Vaccination Orders in Franklin
The Oregon Improvement Company mandates vaccination for all employees and school children to curb a smallpox threat.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Precautions against an outbreak of smallpox are being taken at Franklin. The Oregon Improvement Company has ordered a supply of vaccine for Dr. J. J. Smith, its surgeon, and has given orders for all the employees to be vaccinated. The school directors have issued similar orders in regard to the children. The company has given orders to have the camp cleaned up and to keep it clean, with notice that if the occupants of the houses fail to do so, it will be done by the company at their expense. Similar precautions will be taken at Newcastle.
“The company has given orders to have the camp cleaned up and to keep it clean.”
This public health response highlights the role of resource companies in governing the bodies and domestic conditions of their employees in mining camps. It serves as a reminder of how industrial entities functioned as de-facto municipal governments in Washington State's late 19th-century labor colonies.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.