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  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | National Institutes of Health

Canyon Creek Schoolhouse Laboratory 100th Anniversary

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Environmental studies

To understand the entire picture of RMSF transmission, the entomologists at the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory began environmental studies of the relationships between the distribution of vegetation, rodents, ticks, and humans.

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A man in work clothes points to a sign telling people to keep out of the area

“Valuable Experiment: Please Do Not Disturb” reads a sign put up in 1928 by one of the RMSF researchers in one area undergoing an ecological study.

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Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 1479 

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Constant collecting

As RMSF gave up its mysteries, researchers still had other tick-borne diseases to study. They constantly collected ticks where outbreaks of Rickettsial diseases occurred.

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Men pose on top of a mountain ridge, wearing work clothes and carrying tick collecting equipmentImage Modified

In 1929, LeRoy Jones, Harley G. Sargent, Harry L. Sargent, and James Kerlee posed at the top of Blodgett Canyon in the Bitterroot Range. Each holds several white cloth bundles tied to a stick for specimen collection. James Kerlee’s brother, Arthur LeRoy Kerlee, had died the year before of RMSF that he had acquired in the laboratory.

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Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 1449

How do you know you have RMSF?

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Diagnostic test

In a world filled with ticks and the diseases they carry—and diseases that have similar symptoms—being able to diagnose a disease quickly might be beneficial for treatment or for clues to how to control it. The classic feature of RMSF, the rash, appears days after the initial infection. The other symptoms can be confused with diseases such as typhus.

In 1916, the Weil-Felix reaction was developed to diagnose epidemic typhus. In 1928, LeRoy Kerlee and Dr. Roscoe Spencer did their own tests on guinea pigs, rabbits, and people at the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory. They reported that the Weil-Felix reaction could diagnose RMSF. The test became widely used to diagnose many Rickettsial diseases; although it has been replaced by newer diagnostic techniques such as indirect immunofluorescence, it can be useful in parts of the world without access to such technology.

Kerlee and Spencer’s results were published shortly after Kerlee died of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in 1928. Learn more about Kerlee [link to his bio].

“Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: A Preliminary Report on the Weil-Felix Reaction,” A. L. Kerlee and R. R. Spencer, Public Health Reports (1896-1970), Vol. 44, No. 4 (Jan. 25, 1929), pp. 179-182

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The Bitterroot Valley stretching into the distance as seen from the top of a mountain

Overlooking Hamilton, Montana, where the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory was located. How many ticks were on those hills?

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Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 1562-3

Kerlee and Spencer’s results were published shortly after Kerlee died of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in 1928. Learn more about Kerlee [link to his bio].

“Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: A Preliminary Report on the Weil-Felix Reaction,” A. L. Kerlee and R. R. Spencer, Public Health Reports (1896-1970), Vol. 44, No. 4 (Jan. 25, 1929), pp. 179-182

Can you prevent getting ill?

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