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Show i i When trying to get a foothold years ago in Mink Creek I only told the Mink Creekers I was born in Denmark. While I was a very small boy my parents moved to the Uncompahgre Indian reservation in Colorado where I lived until I begun my medical career. Being the. son of a preacher I didn't say much, about It when I came into Cache valley for the sons of preachers seldom have a very good reputation. My first Sunday after locating in Franklin I went to meeting and was introduced to all present. One of the preachers in the course of his sermon announced that a young doctor had come into their midst and he was glad of it but he feared I would starve to death as thb Mormons were a temperate and healthy lot, that there might be from one to three months at a stretch without sickness and he didn't want me to die on their hands In the meantime. I wab saved from starvation by the Kemptom Comedy company blowing blow-ing into town and alt sick. For doctoring doc-toring them I collected six dollars. The evening before, following the show they went out for a hot dog lunch and all became deathly sick with ptomaine poisoning. That six dollars kept me alive for a week. The next week one of the brethren was hit over the head with a two-by-four in the hands of another Ilecalls Early County Days Medical Practice Extends Through Horse, Buggy Days Editor's Note Below are several sev-eral interesting incidents from the life of Dr. G. W. States as told by him in an interview. Dr. and Mrs. States are leaving this community to make their home, in Salt Lake City.) "We came to live In Cache valley val-ley as young people in our twenties twen-ties In 1904 and have lived in the same community ever since. The first eight years our home was in Franklin, the last 30 years o'-ir home has been In Preston, living in the same residence since 1912. Mrs. States and r had Just graduated grad-uated with a shoepRkin apiece and that is about all we did have. We could then have put all our possessions pos-sessions into a good-sized suit cas and had room enough loft for our marriage certificate without crumpling. crum-pling. Mrs. States received three years of training in the Colorado Sanitarium School of Nursing. The same year, 1904, I graduated from the medical department of the University, of Colorado. That same year we both entered Cache Valley las innocent as new born lambs. In fact when we traveled as far as the conductor would take us we got off the train at Franklin, a fine little lit-tle town of old and Just renown. Mrs. States is a native of Nebraska, Ne-braska, born on the plains of northern north-ern Nebraska, corn fed, one of ten children. She lived all her life in Nebraska until she entered the Nurses Training School. As for myself I was born in a log house in Denmark Township, Michigan. brother. Into the resulting gash went five stitches Into his quivering quiver-ing flesh. The guilty brother paid the bill at a dollar a stitch. I was young then and if I, had known he would pay so willingly I would have put in a double row. I first traveled from place to place on a, bicycle. At the end of three months I had saved enough money so that I could buy a bald-faced bald-faced white-eyed balky saddle bronco from Joe Hall of Fairview. ' W V TTTVTVT'I' U 'f y V V V VV'V you up to now?" I . replied' I was buying a car or I mean a Ford. Joe looked at me for a full embarrassing embarrass-ing minute and disgustingly said, "There Is a verse in the Bible which says 'A fool and his money Is easily parted,' " and walked on. In 1905 r helped organize tho Cache Valley Medical society and was elceted its first president. I kept going lower and lower and was finally elected vice-president. Foi a number of years I was a membei of the Idaho State Board of Medi- The cayse didn't understand English, Eng-lish, Just Indian. I tried to teach him English but it was no use. In about a year I traded him off to a blacksmith in) Preston named Bait zer Peterson. Baltzer hitched the Indian mustang to a single buggy, climbed In, took the lines and said "get up," but the horse couldn't understand English so he crooked his neck around and with two white eyes looked at Baltzei square in the face and stared. Brother Peterson out of countenance. counten-ance. Carefully did Brother Baltzer Balt-zer get out of the buggy and said to me, "He is allright for a trading horse." I was a horse and buggy doctor for eight years all the timt, and for eight more years a horse and buggy doctor every winter and spring. I owned the first Ford ever to run on the roads of Franklin county coun-ty and Laud Wright the second. That was in 1912. These cars were bought from the Seth Blair Motoi company. My ar was bought on April Fool's Day in 1912. I was standing in front of the car and admiring it when Dr. Joe Morrell came up and said, "Dr., what are cine Examiners. Early in 1910, I began writing for all the paperb around about, calling attention to the fact it was Just fifty year since the first permanent settlement settle-ment of Idaho. The Legislature, in the spring of 1910, set apart June 15, -1910, to be known ever afterward as Idaho Day. An organization was put to work to arrange Idaho's Semi-Centennial-About that work we boys were as green as onion tops. Andrew Nash was in charge of general arrangements. arrange-ments. A few days before the big event, Andrew came up excitedly and said, "Read this somebody wants a concession What is a concession? Darned if I know. It may be a pretty girl for all I know." Anyway we put over the Semi-Centenial and each year Idaho Ida-ho Day is celebrated with added zest. We have lived eight years in Franklin and thirty years m Preston Pres-ton Twenty of those years in Preston I operated a little hospital. In my. thirty-eight years in Idaho Ida-ho I have been present at the birth of about 3000 babies. About 30 years ago, in a twelve months' period I found four pairs of twins and one set of triplets. I wrote of my experience for the Medical World and received letters from all over the United States. One letter came from a doctor in Cleve land, Ohio, when he said "For the Lord's sake move away from there don't leave your wife there another day!" This is the first time I have ever had any inclination to move and that is because all my children and grandchildren are living liv-ing in Salt Lake where we plan to j live. |