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She joined her family in Cripple Creek, Colorado and set up a practice, and then moved on to Denver. People were reluctant to accept women as doctors during this time so she moved to Greeley, Colorado and practiced nursing for 6 years. In Greeley her Tuberculosis worsen and felt she needed a very dry and cold climate if she was going to beat it.
In December of 1907 Susie and her little dog boarded "Train Number One" of the Northwestern & Pacific Railway at the Moffat Road Station bound for Fraser, Colorado. The train crossed the mountains at 11,660 feet, over the Continental Divide, and was the highest rail line ever built in North America.
The only way to get to Grand County in the winter months was by rail as Berthoud Pass, a wagon road, was buried deep in snow. A porter asked Doc Susie, "Ma'am, are you sure you want to go to Fraser? Nothin' there but a sawmill and a few shacks. And it's so cold they say you've got to get out of town to get warm."
Avalanches and heavy snow drifts could spell long waits stranded in the train or even disaster for trains at those altitudes. The pot belly stove in the passenger car could provide little warmth.
Doc Susie settled in a small shack east of the tracks.
Prepared to either cure herself or die in this small lumber camp named Fraser.
At first, Susie did not let the people of Fraser know that she was a doctor. This was possibly due to her own health concerns. Finally the town folks found out from visitors that she was a doctor.
Her first patient turned out to be a horse (It was not uncommon for M.D.'s to serve as the local vet and dentist too). The owner of the horse was so elated by the recovery that he announced far and wide that there was a lady doctor in town!
Soon people begun to ask Doc Susie for advise on various ills and, little by little, her practice began. She understood the importance of cleanliness in doctoring wounds and protecting them from infection, as well as good nutrition, vitamins, and preventive medicine. Some of which, were not recognized by other doctors at that time.
Her reputation spread and she was soon treating injuries and illnesses of the men and their families in the remote logging camps. In the harsh winters Doc Susie would wear layers of woolen clothing as well as hip high boots with rubbers to trek through the mountains at sub-zero temperatures to treat the loggers and their families. "I wear boots and long handle underwear just like everybody else up here,...course, I don't wear them when I go to Denver - they'd probably throw me in jail."
One day an executive of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad, William R. Freeman, showed up on her doorstep and told Doc Susie she would have to move as she was living on the D&SL right-of-way. Fortunately a local rancher was selling out and offered her his small sturdy barn. Local lumberjacks and ranches disassembled and moved the barn to another piece of property. (The house still stands in Fraser today.)
Once, Doc Susie escorted a small boy, by rail, to Colorado General Hospital in Denver. She announced to the intern on duty that the child needed an appendectomy. The intern was about ready to throw them out when a doctor intervened. Once examining the boy they found out he truly did need the operation. The hospital doctor turned to the intern and announced, "Meet Doctor Susan Anderson, the finest rural physician in Western Colorado...the best diagnostician west of the divide".
During construction of the 6 mile long Moffat Tunnel, designed to replace the treacherous Moffat Road line over Rollins Pass, Doc Susie was asked to become the Coroner for Grand County. They needed a "real" doctor that was able to confront the Tunnel Commission about the accidents and working conditions that faced workers on a daily basis in this dangerous tunnel. It's estimated that 19 men were killed and hundreds injured during its construction. At times, Susie would have to go into the tunnel to care for the injured and retrieve bodies.
In February 1928 the Moffat Tunnel officially opened. Opening ceremonies where held by W. R. Freeman and his cohorts at the Denver Post on the east side of the tunnel near Denver, not on the west side near Fraser. Workers and their families where expected to ride the deteriorating rails above the tunnel over Rollins Pass if they wanted to attend, and that they could not walk the 6 miles through the tunnel. "Nobody, but nobody goes through the tunnel ahead of the dignitaries." Doc Susie made a large sign to greet Freeman and his dignitaries on the west side..."WE BUILT THIS TUNNEL...THE POST DIDN'T".
By 1941, Susie was Fraser's only physician. She would continue her practice until 1956 and died in Denver on April 16, 1960.
On October 9, 1997 Dr. Susan Anderson was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. This honor goes to women who have made significant contributions to Colorado and who are part of the the ongoing efforts to elevate the status of women.
Since there has been so little written on Doc Susie I would like to cite Virginia Cornell's excellent book, "Doc Susie: The True Story of a Country Physician in the Colorado Rockies", as a major source for my information on this interesting woman.
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