From Sweat Lodges to Snake Oil: A Century of High Desert Remedies
Faced with the perils of life on the remote High Desert
frontier, pioneers were forced to devise novel ways of gaining
relief from injury and sickness.
Vast expanses of treacherous terrain and the dangers
associated with raising livestock and other animals left the
area’s early inhabitants in dire, constant need of health
care.
Strong Medicine highlights 100 years of the medical explorations of the High Desert’s native peoples, explorers, workers, soldiers and settlers. Through rich imagery and artifacts as well as interactive living history, discover how these people strove to improve their medicine, surgical methods and healthy living practices. Their isolation forced them to rely on their ingenuity – a circumstance that persists today with first responders and physicians in the remote areas of the region.
Learn how area native peoples’ medicine hinged upon their spiritual beliefs as well as the area’s natural resources. And, you can also experience Strong Medicine through live living history encounters and an interactive exhibit for children. In a re-created, 19th-century Victorian doctor’s office – scaled down to a child’s size – “Mortimer,” the (dummy) patient, is ready for children to begin old-time surgery. Or, you can chat with a frontier doctor, pioneers, or a persuasive, fast-talking medicine showman peddling his snake oil cure-all.
"The Strong Medicine exhibit examines how the High Desert
region can be viewed as a microcosmic model of the shift from
folk remedies to the genesis of professional, 19th- century
medicine, " said Robert Boyd, the Museum's curator of
Western history.
Strong Medicine tells the story of how a distinctive form of
medicine in the High Desert remains. It is characterized by
self-reliance and the willingness to borrow from one’s
neighbor – whoever that may be.
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