Citric acid was used to prevent and treat scurvy.

Scurvy: Weakens and deteriorates body conditions resulting from diets lacking in vitamin C.

Food poisoning: A problem with contaminated food, more likely among single men.

Measles: A viral disease that is more common among children, but can have a serious effect upon adults.

Quinine water was used to treat Rocky Mountain spotted fever, chills and pneumonia. The diseases that fit these symptoms are: Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typhoid fever, and scarlet fever.

Mountain fever: Usually not fatal, with symptoms that include intestinal discomfort, respiratory distress, and fever.

Castor oil was used to treat dysentary and other bowel disorders. Although seldom fatal if treated, it can be very dangerous for the very young and elderly.

Dysentery: A common ailment that can strike any group exposed to changes in their living habits, especially if accompanied by unsanitary conditions.

These were painkillers and cough suppressants that did little to cure the disease. Some of the medicines that emigrants had to combat cholera were camphor and laudanum. The effects were so severe and rapid that victims often died within 12 hours of the first symptoms. It progresses rapidly and attacks the intestinal lining, producing severe diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and cramps. Cholera results from a waterborne bacteria that thrives in polluted, stagnant water.

Cholera: This disease resulted in more illness and death than all of the other maladies experienced by the emigrants.

Most graves were deliberately left unmarked to protect the deceased from grave robbers and vandals. Single graves were often dug in the trail itself where the loose dirt could be compacted by the wagons that rolled over it. Victims of epidemics and massacres were usually buried anonymously in mass graves. Usually, there wasn't time or opportunity to observe customary burial rites like back home. Of this large number, only a few grave site locations are marked. Since the trail was 2,000 miles long, this would indicate that there was an average of 10-15 deaths per mile. Of the estimated 350,000 who started the journey, disease may have claimed as many as 30,000 victims. It is estimated that 6-10% of all emigrants of the trails succumbed to some form of illness.

Death from diseases usually came quickly and painfully.

The most dangerous diseases were those spread by poor sanitary conditions and personal contact. However, the number one killer, by a wide margin, was disease. A concrete cross marks the final resting place of Fleming Dunn.Įmigrants feared death from a variety of causes along the trail: lack of food or water Indian attacks accidents, or rattlesnake bites were a few.

Oregon trail 2 steam