Buerger's Disease

When the word spread in the late 1920’s that Soap Lake water was a cure for Buerger’s disease (thromboangiitis Obliterans), the flood gates opened. Buerger’s disease is a circulatory disorder that affected hundreds of World War I Veterans. Victims of the disease would experience excruciating pain as their skin rotted away exposing nerves around gangrenous lesions. Amputation was the only relief.

Victims of Buerger's disease, who agreed to quit smoking and take at least one hot Soap Lake bath a day for several weeks found that progress of the disease was arrested, with no further amputations required.

American Legion Publication, 1937 (PDF 948KB)

Veterans with Buergers Disease flocked to the city, including several that hitch-hiked across the country. In 1937 the state of Washington approved a bill authorizing the construction of the McKay Memorial Research hospital for the purpose of studying the problem of Buerger’s Disease, with particular reference to the therapeutic effect of the water of Soap Lake and the climate of the Soap Lake vicinity on this disease. The hospital was dedicated on November 11, 1938 in a ceremony attended by Governor C. Martin, who paid tribute to the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other Veterans for their work in lobbying the state to build the facility. He commented, “We must see that the proper person is selected to administer this. This is something new, there is only one Soap lake in America.” $40,000 of the cost for building the facility was paid for by the federal government, and $50,000 was provided by the state of Washington.

The fee schedule admitted war veterans their wives or widows who were legal residents of the state of Washington at no charge, non resident patients paid $25 a week.

American Heart Journal, 1941 (PDF 3.1MB)

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