The 1918 Influenza Epidemic
Colorado Fuel & Iron Company communities were not immune from the deadly and contagious virus. Between October 1 and December 31, 1918, CF&I physicians and nurses treated 4,600 cases in the Southern Colorado mining camps, and at the Steelworks Dispensary in Pueblo.
Heightening the anxiety was CF&I’s limited medical staff, as many company doctors and nurses had volunteered to assist wounded soldiers overseas during World War I. Orders were made to the remaining physicians, nurses, bacteriologists, and pathologists to remain on duty day and night, particularly during October, when the virus was at its height.
With the limited medical staff, company officials decided that prevention was the key to avoiding further spread of the illness. They enacted strict quarantines and curfews. Coal camps that had medical dispensaries made use of them rather than sending sufferers to Minnequa Hospital in Pueblo. For the coal camps without a dispensary, the YMCA clubhouse in the community transformed into an emergency make-shift hospital equipped with clean cots and medical supplies donated by the residents. Employees’ wives substituted as nurses, cooks and dietitians. To prevent the spread of pneumonia, medical staff gave thousands of vaccinations to employees and their families at the Steelworks, mining properties and the Denver general offices, all free of charge.
The Primero camp, in Las Animas County, was one the largest and hardest hit of the mining communities. In early October alone, 104 cases of the disease appeared in one week. The demand for medical services was so great that both the dispensary and the YMCA were used in Primero as make shift hospitals. Throughout the entire scourge, 254 residents contracted the disease and were treated.
By 1919, those afflicted by the flu were back to work, and life resumed. Families returned to recreational activities at the Steelworks YMCA, and coal, iron ore and steel production continued in the steel mill as well. The deadly flu virus had mysteriously left as quickly and quietly as it had begun.
