Pioneer Doctor

Reading Pioneer Doctor by Mari Grana, a fictionalized account of a real person, Dr. Mary Moore Atwater. Dr. Atwater began her Montana medical career in Bannock, Montana Territory, working for the mining industry. She was an important player in the establishment of the State Tuberculosis Hospital at Galen and worked hard to educate people about health hazards in the camps and early town. She fought hard for women’s rights. She was in Helena during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, when doctors were in high demand and sequestering, masks, social distancing were in place.

Early doctors traveled on horseback, foot, carriage or wagon—racing out to treat patients in towns and hinterlands. Always, always the prayer of let me be in time…

Earl Heikka captures the drama of the country doctor racing to an emergency in this bronze. MHS 1992.13.01