Linda,
This isn't really going to help with your question, but when you read about
those mining areas you soon learn that the "girls" followed soon after the
camps got going. I imagine there were a lot of cases of venereal disease
among the men.
Jane in Colorado
----- Original Message -----
From: <lindalee.sychdyn(a)virgin.net>
To: <WLS-MERIONETHSHIRE(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 9:13 AM
Subject: [MER] Colorado Mines
I think I've just discovered a rather unpleasant skeleton in the cupboard!
Perhaps I'll never find out the truth, but if I can perhaps get some
historical context on things it may help.
My Great Grandfther was a slate miner in Blaenau who went to Colorado, maybe
on two occasions, perhaps around the end of the 1890's and again maybe at
some point between about 1906 and 1912. He died in 1935 aged 64 following an
illness that was blamed on the poisonous gases in the Colorado sulphur
mines. I had the feeling this didn't ring true. His illness sounded more
like some degenerative condition of the nervous system. He was ill for 23
years, the last 9 years of his life he was bed ridden. From what I know
whilst he was able to walk he walked with a sick and gradually became less
able to walk at all. He also lost his sight.
The cause of his death was Locomotor Ataxia. That was the only cause -
usually there are secondary causes, but none given on this occasion. There
was no post mortem. That suggests to me that the medical people knew exctly
what was wrong with him. I have looked on the internet and can only see
that Locomotor Ataxia is a result of untreated syphilis. Such a shock, even
all these years on.
What I'd like to know is whether anyone knows of other former slate miners
in North Wales going to Colorado and what type of mine did they usually work
in? And does anyone know anything about Locomotor Ataxia and indeed whether
there are other causes apart from the dreaded untreated syphilis?
Any help would be appreciated.
Linda
Flintshire
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
WLS-MERIONETHSHIRE-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without
the quotes in the subject and the body of the message