By Samantha Abraham, Heather Snyder, Holly Blassingame, Nick DeVaney, Jennifer Martin, April Fabozzi, and Kayla Marston

I had a little bird, 
Its name was Enza, 
I opened the window, 
And in-flu-enza.

-1918 Child Jump Rope Rhyme

It was the fall of 1918 and a new fashion statement was spreading throughout our state by order of the Public Health Officers. Gauze masks were covering the nose and mouth of all. This order was not just to protect the public from seasonal allergies, but rather from the devastating influenza virus that was consuming the world. Overshadowed by the events of World War I, many of our current generations have never heard about the 1918 Influenza outbreak that was one of the most quick and deadly events in modern history. There have been other 'flu' outbreaks, Hong Kong, Asian, and others, yet none was as traumatic as 1918. 

Influenza also known as the Spanish Flu was a zoonotic disease having affected birds and mammal prior to jumping species to humans. The disease was spread through coughing and even breathing. The illness spread and developed at a horrifying rate. Many would become ill in the morning and be dead by nightfall. The early symptoms were similar to those of a bad cold, therefore many did not know they had the flu until it was too late. The illness quickly turned into pneumonia of a severe type with patients literally drowning from the fluid accumulation in their lungs. The 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic hit the world killing more people overall than both World Wars together. Spanish Influenza was a great leveler in society and did not pay attention to class. Some of the better-known victims who survived the illness were General John Pershing, Franklin Roosevelt, Mary Pickford and President Woodrow Wilson. The 1918 Influenza began at Fort Riley, Kansas Army Base with one soldier reporting to sick call before breakfast on March 11. By noon, 99 others had joined him with fever, sore throat and headache. By week's end there were 500. 

The 1917 and 1919 Prescott City Directories showed an average population of 2670 in Prescott and regional population of 6676. The first recorded cases of Influenza in the area were at the US Army Hospital at Fort Whipple. On October 2, 1918 eight cases of influenza developed in a group of invalid soldiers recently arrived from Fort Dodge, Iowa. Due to the highly infectious nature of the illness the Fort was quarantined immediately. Five more cases were reported the following day, but the outbreak, according to the Prescott Miner Journal, was being held in check on October 6. 

There were several cases of Spanish Influenza in Prescott in September of 1918. Rather than be caught off guard, the Yavapai Chapter of the Red Cross and the City and County Health Officer Dr. John W. Flinn presented plans for a flu hospital in Prescott. The location of the hospital was the domestic science hall at the school. In charge of the hospital was James Sprague and his first assistant was Mrs. Inez McDonnell, many of the teachers were also to be included in the running of the hospital, yet there was a major concern about the availability of nursing personnel should the need present itself. Coordination of the nursing personnel was in the charge of Olive Fisher. 

The Prescott Journal Miner of October 8 reported that the city was under quarantine as the list of stricken continued to grow. The epidemic was spreading in both the civilian and military populations; Colonel Holmberg of Fort Whipple reported forty cases. 

The flu was taking its toll in regional communities such as Winslow where 350 cases and 17 deaths were reported on October 12 of 1918. The illness was hitting children hard with 125 high school student stricken. The grammar school building was being used as a hospital and other accommodations were all overcrowded. Flagstaff was reporting over 400 cases and Williams over 300. Urgent calls had come from Holbrook for additional physicians, and a Prescott doctor had left to answer the need. According to phoned reports various Native American groups in the region were especially hard hit, with the possibility of some groups being wiped out. Closer to Prescott fifteen deaths were reported in Jerome on October 14, 1918, as all public meeting places were closed in an effort to suppress the illness. As was typical of this flu the victims were, on the whole, in the prime of life, or children. 

A major disappointment for all was the cancellation of the long planned, and much anticipated Northern Arizona Fair here in Prescott. Exhibits from four of the Northern counties were on the verge of being shipped in when the decision was made to cancel due to influenza and the strict quarantine regulations in effect in Arizona at the time. 

On November 2, 1918, Dr. John W. Flinn published the following precautions for the General Public: "I have been directed by the State Superintendent of Health to forbid all handshaking during the present epidemic of Influenza; also to require all placed of food and drink to sterilize all dishes and glassware with boiling after each service." 

In the Prescott region the 1918 Influenza would continue through December 1918 prior to tapering off and eventually ending. The illness was a major psychological trauma to the population of the world as is reflected today in the preoccupation with getting flu inoculations. This year is somewhat reminiscent of that terrible year, as we have a particularly virulent type of flu hitting many. Yet it is not the Spanish Flu that killed such numbers world wide in 1918. Could the Spanish Flu return? Virologists respond with a sobering "Yes." 

(Samantha Abraham, Heather Snyder, Holly Blassingame, Nick DeVaney, Jennifer Martin, April Fabozzi, and Kayla Marston are all sophomores in Cellene Smith's Chino Valley High School Honors World History.) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (Stella Wilson Fowler collection). Reuse only by permission.
Charles Kinsman (with pipe and on left with blanket) and Frank Wilson recover in Mayer from the Influenza of 1918. These rare photographs that show people actually with an illness (complete with "bedhead") are among the family photos that were donated by Yvonne Morgan to the Sharlot Hall Museum last year.