The "cure" for the common cold was discovered by Charles Parker's chance friendship with Mr. John Shirokey in Gustavus, Alaska in the mid 30's. In the 1960's Charles wrote the story, advertised & offered it for $1 "to cover costs". Click for the "cure". DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

Back in the middle thirties, I lived on my homestead at Gustavus, Alaska.  It was then that I learned of the priceless secret of how to prevent and even cure the ailment that affects all mankind, the common cold.  Following are the events that took place, that enlightened me, in regard to banishing this ailment to which I had been subject for years, especially during the winter months.

About the summer of 1936, Mr. Cherokee, a rather aged War Veteran of the Spanish-American War, moved to Gustavus and decided to homestead just south of my Emergency Landing Field. There he built a cabin of beachcombed planks and other material he could gather.  It was a rugged shelter, but the old gentleman was tough.  For a stove, he used a five-gallon can with an inch and one-half pipe from the can through the roof to carry the smoke away.  I tried to get him to accept my drum stove and six-inch stove pipes, but he was stubbornly independent and claimed his arrangement suited him okay. When the building planks dried out large cracks appeared, but he nailed paper on the walls to cut down the drafts, somewhat.  If I ever saw a pneumonia-breeding cabin, this was it.  Not only was it well ventilated, but with the poor heating facilities and being built south of my Airfield, was open to the howling northerlies in the winter.

When winter came, I really worried about the old gent.  Seeing no smoke at his cabin for days, I would bundle up some fresh bread, a road goose or venison and other things that I thought he would need.  The first time I arrived with this food, he refused to accept it.  Told me he had everything he needed.  But I told him I didn't intend to pack these things back to my house, so he accepted them, reluctantly. This went on for about two years and it was indeed a surprise to me that anyone could live in such a cabin with scarcely any heat or enough to eat.  I sure admired Cherokee, as the toughest man I had ever seen.

One winter day, when I arrived at his cabin with supplies, I asked the old gent how come he was never ill or down with colds and flu, living in a cabin like this. He pointed to a short creosoted length, cut from a piling, that lay under his bed. Claimed the creosote fumes from this log killed all the cold germs that he might encounter.  This seemed illogical to me at the time, but after thinking it over, I decided that this creosote could be what I needed to prevent the colds that made life miserable for me, principally during winter and drastic changes in the weather.

At my home in Gustavus I split out a big chunk of creosoted wood and placed it in a rack back of my heater. This worked first class as I could smell the creosote in the room at all times. I rather liked this odor as it is, to me, similar to the smell of the pine woods or newly-cut spruce in the shed.  During the balance of that winter I was free from colds, which was indeed a wonderful situation. Thinking about the times when I would be traveling about the country where I wouldn't have a block of creosoted wood with me, I prepared a small screw top jar stuffed with absorbent cotton that I partially saturated with creosote. Thereafter, when I felt a cold coming on, I would take off the lid, breathe deep of the contents for a moment or so and the cold symptoms would soon disappear.  Sometimes it would be necessary to breathe in these fumes two or three times a day when a cold had a fair grip on me. But, without fail, the cold would disappear within three days.

As a further improvement to banish the common cold, I have a pint jar stuffed with cotton and partially saturated with creosote on my table near the bed at all times. The screw top lid I have punched full of holes, like a salt shaker, so the creosote fumes can escape into the room. As long as I have a container charged with creosote, the common cold bothered me no more and for the past thirty years I have successfully banished this ailment.    End.

The "cure" for the common cold was discovered by Charles Parker's chance friendship with Mr. John Shirokey in Gustavus, Alaska in the mid 30's. In the 1960's Charles wrote the story, advertised & offered it for $1 "to cover costs". Click for the "cure". DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

Back in the middle thirties, I lived on my homestead at Gustavus, Alaska.  It was then that I learned of the priceless secret of how to prevent and even cure the ailment that affects all mankind, the common cold.  Following are the events that took place, that enlightened me, in regard to banishing this ailment to which I had been subject for years, especially during the winter months.

About the summer of 1936, Mr. Cherokee, a rather aged War Veteran of the Spanish-American War, moved to Gustavus and decided to homestead just south of my Emergency Landing Field. There he built a cabin of beachcombed planks and other material he could gather.  It was a rugged shelter, but the old gentleman was tough.  For a stove, he used a five-gallon can with an inch and one-half pipe from the can through the roof to carry the smoke away.  I tried to get him to accept my drum stove and six-inch stove pipes, but he was stubbornly independent and claimed his arrangement suited him okay. When the building planks dried out large cracks appeared, but he nailed paper on the walls to cut down the drafts, somewhat.  If I ever saw a pneumonia-breeding cabin, this was it.  Not only was it well ventilated, but with the poor heating facilities and being built south of my Airfield, was open to the howling northerlies in the winter.

When winter came, I really worried about the old gent.  Seeing no smoke at his cabin for days, I would bundle up some fresh bread, a road goose or venison and other things that I thought he would need.  The first time I arrived with this food, he refused to accept it.  Told me he had everything he needed.  But I told him I didn't intend to pack these things back to my house, so he accepted them, reluctantly. This went on for about two years and it was indeed a surprise to me that anyone could live in such a cabin with scarcely any heat or enough to eat.  I sure admired Cherokee, as the toughest man I had ever seen.

One winter day, when I arrived at his cabin with supplies, I asked the old gent how come he was never ill or down with colds and flu, living in a cabin like this. He pointed to a short creosoted length, cut from a piling, that lay under his bed. Claimed the creosote fumes from this log killed all the cold germs that he might encounter.  This seemed illogical to me at the time, but after thinking it over, I decided that this creosote could be what I needed to prevent the colds that made life miserable for me, principally during winter and drastic changes in the weather.

At my home in Gustavus I split out a big chunk of creosoted wood and placed it in a rack back of my heater. This worked first class as I could smell the creosote in the room at all times. I rather liked this odor as it is, to me, similar to the smell of the pine woods or newly-cut spruce in the shed.  During the balance of that winter I was free from colds, which was indeed a wonderful situation. Thinking about the times when I would be traveling about the country where I wouldn't have a block of creosoted wood with me, I prepared a small screw top jar stuffed with absorbent cotton that I partially saturated with creosote. Thereafter, when I felt a cold coming on, I would take off the lid, breathe deep of the contents for a moment or so and the cold symptoms would soon disappear.  Sometimes it would be necessary to breathe in these fumes two or three times a day when a cold had a fair grip on me. But, without fail, the cold would disappear within three days.

As a further improvement to banish the common cold, I have a pint jar stuffed with cotton and partially saturated with creosote on my table near the bed at all times. The screw top lid I have punched full of holes, like a salt shaker, so the creosote fumes can escape into the room. As long as I have a container charged with creosote, the common cold bothered me no more and for the past thirty years I have successfully banished this ailment.    End.