1861 Yuba County Hospital Register Found (in 1974)

 Published in The Appeal Democrat December 14, 1974

Transcribed by Anna Hill

Yuba County Hospital (where juvenile hall sits today)

"Old Register Discovered

George Rogers, 21, of Missouri, a laborer, died Jan. 16,1861, fever.

Laurence Young, 43, of Georgia, a bar keeper, discharged July 3,1861, wounds.

John Kennard, 36, of Ireland, a miner, taken to Stockton State Hospital, Feb. 18, 1861, insanity.

Ernest Henry, 45, of France, a cook, discharged June 22, 1861, syphilis.

Antoine Berg, 25, of Germany, a laborer, died Oct. 11, 1861, brain fever.

By MIKE GENIELLA

These are just a few of the hundreds of entries in an old register discovered this week by Yuba General Hospital personnel as they prepared for the facility’s closing yesterday.

The handwritten “resident physician’s register” dates back to 1860, only five years after the first county hospital was opened at Fifth and D Streets in Marysville.

The penmanship 1n most of the register is in the style common to the 19th century and is clearly legible.

It offers the reader a glimpse into the first years of a community that continued to prosper long after the Gold Rush era.

Those years were rough, judging from the diseases listed in the thick, leather-bound register.

Men of all ages and from all nations --most 40 years or younger and nearly all connected with the mines or the burgeoning agricultural interests --were treated for a Variety of diseases.

From “wounds” of all kinds and social diseases like. syphilis to brain and rheumatic fevers.

Many of them died at early ages.

A 30-year-old unidentified rancher from Canada died in September of 1862 from the “chills. ”

Jim Howard, an 18 year-old Indian, died in July of that year from “wounds.”

A young laborer from Sonora, 25 year-old Frank Lucina, died of syphilis two days before Christmas of 1860.

Alex Webster, a 52 year - old Scotsman who mined at Long Bar, died in the winter of '62 from hepatitis.

And although there is scant mention of women in the first years of the register, one was treated at an hospital in the winter of 1861.

She was Marysville's Astora Salina a 30 year-old prostitute from Chile. Ms. Salina was discharged 3 week after he [sic] admittance for treatment of syphilis.

The register also notes another period in the area's history. 

In the late 1890s, there apparently was a widespread outbreak of malaria in the populated cities of Marysville and Wheatland.

All through the  and winter of 1896 and into the spring of 1897, hundreds of persons-- men women and children -were treated for malaria.

Some died, but most eventually were discharged according to the entries in the register.

By the turn of the century. the hospital obviously was well-used by the community--perhaps because in the late 1880s a new, two-story facility has been constructed by the “pioneer contractors Swain 8:, Hudson“ at 14th and I Streets.

But the facility didn't always enjoy such a reputation. In 1859, the county grand jury made an investigation into the hospital which by then was in a two-story building “out 3 on the plains" at 17th Street between H and I Streets.

Trouble erupted when the grand jury declared that conditions were intolerable and the place filthy." 

There was not a single nurse employed at the facility.‘ 1 according to the grand jury. and one man was carring [sic] for the approximately 25 patients.

Dr. William Geller, who opened the lust hosp1al was ' criticized and the jurors noted that he was “not even a Yuba County resident." They strongly objected to the contract under which the county paid him $1.50 per day per patient.

Since the hospital operations of the present 14th Street facility have been phased out, the register for the time being will remain in County Clerk Karl Cozad' office."

UPDATE*** 

Here is alittle more information on the old county hospital taken from one of our Facebook posts in February 2017-

"Every once in awhile I come across a building that once stood in Marysville and I instantly feel sad when I realize it's gone. Yuba County Hospital is one of those buildings. Built in 1856, part of the hospital was used up until the 1940's and was located at J and 15th, behind where Juvenile Hall stands today.

These photos circa 1880

The following history of the Yuba County info was found available via -

https://archive.org/stream/historyofyubasut00dela/historyofyubasut00dela_djvu.txt

"The County Hospital 

In September, 1853, the city established a hospital, in charge of John T. McLean, M. D.. on Maiden Lane, between Sixth and Seventh Streets. This was in part a private institution. The French citizens at this time also had a hospital, which they maintained, in charge of Dr. Amouroux. 

The first County Hospital was erected in 1856, the lot costing $1600. 

The contract at first called for a one-story structure, for $8292. Before it was completed, a second story was added at an additional cost of $6820. Before it was ready for occupation, more money had to be expended in furnishings and making the necessary arrangements for the reception of the patients. This building was located on the north side of Seventeenth Street, between H and I Streets, a site now outside the levee. 

The present County Hospital on J Street, between Fifteenth and Six- 

teenth, was built in the late eighties. The specifications called for the use of wood as the material for the construction of the building. Against this there was considerable protest ; but Dr. C. E. Stone, who was then on the board of supervisors, insisted on the original plans, and won out. For this reason the building was for some time referred to as "Stone's Folly." 

"1856: Yuba County Hospital, on Seventeenth Street, between H and I, north side, 54 by 75 feet, two stories; cost, $16,000. Razed when present hospital building was erected on J Street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth. In 1856 a jailor's dwelling was built on the south side of the Courthouse at a cost of nearly $6000. The Hall of Records now occupies this site. "

"Turner-Howser Duel 

Albert Turner and William Howser agreed to settle in an honorable 

way, and adjourned to Sutter County, opposite the Yuba County Hospital, for that purpose, June 10, 1858. The sheriff interfered, however, and they started for Butte County, but finally returned to Marysville. They met near the hospital the next morning, with seconds and surgeons, and had five shots at each other, at a distance of fifty paces, with shotguns loaded with ounce balls. At the last fire Howser was badly wounded in the right arm. Howser was an uncle of S. C. Howser, of the present police force. "

"On April 7, 1909, the Yuba County Hospital had a narrow escape from destruction ; and on November 14 of the same year the Peri Block on D Street, between Third and Fourth, was destroyed with a loss of $75,000. This fire was communicated to the stores of S. Ewell and the S. G. King Company. The tenants in the Peri Block who lost heavily were F. S. Juch, H. D. King, and F. B. Moor. "