ORANGE COUNTY ALMANAC : Doctors’ Rounds on Horseback

Most of the first medical practitioners in Orange County were graduates of leading medical schools, and many had surgical experience in the Mexican War.

There were no hospitals until 1902, when physicians opened the 12-room Santa Ana Valley Hospital. Before that, doctors made house calls on horseback with medical equipment packed in their saddlebags.

Source: “The Golden Promise,” by Pamela Hallan-Gibson