By William Daugherty in 1891
Henry Goode Blasdel
In 1866 Governor Henry G. Blasdell headed an exploring party and proceeded to the southeastern part of Nevada to explore what was then a quite unknown region. It was so far off and out of the way that it was always a standing joke against our first territorial Governor who recommended its organization into a new county, which the Legislature did, and in the irony of its remoteness, named it Nye.
It remained an unknown region until Governor Blasdell set out to explore it. He went with a number of companions from Carson by the old overland road to Austin in a conveyance of their own. From Austin they turned southward through Smoky Valley, and at the Junction, then known as Minium’s Station, they camped for the night. The proprietor of the Twin River Stage Line was camped there also, and during the night he was awakened by a commotion in the Governor’s party and was told that the governor was sick and was in great need of a doctor. There was none in the crowd, and as the case seemed urgent, there was no time to waste in sending 30 miles to Austin for one. The stage man went to the Governor and made inquiries, and judging from the symptoms, as he would of a horse, he told the Governor it was merely a bad case of colic and recommended a dose of Perry Davis’ Pain Killer, a bottle of which he had in the front boot of the stage. The Governor was very thankful and took a good dose, which, in a few moments, had the desired effect, and in due time the patient was asleep, as were all the rest of the party.
Some years after that the stage man referred to went to Bodie, California and being broken down in purse and health hung out a shingle announcing himself an M.D., and soon had a very good practice from people who took fright at a cold and feared pneumonia, and in which our Aesculapius [Greek God of Medicine] succeeded very well in treating, about as he had his stage horses when they had the epizootic. Other physicians coming into camp soon grew jealous of his success and learning that he had no diploma had him arrested under the quackery law of California.
Quack Doctor
Our doctor appeared in court to plead his own case but had nothing to say until the prosecution had duly opened the case, presented the evidence, and read the law which applied. Its provisions were up to this time unknown to our doctor, and he was quaking in his boots for fear of the results until the prosecuting attorney read the provision that no one should be exempt from the penalty of practicing without a diploma unless they had followed the profession by prescribing in actual practice more than ten years before the passage of the Act, which occurred in 1876. Our doctor breathed easier and immediately took the stand, and in defense, he testified, with the most serious gravity, that he had prescribed for and not only treated, but effected a permanent cure for Governor Blasdell of Nevada in 1866, when on his famous exploring expedition to the Pahranagat Valley. He was, of course, acquitted and discharged, but he skipped over the line into Nevada without any delay, and with many regrets at having his practice broken up.
By William Daugherty, for the Reno Evening Gazette, February 11, 1891. Compiled and edited by Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated January 2021.
About the Author: Written by William Daugherty wrote for the Reno Evening Gazette in 1891. The Gazette was first published on October 12, 1876, and continued for the next 107 years. In 1977, it was merged with the Nevada State Journal and continues to exist today as the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Note: The article is not verbatim as spelling errors, minor grammatical changes, and editing have occurred for the ease of the modern reader.
Also See:
Pioneers on the Nevada Frontier (Reno Evening Gazette)
Tales of the Overland Stage (Reno Evening Gazette)
Nevada Mining Tales (Reno Evening Gazette)