Frontier Doctor: Observations on Central Oregon & the Changing West

In Central Oregon, the setting of Frontier Doctor, we don't have diamonds, rubies, or even turquoise. We have thunder eggs, oval lumps of rock that look completely undistinguished on the outside, but when sliced open are things of beauty. Frontier Doctor is a both delightful and insightful literary thunder egg. The book is the personal memoir of Urling Coe, MD, detailing the thirteen years (1905-1918) that he spent as a practicing physician in the town called Farewell Bend, now called Bend, Oregon. It is a horse and buggy doctor story in the best tradition. From wounded outlaws whose version of HIPAA confidentiality law consisted of six-shooter aimed at the doctor, to tragic accidents, to streams and rivers so abundant with fish that the limit was 100 fish per day, this tale brings into vivid focus frontier life in the early twentieth century. It is of note that Coe, who appears to have been a man with little need for sleep, also served as a banker and a mayor in Bend. Frontier Doctor has received much less play than it deserves. While it doesn't have the horsepower to make it onto national best seller lists, it is a deeply rewarding read for those with an interest in the history of the American West, and a MUST read for those with an interest in American medical history. Urling Coe, whose writing skills are above average but not brilliant, has a wonderful eye for the land in which he lives, and for the people that he lives among. Coe's observations are always entertaining, and often thought-provoking. If you travel to Central Oregon, drop by one of the many local rock shops and take a gander at a thunder egg. If Bend, Oregon isn't on your travel agenda, read Frontier Doctor, a rewarding tale whose value far exceeds what its humble premise and packaging would suggest. An interesting footnote: Stephen Coe, MD, the great grand-nephew of Urling Coe, now practices as an orthopedic surgeon in Bend, attracted by many of the same Central Oregon charms as his great uncle.

"Frontier Doctor" edges out Arthur Hertzler's "Horse and Buggy Doctor" and "The Life of Chevalier Jackson" as the most interesting of the physician autobiographies that were so popular about 75 years ago. In the thirties, doctors who'd lived through a revolution in medical care, found that readers and publishers were interested in the doctors' personal accounts of how medical practice had changed since the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Many wrote their stories. Later a few stragglers added their accounts and still later the university presses published more. "Frontier Doctor" is the best of the genre because of Urling Coe's writing skill. He has a knack for describing people and telling about events that makes his book most readable, interesting, and memorable. It's been more than a decade since I've read the book but I still remember so many episodes vividly. The story of Bend's fishing for the 1905 Fourth of July celebration, many buggy trips to isolated patients, and those people and their medical problems make up one enthralling story about life in the (not so) good old days in Bend, Oregon a century ago.