Sunday, March 30, 2008
Old pictures of lower Manhattan
The New York Public Library has a very cool catalog of stereographic images of lower Manhattan taken before the internal combustion engine got hold of us.
My question: What did they do with all the horse pucky?
CWCID: GoodShit (link ok, but main page NSFW).
6 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Mar 30, 07:57:00 AM:
"My question: What did they do with all the horse pucky?"
They had an army of street sweepers that I believe dumped it all in the East River.
I remember an article I read many years ago that quoted an 1890 Columbia science professor who predicted that by 1970 the entire country would be covered a foot deep in horse dung. I always remember that quote whenever I hear scientific predictions taken as gospel by the news media. Scientists aren't infallible and get it wrong often enough.
By , at
Sun Mar 30, 09:58:00 AM:
Here is the/a "manure 9 feet deep article" - Urban Planners, indeed.
http://www.uctc.net/access/30/Access%2030%20-%2002%20-%20Horse%20Power.pdf
"From Horse Power to horsepower",
Eric Morris
Access, #30, Spring 2007.
By 
Grumpy Old Man, at
Sun Mar 30, 10:01:00 AM:
My father used to repeat the dialogue between the street sweeper and the dead horse:
SS: "No more s**t from you!
Hoss: "My s**t's your bread and butter!"
It's a bad joke, but I don't want to leave show business.
By , at
Mon Mar 31, 06:02:00 AM:
My family ran a blacksmith and farrier shop from 1853 to the 1960s. Several dozen horses passed (OK, OK) through the shop every day to get shod and the horseshit was dumped at the back of the shop (it doesn't stink once a day or so old).
The pile was allowed to break down and then sold to home gardeners. The great thing about shit is that it breaks down and is readily incorporated into soil.
JC
By pst314, at
Mon Mar 31, 09:32:00 PM:
"What did they do with all the horse pucky?"
Aware of the growing manure problem, 19th century officials embarked on a massive program of horse hockey sequestration. Unfortunately, through an as-yet-not-understood process, these underground deposits of low-grade manure were quickly transformed into high-grade postmodernism, with the disastrous results that we all see today.
By , at
Thu Apr 03, 11:36:00 AM:
I have the book THE GOOD OLD DAYS THEY WERE TERRIBLE by OTTO BETTMANN i mean imagine the horse po and yes the dead horses and CONEY ISLAND there were the trash,junk and animal carcasses floating everywhere and the traffic death of pedeststrians in NEW YORK was far worse then it is today
