The Manure Crisis of 1894

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. If I want to vlog. Oh, we're live.

Oh, gross. What are you always getting me? That is about to say, and then you asked and you wanted my blood. Also, this damn cord is like playing my brain.

Please hold. I'll fix it. Thank you. There you go.

That is much more comfortable. You're welcome. I just need comfort. Yeah.

So last week, we teased a little bit about a good little story. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. It was a journey.

So I went to the gym after work, and then I was like, you know, I'm going to treat myself by going to the Goodwill. I love that we treat ourselves with Goodwill. I love the Goodwill. I do too.

And the one in that location is I swear the best one around. So I begged to differ. I begged to differ slightly. Slightly?

Okay. It's my favorite one. But I'm gonna let you go. Okay.

So I go to this Goodwill and I have a certain routine when I go into the Goodwill. I just pretty much just make a circle. That's what I do. So I had been through like the men's shirts because I'm always looking for like sweatshirts or like just certain things.

Not for your partner, but for yourself. Okay. Got you. So I went through that and then I went straight back to the linens and the like holiday items.

Right. And then I had the Tashkis, the Tashkis. And then I swimming around the books. Well, the books I swear in every single Goodwill are always beside the bathrooms.

Yes. Every time. Every Goodwill. The books are by the bathroom.

So some, some, yes. Every single one I've been to. Not everyone. Not everyone.

Okay. Anyway, like 90% of them. Then I've read the bathrooms. So I'm standing there by the books.

There's another lady there that's kind of also looking at the books. And we're just standing there mind in our business. And all of a sudden I hear this blood curdling scream come from the bathroom. I'm like, Oh God.

So I look at the lady beside me. She looks at me and we just kind of are like, not great. So that didn't happen to you anyway. We don't do anything.

We don't do anything. Because we're just like, do you do that? Or maybe we didn't. I don't really know.

Or maybe we're gonna pretend we did. Right. So then we hear it again. And then I'm like, Okay, so I look at the lady she looks at me and she's like, do we do something?

I'm like, no, ma'am, we do nothing. Again, they're so lucky to have you in that store. Yeah. So I was like, no, we're just gonna, we're just gonna stand here and just wait.

And if it happens again, we'll investigate further. So it happens again a third time. But thankfully an employee came back about that time and she went into the bathroom. Oh, maybe to deliver a baby.

Well, that was my immediate thought. I was like, Oh God, somebody's in labor in there. You're gonna have to deliver this baby. I really didn't want to be involved.

So I would be like, you know, take down your pants. I will help you deliver this baby. That's a lot. But no, I did not do that.

I did say I would say that to you. Right. I would say that to you. But it's really no, no, no, not to have a random lady in the good will.

So the employee goes back there. I'm still standing at the books. Of course you are like a nosy road. But yeah, by this point, I have abandoned looking at the books.

So is the lady beside me. And we're just waiting for confirmation that everything is okay inside this bathroom. So I hear the employee ask like, like, do you need help? Are you okay?

Something like that. And the woman's like, yes. And then the door closes and we can't hear anything anymore. I'm like, crap.

Now I have to wait until the lady comes back out to see what's going on. Either with a new porn, she's calling for help or something like that. So we wait, because obviously if she had come out and said that there was like a medical emergency, I would have attempted to help. Okay, so giving birth, no thanks.

But a medical emergency, I would be considered a medical emergency. Right. But you were like, no, I'm just gonna pretend to look at these books. You're on your own.

Yeah, I mean, like, I need we'll staff over your vehicle. Yeah, somebody else to confirm it. That's what's happening. And then I'll go help.

Oh, I don't want to be the one that has to confirm it. So, for good reason, because when the employee came out, she looked at us like knew that we were like trying to figure out what's going on. And she said, everything's fine. She couldn't get the toilet paper to censor to work.

So she thought that screaming was the appropriate solution to that. Maybe, maybe just I'm trying to play devil's advocate here. Okay. All right.

So maybe she had to go potty really bad, like number two. And she gets in there and she doesn't pay attention. And she just like number two is a little hard out. Yeah.

And then she realizes, Oh crap, literally, right? There's no toilet paper or I don't know how to work this thing. And she's like, what do I do? I can't like crawl into the stall and I've got poop will come in out of my booty.

What do I do? I'm gonna scream for help. Absolutely not. This is what you do.

If you're in the situation, you're gonna take your pants completely off. You're gonna remove your undies. Your undies have now been sacrificed. You're gonna use your undies to wipe as much as you can.

You were then immediately going to throw those underwear away. You're gonna hope and pray that there's nobody else in that bathroom. You've already called for help. You've established there's nobody else inside the bathroom.

So you're gonna then take a peek outside the stall. You're then going to waddle to the next stall over and pray to God above that there is toilet paper there. If there is, proceed as normal. Sans underwear.

That underwear is gone. If there is not, look, her paper towels. If there are no paper towels, you're just gonna have to pull those pants up and hope that you're under it. It's gonna jump into the car.

I have an alternative. If there aren't any paper towels, then you use some water from the sink and kind of douse yourself almost like a bidet. And then turn on the little heat dry thing and put your cheeks up there and like just kind of shh. And then pull your bridges back on and get to it and go buy some books.

