Flagstaff History: Hong Kong flu wreaked havoc across the world – Arizona Daily Sun

SUSAN JOHNSON Special to the Daily Sun

1923: Emory Kolb, chief boatman for the survey party who successfully navigated the Colorado River, accompanied by Mrs. Kolb, were in the city from the Grand Canyon Monday. In speaking of the expedition down the river, Mr. Kolb said: The trip down the river this time was much easier than when my brother and myself went down before owing to the fact that the river was at just about the right height to cover many of the big rocks and let us through and not high enough to make the passage over exceedingly dangerous. Of course, the big flood down the river laid us up, but luckily we happened to be at a point I was sure I remembered from a previous trip. Down about a half mile there was a canyon opening out where I felt sure we could land our boats and get away from the big rush of floodwaters. I proved to be right about it and we succeeded in getting the boats out of the way of the main floods, but the big waves came down lashing the boats against the canyon walls, keeping us up all night to save them from being broken up. It was lucky that some of the party happened to be awake when the first of the floodwaters came down, as we were on a narrow strip and up against a canyon wall, which was flooded deep with water.

Editor Chris Etling takes you behind the scenes of just one example of how we look through archives for information used in the Flagstaff History column.

1948: When a Spokane housewife told the judge her husband thought the height of entertainment was listening to the Lone Ranger she was granted a divorce. If every wife in the country who considers her husband's favorite amusements downright juvenile would ask for a divorce, the courts would be really crowded. Think of the number of non-funny paper readers married to men who read the funnies before they read the front page of their newspapers. Look at all the women who cant understand how a grown man can get so much enjoyment out of detective stories and Western magazines.

On the other hand, there are just as many husbands who dont understand why a woman will spend her leisure time reading trashy love stories and listening to soap operas or how she can play bridge all afternoon. What seems juvenile entertainment to a woman and what seems juvenile entertainment to a man are two entirely different matters. And fortunately that fact is accepted matter-of-factly in most families, rather than being regarded as incompatibility and grounds for divorce.

Cornelius J. Schaap, DAILY SUN typesetting machine operator, and his best friend, Annie, the crippled dog, constant companions, will no longer be a familiar sight on the SUN office steps, where they spent many happy hours together during the past two years. Mr. Schaap, the friendly, congenial old-timer, died Saturday afternoon of a heart attack. The old printer, one of the most skilled of his trade in the nation, travelled more or less regularly between print shops in Prescott, Las Vegas and Flagstaff. He is survived by a sister and brother.

1973: Flagstaff residents might be warned that a new type of bug will be sweeping the nation as the winter season approaches the flu bug. And if its as complicated as its name B Hong Kong 572 look out. Two types of virus, A and B, will make their miseries known across the United States, but a nationwide epidemic is not expected, say officials at the Center of Disease Control. Hong Kong flu Type A struck in the winter of 1968-69 and was blamed for killing 27,900 Americans and leaving countless thousands memorably ill. The new Type B flue has been reported in Japan, Australia and England. There are two theories as to how the new strain appears. One is that it simply is a variation in an existing virus. The other is that it results from a recombination or genetic interchange between a human type of virus and one that affects animals or birds. When a new flu virus comes along, previous vaccines usually do not work against it. As a result, it is likely two vaccines will be available this winter.

1998: With a bandana wrapped around his forehead and a granite expression on his stony face, Navajo medicine man John Yazzie conducts a healing ceremony for one of his extended family members. Helping him conduct the ceremony that involves bathing, prayer and songs is his grandson, Cedric Yazzie. Through an interpreter, Yazzie explains how Cedrics presence and his willingness to learn the ways of the Navajo medicine man is reassuring to the 74-year-old grandfather, who yearns to see the traditional Navajo way of life preserved. I sincerely believe that we can keep the traditional ways, that Cedric can pass it on to his sons and grandsons, Yazzie said. Theres some rituals you have to go through. We have to make Mother Earth an offering, pray for her. Thats how we have to do it. To walk in beauty.

With a sharp eye and strong gait, Yazzie ambles across his field of blue corn, explaining how many of his children and grandchildren still live at least part time at his camp, providing hope that traditional rural living will continue in at least his neck of the reservation. Using strong fingers, Yazzie breaks loose hard-packed soil around the stalks of a clump of corn, pulling out invasive weeds. Not tall at all, the corn is stout much like Yazzie, who holds his smallish frame strongly erect as he moves from corn to melons to squash to tomatoes, all with careful grace. Life breathes into Yazzie as he explains that a coyote ate a watermelon only the night before, and that the crows are forever pecking on his honeydew. The way I was raised, we mainly subsisted off the land, Yazzie said. Yazzies family helps him plant the fields and keep up the irrigation system. They help at harvest time too.

Susan Johnson has lived in Flagstaff for over 30 years and loves to delve into her adopted hometowns past. She has written two books for the History Press, Haunted Flagstaff and Flagstaffs Walkup Family Murders, and, with her son Nick, manages Freaky Foot Tours. Youll find her hiking the trails with her corgi, Shimmer.

All events were taken from issues of the Arizona Daily Sun and its predecessors, the Coconino Weekly Sun and the Coconino Sun.

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Flagstaff History: Hong Kong flu wreaked havoc across the world - Arizona Daily Sun