the best and most effective means of handling the sewage and
then in the directions to these people outline the plan he has determined
upon.

To this Dr. Bruning added that all the water closets on the bank
of the stream should be destroyed.

This motion was carried.