I don't like that option. I like it. But anyway, so she's screaming at this point because the woman helped her, I guess. I don't give her a quote.

I don't really add. So at this point, the other lady has left me. So I'm alone in the books now. Yes, you should be.

And I'm like, dang, I really want to know what this lady looks like. Because what is your thought? My image is someone who is unstable, like maybe a little disheveled, perhaps, if your go-to is screaming in the bathroom of the Goodwill. I'm thinking maybe you don't have it all together.

Just so you know, I haven't been to the Goodwill in a while. Okay. So I'm still looking at the books and I'm like, thanks, taking a long time. It's like 20 minutes.

How long can you pretend to look at the same book? I was looking at all the books in this little corner situation here. I'm like, dang, it's been a long time since this whole ordeal began. I'm gonna have to just walk away.

And then I hear the door open. And lo and behold, she comes out. She's the most put together woman, probably in that Goodwill. Wow.

Yeah. Like I looked more like the culprit in my brain. I mean, she still has her undies. I assume.

Yeah. So I'm like, dang, that's wild. So then I just kind of let go and I proceed around the Goodwill to finish my journey. And I get to, near the front, I'm going through the shirts at this point.

And I see the lady. She's got a full cart. I'm like, oh, she's going to check out. She gets to the front.

And I'm like, man, maybe she was just like really frustrated. Like, maybe this was just like a fluke. Because she's like really well put together. And she's got her items.

She's doing things. She's got herself. She's got her fine. It happens to all of us.

Yes. And I'm like, this is like, she's gonna have a normal transaction here. She then begins to growl. At you?

No, I don't know at whom I'm assuming the poor lady who was working the register. But I don't know. But I decided that and yep, there it is. And I proceeded to walk away from that situation.

I didn't want to be involved in the growling either. I was only gone down the aisle of shirts for maybe 60 seconds. I turned back around. Ladies gone.

Don't know if she took her cart with her. If she paid for her items or if she just left them there. Or if they told her, ma'am, you didn't need to leave this establishment. We need to go on now.

Yeah. What did the growling sound like? Was it just a... That was loud.

Oh, yeah. Look at grizzly bear. Look at... That's a lot.

I appreciate it. You're welcome. Well, I was curious. So that's my good little story.

Wow. I don't, I know the answer to this. But did this or does this deter you from continuing to go into the good? No, absolutely not.

Now I mean either. No. I mean, this is a, this is what I expect for my good will. If it doesn't happen, you're like, what's wrong?

Right. Yeah. Yeah. You should go to the good will bend.

That's a time. That's, I'm intimidated. That's crazy. People cut you.

They will. I'm intimidated by the bends. I have been there. And it's, it's a rough game.

They bring out a new bin and people literally like maul you. Yeah. It's, it's a lot. Scary.

Yeah. All right. Well, I've spent the past 10 minutes talking about my good little dreams. I didn't show up.

You're so welcome. Everybody is like, I can talk to you long in the beginning. Well, fast forward. Here's your, you're to the story now.

So you fast forward enough. So you know how in your story, we were talking about shit. Yeah. So in my story, we're going to be talking about shit.

Wow. This is going to be a shitty story. I'm excited. So this is actually the great horse manure crisis of 1894.

That sounds like a party. That sounds like a party. Sounds like a party. Oh, girl.

You don't even know. I'm ready. Yeah. Tell me about it.

Shit's going to hit the fan. I'm ready. So we're going to New York City in 1894. Okay.

Much like today, New York City in the 1800s was a bustling metropolis. Fun. The population was estimated to be around 1.7 million people. This boom in population was due to industrialization that came to the city in and around 1850.

So you have immigrants coming to Ellis Island from all over the world. And actually at this point, Ellis Island has not been set up yet. Right. But ports.

So they set up their home base in New York City and they were able to find jobs in factories. And the biggest industry in the city was the garment trade. So magazines were now commonplace. They were advertising clothing and other accessories that were produced in the city.

So you have nearly 2 million people living in the city, which today there are about 8 million. But many of these individuals in 1894 were working, including women and children. Yeah. So the whole family was a part of it.

Wow. Everybody had to make money. Everybody had to earn their gee. Absolutely.

So while many of these folks walked to work, some took cabs or the cabs of the day. Right. These would be horse-drawn taxis or carriages. So now we're talking about horses.

And we're talking about live animals who leave behind what I shall call residue. Experiment. P.C.'s. I love horses.

I don't love poop. I don't love the poop. What I do love horses. They are majestic.

You know another animal I like? I like deer. They are also majestic. They are.

Not when they bounce off side of my car though. No. No. Not when I've never hit a deer.

In my vehicle, I've had two deer hit me. I have to think about this for a second. Isn't that the same thing? No.

If I hit the deer, I have hit that deer. No. I was clear of the deer and the deer jumped into the side of my car. It lived.

Yeah. But it jumped and bounced off. You went in checked on it afterward. I mean, it was up.

It ran away. So I assumed it was fine. Great. Yeah.

