Dr. Kilmer's, "The people's favorite." Visual motif: Showing Indians on horseback and people sledding. Dr. S. Andral Kilmer (1840-1924) developed the Swamp Root formula and began selling it around 1878. Three years later, Dr. Kilmer's brother Jonas (1843-1912) arrived from New York City to help run the business. In 1892, Jonas bought out his brother and brought in his son Willis to direct marketing and advertising. The Swamp Root formulation fell out of favor after the advent of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, which resulted in the federal government imposing testing and labeling requirements on a variety of products, including patent medicines with dubious claims.