Nurse Emily Morgan donned her fur coat and warm clothes to take serum to every Native child in Nome after the life-saving antitoxin arrived by dog team on February 2, 1925.
Emily Morgan, a 47-year-old Red Cross public health nurse, played an instrumental role during the deadly diphtheria outbreak in Nome, 101 years ago this month. The crisis began when children with sore throats and tonsillitis symptoms rapidly succumbed to the illness. Morgan, drawing on her experience with diphtheria from her nursing work in Kansas, was among the first to recognize the telltale signs of the disease after being called to attend 7-year-old Bessie Stanley.
Despite the family's explanation of a neck injury, Morgan observed a fever and a heavy, dark membrane on Bessie's tonsils – clear symptoms of diphtheria. The child's subsequent death marked the beginning of an epidemic in the isolated town of 1,429, which was locked in by Arctic winter and had only enough antitoxin to treat about 13 people.
Recognizing the dire situation, arrangements were made to acquire more antitoxin from Anchorage, nearly 1,000 miles away. With airplanes grounded by harsh winter and ships blocked by ice, the only viable delivery method was a relay of sled dog teams. While awaiting additional supplies, Morgan was designated the "quarantine nurse," responsible for administering Nome's remaining serum, caring for patients, and monitoring exposed families.
Braving minus-50-degree temperatures in layered winter clothing, Morgan traversed the town tending to the sick and giving what serum she could. Her work was grueling, emotional, and often heartbreaking.
Overcrowded and unsanitary conditions made disease control difficult. Morgan recounted building a makeshift coffin with a grieving Native father, then helping him bury his child in a snowbank. As the serum dwindled, she faced agonizing decisions about allocating the last doses, sometimes at the insistence of self-sacrificing parents willing to forgo treatment for themselves so their children might live.
Relief raced toward Nome in one of history's most dramatic medical delivery efforts, later celebrated as the "Great Race of Mercy." Twenty mushers and their sled dog teams relayed the precious serum from Nenana over 674 miles of perilous terrain, enduring extreme cold and raging storms.
On February 2, 1925, Gunnar Kaasen arrived in Nome with his dog team, led by famed Balto, delivering the much-needed 300,000 units of medicine. Once it thawed and proved viable, Dr. Curtis Welch, the only doctor in Nome at the time, and Morgan began mass inoculations, especially of Native children–administering 40,000 units of the new serum on the first day alone.
Morgan's responsibilities extended beyond patient care. She also enforced quarantine measures, even venturing into Nome's red-light district to deliver protective shots. Her interactions ranged from comforting grieving families to negotiating with town officials over strict isolation protocols, reflecting both the medical and social complexities caused by the outbreak.
After a month of relentless effort, Dr. Welch lifted the quarantine on February 21, 1925. Nome began to recover, though official records list 5 to 7 deaths. Welch estimated far more, especially among Native communities outside the town, whose losses went unrecorded due to cultural practices and the region's remoteness.
Morgan's commitment to Alaska continued for years: she responded to a smallpox outbreak in 1928 and later ran a hospital in Barrow. She went on to serve as a missionary nurse in Panama and worked through World War II in New Zealand.
Morgan died in El Dorado, Kansas, on May 9, 1960, at age 82. She never married or had direct descendants, but her tireless dedication during the "Black Death" of 1925 saved countless lives and earned her a place in the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame class of 2013.
This column features stories researched for Aunt Phil's Trunk, a five-book Alaska history series written by Laurel Downing Bill and her late aunt, Phyllis Downing Carlson. Along with Bill's latest book, Pioneers From Alaska's Past, the books are available at bookstores and gift shops throughout Alaska, as well as online at www.auntphilstrunk.com and Amazon.
