Southwest Sierra #106 – The Library Angel Makes a Visit

Early in this series of articles I mentioned the “Library Angel”. Whenever I find a pertinent document with zero effort, I chalk it up to the Library Angel. Last week, I mentioned Doc Hardie who was once Alleghany’s town doctor. I hadn’t decided what to write about this week, until last night. I was renaming scanned documents for Underground Gold Miners Museum (undergroundgold.org) when I came across a newspaper article that shared a portion of Doc Hardie’s medical ledger! It was in a batch of documents donated to the museum last November. A volunteer has been scanning the documents, and my job is to rename the scanned files and upload them to the museum’s collection management software for both safe-keeping and easier access. Last week I stated that Doc Hardie was the town doctor in the 1930s but he was here earlier as evidenced by the ledger. Following is the article.

Independent Messenger – Thursday August 23, 1984

EXCERPTS FROM DR. W.G. HARDIE’S MEDICAL LEDGER By Joe Smith

The following entries were made by Dr. Hardie between the years of 1922 and 1926. They reveal to us some of the history of the area around Alleghany, a mining community in Sierra County, and it will also tell us of the concern, compassion and dedication of the doctor and the care he took of the people, for which he received a very minimum wage – by today’s standards.

Many of the names listed will be familiar to some of us “old timers” who were part of the last part of the California gold rush.

August Nouchy – Tightner mine- puncture wound of left hand 2 x-rays $8.00 Dressing - $2.50

Joe Brack – Amputated two fingers Operation and operating room in N.C. (Nevada City) $40.00 – Hospital room $4.00 per day

Mrs. Lotspeich – House call - $2.50

John Thomas – cut left eye – office call – dressing $5.25

John Casaretti – Tightner mine - sprained back – strapping - $6.75

Freddy Green – House call and medicine - $3.00

A.T. Ninkoff – lacerated cheek at Alleghany Mining Co. Dressing $3.00

TR Davies- Night call- Oriental mine – 4 miles $5.75, 2 x-rays $8.00. Amputation of 2nd finger left hand $7.50. Repair laceration of index finger and dress - $3.50

Mrs. McKintosh – 32 house calls in 32 days at $2.50 ea.

May 8, 1923, Mrs. Ed Wylie pre-natal and delivery – baby boy - $50.00 [Rachel (Wylie) Kuhfeld’s younger brother Wesley]

Laura Owens – office call - $2.00

Mrs. Ed Wylie – to Forest – 5 trips at $5.00 ea.

June 1st, 1923, Mrs. M.D. Morrison – deliver twins and treatment $75.00

Dora Kinkle – cut finger -office call – dressing - $3.00

Walter Kinkle – contusions of left hand – 2 x-ray and dress $10.75

As I turned the pages of the ledger, a bit of family history unfolded. Mike Augustini’s name first appeared in April of 1923, and Dora Kinkle went to see the doctor as a single woman in September of 1924. A 1925 entry shows that they had married and had their first baby with a $50.00 payment to the doctor for pre-natal care and delivery. They had their second baby October 5, 1926. They had four children who I knew in 1935 and were named Bud, Ida, June and Arno.

B. Tribini – Trip to Tightner getting man out of mine $10.00 fract. Of dorsal vert. and 2 left ribs. Hospital care and private room $5.00. Body cast $20.00

June 20, 1923, Mrs. Eddy – Delivery of baby and treat - $52.50.

Dago kid – house call – bug in ear - $3.00

John Lavizolla – of Phippin Bros. Mill fracture of 9th rib and strapping $6.50

Stonn – Took to G. V. (Grass Valley) and operated for appendicitis. Operating room and hosp. room $50.00 Trip and operation - $25.00

July 19, Mrs. Evans – removed cancer - $120.00

M Foley injury – treatment $2.75 and hospital room $4.00 N.C. (Mert Foley was the father of Doris Foley, local historian and writer.)

Wm. Caserly – Diamond Peak mine. Fracture of 10th rib and mileage $12.75

Ernest Rolphe – contusion of left knee and dress $3.00

D.H. Casey – 16-1 mine – strain and hernia – taping $2.50.

Wm. Morrison – crushed 2nd and 3rd toes – mileage – splints and dress - $8.00.

Sept. 18, 1923, there must have been a cave-in and fire in the Brush Creek mine operated by the Anti UP Mining Co. The following injuries were listed.

DW Bardsley -Mileage to mine $1.00 per 12 miles – Lacerated knee $3.25

Albert Hansen – Fract. Patella and cast $6.00. 2 x-rays $8.00, x-rays and splints for finger $8.00 Repair lacerated scalp and dress - $3.00. Private hosp. room N. C. $5.00

Philip Nantell – Repair lacerated scalp – several 2nd and 3rd degree burns – head, neck, chest and both hands $25,00 – material $2.50.

Wm. Ragan – Extensive burns – face, neck, arms, back and legs $27.50 (After Hansen, Nantell and Ragan got out of the hospital, the doctor treated them and dressed the burns for 26 days for $1.50 every day for each patient).

Tony Rebuffo – Tightner – Amputate finger – repair laceration and x-rays $18.50

James Northcott – 16 to 1 mine – contusion of left knee and sprain – cast $12.25.

Cecil Vivian – Mugwump mine – fracture of shoulder – mileage and setting and cast - $20.00

H. Kuhfeld – Sixteen to One Mine – sprained wrist and wrap $2.75 (A week later the unlucky Mr. Kuhfeld fractured the 8th rib – left side and was taken to the Miner’s hospital in Nevada City at $4.00 a day for 42 days)

Nichols boy – pulled tooth - $1.00

This has been a composite of the doctor’s work and the minimal prices he charged. Of course, we must remember that wages at that time were about $5.00 a day. Many of the other names in the ledger added color and history to the mining industry of 60 years ago. Hamilton, Eddy, Dick Bennett, Jim Sweeny, Elton Carvin, John Colman, John Connel and a host of other characters not listed such as Alaska Slim, Dirty George, Frenchie, The Mulligan Queen, Mother Thayer, Black Mike, Swede Murphy, and the most lovable gentleman miner of them all, Billy Seymour.

Now, in contrast, I will sum up the medical situation of today with these eight lines which I will call:

THE MIDDLE MAN

I guess it’s only right and fair,

That old folks favor Medicare

And those who never had it made

Can stand in line for county aid.

The rich man has no care at all

For cash will make the doctor call.

But in the middle I must stay

Too proud to beg – too poor to pay

By Joe Smith.