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[[File:Pox_Americana.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080907821X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=080907821X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=eeb0fb623c0ae9e0dc6830a76b30acca Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82] by Elizabeth A. Fenn (Hill & Wang, 2002)]] In [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080907821X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=080907821X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=eeb0fb623c0ae9e0dc6830a76b30acca Pox Americana], Elizabeth A. Fenn sought to demonstrate that the 1775-1782 smallpox epidemic struck the Pacific Northwest. While Fenn stated with certainty that smallpox had attacked this region by 1787, she lacked direct evidence linking this epidemic the 1775-1782 epidemic. Therefore, she constructed an argument from multiple sources which she hoped would eliminate as many possible vectors for Variola and link any outbreak before 1787 to the 1775-1782 smallpox epidemic
The opening vignette of the Fenn’s chapter entitled “Passages” described the arrival of two Indian women in 1811 at the Pacific Fur Company’s post at the mouth of the Columbia River. One of the women upsets members of the local Indian tribe by claiming that she could give them smallpox. While this story does prove that smallpox arrived during the 1775-1782 epidemic, Fenn used this story to suggest that Variola had reached the Columbia River Valley thirty years before. Like much of the evidence used in this chapter, Fenn has skillfully woven together several different narratives to create one storyline. For this example, Fenn used several firsthand accounts including Alexander Ross’s Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River (1849), the Richard Glover version of David Thompson’s Narrative (1962), and number of other secondary stories to craft this account. Fenn used this vignette to suggest that Indians from this region were familiar with smallpox and were justifiable angered by the Indian women’s threat to spread smallpox, but the vignette fails to prove anything. While Fenn accurately cites the Thompson and Ross texts, these observers fail to explain when this epidemic occurred.
