Daily AncestorMountain fever
Mountain fever was a name used by Western pioneers for a tick-borne fever of the Rockies, now thought to be Colorado tick fever or Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Wikipedia notes that Colorado tick fever is probably the disease pioneers called mountain fever. Wiktionary instead gives mountain fever as a name for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Both are spread by the Rocky Mountain wood tick.
Because the name was used loosely, a mountain fever entry tells you more about where the person was than about the exact disease.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Wm. Akers, 28, M, W, Freighter, Mountain fever
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Mountain fever." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/mountain-fever. Last checked 2026-10-10.