14
HEALTH PRACTICES
KLealth practices in the early part of Carbon County's history were primitive, and dlnesses were usually treated with folk remedies. When contagious diseases were diagnosed, the sick and their famdies were quarantined; that is, they were not allowed to leave their homes and no one was allowed inside. Neighbors often brought food to the sufferers, leaving it on their doorsteps. If anyone died, the family placed the body outside, where it would be picked up and transported to the cemetery. In the spring of 1887 a measles epidemic raged throughout Castle Valley, and several small children died. At the beginning of February 1891, diphtheria struck. John and Mary J. Morrison lost two daughters; Frank Nickerson and his wife lost three children; and the Neils Marsing family lost seven children. Several other families also lost a child to the epidemic. Dr. J.S. Hoyt imposed quarantines on all families with the sickness, but the danger lasted several more months. Ernest Horsley received the bodies of the dead at the quarantined families' gates and took them to the cemetery for burial. Famdies could not even pay public last respects to their dead chddren. 307
