San Francisco early1900s

Driving was just as bad back then.

Lol I was going to say the same thing about their driving.


Wheels

I’ve seen that video before and it’s really fascinating to see how different life was just 118 years ago.

It was also well before San Francisco was ruined. I’ll leave it at that.

Has it gotten un-ruined yet??

On the driving, of course it was terrible. They didn't have cell phones, and if you think cell phones are bad, try driving and using semaphore.

Actually, while watching that I was thinking "there is sure is a lot of horse dung on the streets."

London had it worse: The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894

I just watched the video again and all I could keep thinking was how utterly brave those pedestrians were!

Today its mostly human poop...

One of the more vivid memories of living in Charleston, SC while going to graduate school was a cold winter day when one of the horses pulling the tourist carriages too a piss. I was upwind from it and the warm cloud of steamy piss raced towards me. When it hit it was an awful smell but the worst thing was that the stench clung to me and wouldn't leave. I had to go home and change clothes. I bet that happened a lot back then too.

I'm a nice humid upper 90F's day with a 100% humidity and no wind the manure and piss stench back then would thick enough to spread on a cracker. Makes car exhaust a lot more attractive. I wonder how bad if autos had not come along the increasing amount of horses would have had on the climate from the methane they would have emitted.

What about all of those famous battles from the 19th century and beforehand where you had thousands of cavalry horses involved? The minefield of horse manure must have been massive!

Upwind?

Yeah and not just horse manure

Upwind?



Never mind the latrines for the 10s of thousands of soldiers.

In the video one can see a man with a big push broom - is he collecting horse dung?

I assumed they’d be tapping out code instead.

The threat of latrine detail motivated everyone to make sure every bit of their uniform, gear, and tent was perfect when they turned out before dawn for stand-to. Then whoever got picked for the detail that day did all that work for nothing LOL.

The other night watch a program called 'Walking through History. It was about the Liverpool-Leeds canal. In the program it was mentioned the barge loads of 'waste' being transported daily from Liverpool.

I'm sure there's an inside joke there but I don't get it since I'm an American.

I won't hold that against you. It should be obvious what 'waste' is from the subject being discussed.

waste - (of a material, substance, or byproduct) eliminated or discarded as no longer useful or required after the completion of a process.

Downwind. I stand corrected!

I guess that's why my people probably had to hire someone to get us over here when ships didn't have motors.