"inoculating" against smallpox in the old days

[Jeffrey Kopp]

On Wed, 3 Feb 1999 10:44:44 +0100, you wrote:

>Malaria ("fever and ague") was the deadliest of all infections, it raged in the
>1830s and killed three-forths of the native population around Ft.Vancouver in
>one year (1830). Mortality between 1830 and 1841 in the Willamette and Columbia
>Valleys was an average 92% (from an estimated 13,940 to 1,175), unequally
>distributed. Only 2 per cent of the Kiksht speaking peoples in the Portland
>Basin survived the mentioned period (Boyd 1990: 137ff.).
>
>So much about that.
>Henry

Well, that surprises me; I knew the Chinooks were nearly wiped out prior
to the Oregon Trail, but thought the main culprit was smallpox.  I had
heard of "fever and ague" but didn't realize it was malaria; it is
certainly wet here, but I thought the cool climate would not harbor it.
I do recall the mosquitos were severe on the lower Willamette in the
1960s and aggressive control efforts were undertaken, including aerial
spraying, which was controversial.  (The early 1960s were very wet
years.  My childhood memories are mostly of mud.)

I don't know much about malaria but don't think humans are a vector; if
it was not present here before immigration, might it have been carried
in by livestock?

Cholera, which took such a toll on the trail, might not have affected
the population here (natives and settled immigrants) as much, but as the
Indians were dislocated and crowded it may have become a factor.  I
wonder what role it played in the native reduction.

Regards,

Jeff