Head Colds Upon Take-off: Then & Now

May 12-13, 1849: 

"Rose this morning from our bed upon the ground with sensations similar to those I imagine must pervade the frame of the inebriated after a week's spree." 

"Rose this morning under the influence of a severe cold contracted from exposure in camp and in sleeping on the ground" Diary of Niles Searls, May 12, 1849

April 26-27, 2017:

I begin my road trip in a week.  What do I get?  A head cold.  Just like the one Niles Searls described. I can't postpone, any more than the pioneers could, but the reasons are different.  I've made arrangements to see friends and family in Utah, Colorado and Illinois.  Between their schedules and mine, I've got to leave on May 4.

The pioneers also had to leave, but for reasons of sheer survival.  They wanted to leave in early May in order to reach California before it started snowing in the Sierras.  Everyone had heard about the the Donner Party.  And, of course, all the pioneers amassing at the frontier border in Independence, St. Joseph, Council Bluffs, Weston & Westport wanted to be first to reach the gold and scoop it up before the next guy arrived....

So, anxious wagon parties would send scouts into the plains to see how tall the grass was -- essential fodder for the mules, horses and oxen that powered the voyage.  The scouts also checked the ground -- after the spring rains, was it hard enough for the heavy wagons loaded with provisions?  Getting mired was not desirable, especially with half broken mule and oxen teams. 

Back to head colds.  What to do?  Nowadays they say "stay hydrated," "rest in bed," "sooth a sore throat," and "take a cold remedy."    I bought Nyquil and throat lozenges.  Fat lot of good they did.  The rum, however, was helpful....

My medicine chest 

The pioneers also bought medicine to ease afflictions.  For perspective, on May 7 William Swain paid $115 for his wagon while the wagon party's medicine chest cost $200.  One of these portable apothecaries included "a box of physicing pills, a box of castor oil, a quart of best rum, and a vial of peppermint." Others included quinine for malaria, hartshorn for snakebite, citric acid for scurvy and blueness, opium, whiskey, laudanum, morphine, calomel, tincture of camphor and such brand remedies as Ayer's Pain Killer, Dover's Powders and Jayne's Caminative Balsam.  

Despite his nasty cold, Niles Searls made it all the way to California.  And, it turns out I had a sinus infection, not a true cold.  Early symptoms matched those described by Searls, but I escaped the usual prolonged sore throat and chest coughing.  As of May 4, I'm good to go.  Hurrah! 

19th Century Portable Apothecary