In early March 1903, a young man walked into Grants Pass from Evans Creek and was immediately identified by his skin lesions as having the "dread disease." Many startled pedestrians stepped aside for good reason, the Grants Pass Courier reported. He had smallpox, a miserable affliction that killed a third of its victims and made those who didn't die so sick they might have preferred the painlessness of death.
By June 1903, Oregon adopted new health laws that, had they been in effect earlier, might have landed that young man in a quarantined "pest house" to prevent the spread of the disease. The laws called for strictly enforced quarantines and prohibited the shipping of bodies of those who died, or even taking them to church for burial. Passengers on trains and ships coming from known areas of disease were not allowed to disembark in Oregon. The laws even forbade libraries from lending books to contagious households.
The city sent the young man from Evans Creek home with a warning. The Courier played down the risk of his visit, saying the day was bright and sunny, which was thought at the time to be hard on germs.
Sources: Mestrouvic, Dr. Tomislav. "Smallpox History." News-Medical, Life Sciences & Medicine. 13 Aug. 2015, Ed. April Cashin-Carbutt. AZO Network. Web. 23 Dec. 2015.
