The Deadly Missouri

Disposal of dead bodies during the cholera epidemic in Palermo in 1835; Pistelli, Giuseppe, Storia d'Italia dal 1815 fino alla promulgazione del Regno d'Italia narrata al popolo, Angelo Usigli editore, Firenze, 1864.

Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants, for the Come Follow Me lesson  June 9-15 Doctrine and Covenants 60-63

The Heading to Doctrine and Covenants 61 states, “Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, on the bank of the Missouri River, McIlwaine’s Bend, August 12, 1831. On their return trip to Kirtland, the Prophet and ten elders had traveled down the Missouri River in canoes. On the third day of the journey, many dangers were experienced. Elder William W. Phelps, in a daylight vision, saw the destroyer riding in power upon the face of the waters.”

We are told in the Doctrine and Covenants 61:5-6, 14-16, and 18-19, “For I, the Lord, have decreed in mine anger many destructions upon the waters; yea, and especially upon these waters. Nevertheless, all flesh is in mine hand, and he that is faithful among you shall not perish by the waters…Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters. Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters. And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart…And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares; I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree.”

The reference to John in verse 14 is in Revelation 8:10-11, “And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” This revelation says that “men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” According to Bible Hub, the word “of” is even more specific. The Greek word ἐκ (ek) is primarily translated as “from”.

The Missouri river was well known as a treacherous river to navigate. Indeed, on their third day on the river from Independence, “…a sawyer—a submerged tree anchored to the bottom of the river—nearly capsized the canoe carrying [Joseph Smith] and Sidney Rigdon. Unnerved by this encounter, [Joseph] instructed the group to exit the water and camp for the night.”1 However, John’s revelation appears to be something more than treacherous navigation. He described the water as being “bitter” as wormwood oil and people dying “from” the water.

William Phelps published the revelation in The Evening and the Morning Star, along with an editorial stating the most notable “risks and dangers” of the river. Steven Harper described Phelps’ article, stating that First, there were frequent navigational disasters on the river. “Second, he warned, there was cholera, a deadly waterborne illness, ‘which the Lord has sent into the world, and which may, without repentance, ravage the large towns near the waters, many years, or, at least, till other judgments come.’”2 Harper’s quote from Phelps’ article in The Evening and the Morning Star is correct, but Harper added “a deadly waterborne illness”, which Phelps had not stated.3 

Elizabeth Neidenbach stated that “During the nineteenth century, Louisiana experienced multiple outbreaks of cholera, a bacterial infection of the intestine. Cholera epidemics in 1832–1833, 1848–1855, 1866, and 1873 caused tens of thousands of deaths throughout the state.”4 As populations increased along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, cities started dumping sewage into the rivers, which was also their main source of drinking water. It is interesting to note that the first cholera epidemic along the Mississippi began one year after the revelation in section 61.

Phelps knew by 1832 that cholera affected “large towns near the waters”, but it is not clear how much more he knew about the disease. In 1854, during a cholera epidemic in Florence, an Italian physician, Filippo Pacini, discovered that cholera is caused by a bacterium, Vibrio cholerae, but Pacini's discovery was not widely recognized. In 1883, during a cholera outbreak in Egypt, the famous German microbiologist Robert Koch independently identified Vibrio cholerae and confirmed its role in causing cholera. Koch’s discovery of Vibrio cholerae contributed significantly to his germ theory of disease.5

 Neidenbach said of the 1832-1833 epidemic, “The arrival of cholera in Louisiana in 1832 occurred within a pandemic that began in India in 1829. Over the next few years, ‘Asiatic cholera,’ as it was often called, spread to Russia, across Europe, and to the British Isles. Transatlantic ships carried the infection to Canada in 1832. It hit New York City in June, spreading west and then down the Mississippi River. By the end of October, the first cases in the state appeared in New Orleans, carried on steamboats from upriver. The city’s lack of water treatment and its poor sanitation practices allowed the disease to quickly spread.”6

She continued, “Although there was no reliable data collection at the time, it is estimated that five thousand people died over the course of just two weeks—close to ten percent of the city’s total population. At its peak, the epidemic is estimated to have killed five hundred people a day. New Orleanians without access to clean water and who lived in close quarters—poor people, enslaved people, and immigrants—were most susceptible. However, the disease quickly spread through the city and afflicted people of all social strata. Entire households succumbed to the disease.”7

“Doctors and city officials identified the city’s unsanitary conditions as unhealthy, but they did not understand the cause or transmission of cholera. Because it was commonly believed that ‘miasmas’ or vapors caused disease, city administrators required pitch and tar to be burned on the streets and cannons to be fired to purify the air. Doctors administered a variety of drugs, including mercury chloride, opium, castor oil, cayenne pepper, laudanum, and camphor. These remedies did little to cure patients or stop the spread of the infection.” Cholera spread from New Orleans to other parts of the Mississippi river drainage, including the Missouri, by infected passengers on steamboats.8

The Mississippi River drainage was cholera-free for more than a decade, but then the plague returned in 1848. Over the next six years, a series of outbreaks, again caused widespread illness and thousands of deaths. In New Orleans alone, nine thousand people died.9

Neidenbach stated, “This epidemic followed a pattern similar to the previous one. It arrived in New Orleans with German immigrants on transatlantic ships in December 1848. The city board of health downplayed the outbreak, but as case numbers continued to rise, residents panicked. Economic activity slowed as people fled the city. Steamboats headed upriver were packed with New Orleanians hoping to escape cholera and recently arrived European immigrants. As one report explained, ‘Every steamboat upon the river became a moving pest-house,’ spreading the disease throughout the Mississippi River valley.”10

The cholera epidemics of 1854, like those before, had a high mortality rate, ranging from 54% to 68% in some areas. Cholera also spread along the California, Mormon, and Oregon Trails, causing an estimated 6,000-12,000 deaths during the 1849-1855 period.11 Because of the specific epidemic of 1854, Brigham Young directed future Latter-day Saint immigrants not to take the traditional route of crossing the ocean to New Orleans and then going by steamboat up the Mississippi to Iowa City. Instead, they were to arrive in Boston or New York, and mainly take an overland route to Iowa City. This change affected the handcart pioneers of 1856.  

Trent Dee Stephens, PhD

trentdeestephens.com

stephenstrent7@gmail.com

References

1.     Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 61; churchofjesuschrist.org/study/church-historians-press/jsp-revelations/dc-061-1831_08_12_000?lang=eng

2.     Harper, Steven C., History behind the 61st section of the Doctrine and Covenants, Doctrine and Covenants Central; doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/historical-context/dc-61

3.     William Phelps, William, “The Way of Journeying for the Saints of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star, December 1832, 1:52–53; contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/NCMP1820-1846/id/5754

4.     Neidenbach, Elizabeth Clark, Cholera in Louisiana, 64 Parishes; 64parishes.org/entry/cholera-in-louisiana#:~:text=Within%20Louisiana%2C%20cholera%20spread%20along%20the%20Mississippi,numbers%20of%20immigrant%20arrivals%20to%20the%20port

5.     Lippi D, Gotuzzo E, Caini S. Cholera. Microbiol Spectr. 2016 Aug;4(4). doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.PoH-0012-2015

6.     Neidenbach, 64 Parishes

7.     Ibid

8.     Ibid

9.     Ibid

10.  Ibid

11.  Ibid