She was everything the Wild West feared in a woman – until it needed her

Calamity Jane’s Heroic Stand Against Deadwood’s Smallpox Outbreak

Calamity Jane wasn’t just a gun-toting, hard-drinking frontierswoman. When smallpox hit Deadwood in 1878, she turned hero.

Born in Missouri around 1852, Martha Jane Cannary had caught smallpox as a child and lived. Now immune, she cared for eight sick miners stuck in dirty tents on White Rock Mountain.

With no real training, she used herbs and fought for fresh water. She even took food from stores at gunpoint when needed.

One doctor said none of her patients would have lived without her help. Today, Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood holds her final rest, next to Wild Bill Hickok.

Gold Rush Fever Brought Calamity Jane to Deadwood

Martha Jane Cannary rode into Deadwood in July 1876 with Wild Bill Hickok’s wagon train. Folks already called her “Calamity Jane” by then.

She came to Dakota Territory during the Black Hills Gold Rush when thousands of folks looking to get rich flooded the area. Born around 1852 in Missouri, Jane got smallpox as a kid.

This early illness gave her something most people in Deadwood lacked: full protection against one of the deadliest sicknesses of the time.

The Wild Woman of the West Had a Reputation

Before the 1878 outbreak hit, Calamity Jane worked whatever jobs she could find around Deadwood. She drove wagons, washed dishes, and cooked for mining camps.

Locals knew her as a heavy-drinking woman who wore men’s clothes, swore constantly, and shot better than most men in town. She chewed tobacco, drank whiskey, and told tall tales about her adventures.

Behind her rough ways, Jane made friends throughout the mining community.

Smallpox Turned Deadwood Upside Down

Smallpox hit Deadwood in early 1878 and spread fast.

The sickness tore through crowded mining camps where men lived packed together with poor cleaning habits. Victims broke out in painful, fluid-filled blisters all over their bodies.

Many died within days. Town leaders, trying to stop the spread, set up a quarantine area on White Rock Mountain outside town. Fear took over Deadwood as more miners got sick each day.

Sick Miners Got Left to Die on the Mountain

The setup on White Rock Mountain looked more like punishment than healthcare. Sick miners lived in dirty tents and shacks without running water or toilets.

The quarantine camp lacked even basic comforts for suffering patients. Most doctors stayed away, afraid they would catch the deadly sickness.

Food and water often ran dangerously low.

The sick miners lay on dirty blankets, burning with fever and covered in painful sores, with almost no one willing to help them.

A Tough Woman Steps Up When No One Else Would

When Calamity Jane heard about miners dying alone on the mountain, she stepped up to nurse them. She started by caring for eight gold miners left alone in the quarantine camp.

Jane had no medical training or nursing background.

What she did have was protection from her childhood illness and a willingness to help when everyone else ran away. The hard-drinking, gun-carrying frontierswoman put aside her wild ways and picked up a washcloth.

Jane Made Do With Whatever She Could Find

Calamity Jane worked with almost nothing in her makeshift hospital. She used herbs, Epsom salts, and cream of tartar as her only medicines.

She bathed patients with cool water to lower fevers and cleaned their sores with homemade mixes. Jane changed bedding, fed patients broth, and made sure they drank enough water.

She worked day and night, sleeping when she could between caring for the sick.

She Fought For Her Patients With Guns and Grit

When supplies ran low, Calamity Jane took action herself. She demanded fresh water from town leaders and wouldn’t back down.

When the general store tried to charge too much for food needed by the sick, Jane took what she needed anyway. At least once, she settled an argument at gunpoint when someone tried to profit from the miners’ bad luck.

She used her tough reputation and sometimes her actual guns to make sure her patients got what they needed.

The Hard-Drinking Frontierswoman Became a Guardian Angel

People who knew Calamity Jane could hardly believe how she changed. One writer noted she “dropped all her vices” during the outbreak.

She stopped drinking and focused completely on nursing the sick. A witness called her “a perfect angel sent from heaven when any of the boys was sick.”

The same woman known for fighting in saloons now sat for hours holding the hands of dying men.

Lives Saved By an Unlikely Nurse

A Deadwood doctor later said that none of the miners under Jane’s care would have lived without her.

Her around-the-clock attention kept patients hydrated and as comfortable as possible during the worst stages of the disease. She stopped other infections by keeping wounds clean.

Her push to get fresh water and food improved their chances of recovery. The miners she saved never forgot what she did for them when the rest of the town turned away.

Deadwood Slowly Returned to Normal

The smallpox outbreak finally burned out after several months. As fewer new cases showed up, the quarantine camp on White Rock Mountain closed down.

Calamity Jane came back to town as something of a local hero. The miners she had nursed told everyone about her kindness and hard work.

Her nursing during the outbreak became part of local stories.

Though she never talked much about this time in her life, others told and retold the story of how Calamity Jane saved lives during Deadwood’s darkest days.

The Legend Lives On in a Deadwood Cemetery

Calamity Jane left Deadwood in 1880 to wander the frontier. She spent years traveling through Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas.

Her health declined from years of hard living and alcohol.

In July 1903, she returned to the Black Hills area and checked into the Calloway Hotel in Terry, South Dakota. She died on August 1, 1903, at about 51 years old.

Following her dying wish, she was buried next to Wild Bill Hickok in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood.

Thousands attended her funeral, many remembering not just the wild woman of western legend, but the compassionate nurse who once saved their friends and family.

Visiting Deadwood,South Dakota

You can learn about Calamity Jane’s heroic nursing work during Deadwood’s 1878 smallpox epidemic at the Adams Museum on 54 Sherman Street. The museum costs $10 for adults and $5 for kids 6-12.

It’s open daily 9am-5pm May through September, then Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm other months. Visit Mount Moriah Cemetery where she’s buried for self-guided tours.

A $22 combo ticket gets you into three historic sites.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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