Smallpox and Milk

Another problem facing dairy farmers around here in the early 1900s was the prevalence of disease and its link to milk. Apparently milk was not then routinely pasteurized, nor were people routinely vaccinated.

In the autumn of 1904, smallpox broke out in Merrillville. The usual method of handling such outbreaks was quarantine, and it was duly imposed. By October 21 the Ainsworth school had to close: its teacher, Silas Zuvers, was confined to Merrillville by the quarantine, and no substitute was available. Meanwhile, Ainsworth-area people hurried to get vaccinated.

The Ainsworth school remained closed for a couple of weeks, until November 7, when Mr. Zuvers was allowed to return to his teaching duties.

Either the news of the outbreak traveled slowly, or Chicago's Board of Health was slow to respond. Not until November 17 did the Board issue orders prohibiting the shipping of milk from the Grand Trunk's Lottaville and Turkey Creek stations.

The next day a Chicago health officer showed up in Ainsworth, nosing around for smallpox and talking of extending the boycott to the Ainsworth depot. Hugh Dotzer was able to talk him out of it. ("No smallpox in Ainsworth," said the Gazette's correspondent, "but plenty of sore arms.")

In response to the boycott, a number of Merrillville dairy farmers went to Chicago to appear before the Board of Health. Somehow — perhaps by convincing the Board that the quarantine had been effective and the outbreak had already run its course — they got the Board to lift its orders and allow the shipment of milk from Merrillville again. The Gazette commented: "The order stopped about 120 cans and would have been bad for the farmers shipping milk if the boycott had been continued."

By December 2, the Ainsworth correspondent said he'd been to Merrillville and found "all smallpox cases cured."


Sources:
♦ "Ainsworth Pick-Ups." Hobart Gazette 21 Oct. 1904; 4 Nov. 1904; 18 Nov. 1904; 2 Dec. 1904.
♦ "Chicago Refused Milk." Hobart Gazette 25 Nov. 1904.