In 1926, a young physician arrived in central Wyoming. His name was L. Harmon Wilmoth. When he began his practice, he described conditions as “backwoodsie” compared to what he was accustomed to in Omaha and San Francisco, where he completed his medical training.
From 1928 through 1934 Wilmoth was responsible for the medical care on the Wind River Reservation on top of his own private practice. Between treating patients with tetanus and appendicitis to measles and scarlet fever epidemics, Wilmoth worked long hours and through holidays. He delivered thousands of babies, occasionally in rudimentary cabins with no running water.
Travel on the region’s roads was sometimes impossible. Wilmoth had to go on horseback when his Model T Ford couldn’t get through.
As a physician, he “gathered splendid bits of home-spun philosophy” by listening to patients. Wilmoth wrote about his fifty-two-year-long career in medicine in a book he titled The Doctor Rode Horseback.
See the L. Harmon Wilmoth papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more.