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Not Just a Sea Plague

by | Feb 1, 2008 | Inside History

Scurvy on the frontier.
"Before the railroad, in the days of stage-coaching, the Western traveler subsisted principally on fried bacon and canned tomatoes," wrote Lt. John Bigelow, Jr. in his book, On the Bloody Trail of Geronimo. "To my mind, this diet is not inferior, either in point of tastefulness or of hygiene, to beef and potatoes. It is a common belief that salt meat produces scurvy, and fresh meat guards against it


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