That's happened to me twice. Wow. Yeah. I wonder if you're just like susceptible to all these like crazy things that happen.

Like the Goodwill lady. I think I just like have a presence about me that draws in crazy. I mean, we're friends. So accurate.

I just attracted it. I think so. I'm not mad about it. Oh, good.

I'm glad. Yeah. I think I attract some crazy too. Yeah.

That's why we're friends. Yeah. It's something more about the shit. Okay.

So there were animal bathrooms. No. And it was more of like, go where you drop it kind of situation. Yeah.

Go where you are kind of thing. So in the 1890s, there were about 200,000 horses in the city. And they were leaving about 2.5 million pounds of waste daily. Wow.

Daily. I mean, they're a bit around horses on my poop. It's a lot. It is.

They poop a lot. Yes, they do. I had to collect some. I had two horses of my own when I was a child.

And when I was in high school or doing undergrad, and one of my horses was dropping weight really quick, we figured he had cancer. He's very old. He was in his 20s, which is pretty old for a horse. Yeah.

So my, our vet was like, well, bring me a poop sample. And I was like, how am I going to get a poop sample from the horse? Easy peasy. This is easy.

So I took a solo cup, a red solo cup. As one does. And a gallon size zip lock bag. And I just waited.

And then he pooped. And I had to run into the field and scoop it up or piece of it because it's a lot in the solo cup. Put the solo cup in the zip lock bag and give it to the. That's not typically what I do with my solo cups.

Yeah. Actually, I think the solo cup was orange. I don't think it was red. But our good times are different.

I mean, everybody has a different good time. Turns out he did have cancer. Oh, did he pass? He did.

But he passed like on his own. Like we he was still eating and seemed happy and was fine. So we were like, you know, if he gets to the point where he is, you know, his quality of life is bad, then we'll, you know, look at, you know, euthanasia and things like that. But no, he just laid down in his stall one day and came out to beat him and he was he had passed on.

Wow. Yeah. He's buried up on the hill. I was going to say what did you do with him?

Buried him. That's a big hole. I would have to. Big hole hole.

Yeah. But yeah. How do you like drag him up there? Um, we're back in the trap.

No, they put him in like a. That's not helping. Moving your hand. It was they moved him with a tractor with a bucket on it pretty much.

Okay. They were able to kind of scoop him up in the front of the bucket and drove him up on the hill. So that's a little more helpful. Yeah.

Context is you moving your arm up and down. Yeah. It was involved in. Yeah.

So your bucket is terrible. The way you're displaying it. Okay. Yeah.

It needs to be a little like, yeah. I mean, but it was like a long bucket. Geez. Yeah.

Your son would know. Oh, abs. That's why I'm clarifying because he knows everything. Yeah.

The dude drives a backhoe. Yeah. In our driveway. Yeah.

He would know. Okay. Okay. So lots of boop.

Lots of boop. This actually adds up to 912 million pounds in one year. That seems about right. Yeah.

So one horse on their own on average produces between 15 and 30 pounds of manure in a day. I believe it. Yep. Having been around them.

Yep. I just hold on a shit. It's a lot of shit. Um, in your like, farm place.

Uh, did you have to clean it up? Did you just let it answer? We if they pooped in their stalls, we would obviously clean the stalls out. So they had somewhere, you know, clean and dry to stand.

Because horses stand most of the time. They don't lay down often. Um, so we would clean it out of the, the big stall that they shared. I was way too in there, but if it was out in the field now, we just let it be.

It smelled bad. It doesn't really. Oh, interesting. Now once it dries, it doesn't really smell that bad.

Cow poop smells a lot worse. Oh my gosh. So much worse. Now I did have to do that.

That was one of my jobs on the farm when I was a kid was to scrape the lots because we would run all the cows up to the lots to milk them to bring them into the milking parlor. So they would stand there and they would just poop. That's what cows do. They just poop a lot.

Right. Um, so when we finished with all that, I would take literally a snow shovel, like a big scraper and I would scrape the poop until it drained and it would drain into the miniver pit. So what a life you've lived in. Good times.

Apparently. Yeah, I actually didn't hate that job. It's fine. You used to do that after a while.

Shit doesn't scare Haley. No, it's right here. You put on your, um, your barn boots and uh, rubber boots and wade through it and you'll never find. Wow.

Well, so there wasn't just horse poopy, but also dead horses. Like they were left to disintegrate. Yeah. So horses only at this point.

Have a lifespan of about three years. What? Yeah. Yeah.

They didn't live very long just because there wasn't the care. Yeah. It wasn't like they were like, I've got to take my horse. They used to abuse.

Yeah. They didn't have their solo cups to test poop. Yeah. So and they pretty much were.

I mean, they were bred to, you know, be taxis and do all these things, you know, work horses. Um, so they, their bodies were left just to disintegrate the street. So like where they died that was like, they kind of shuffled them to the side and kept on going. Yeah.

Gross. So pretty soon you had flies. Yeah. We're attracted to the rotting corpse.

And smell the smell. So you've got waste on the streets and the sidewalks. You've got the rotting bodies who, yeah. So all these things, can you imagine like the rats and the vermin and like all these things?

Yes, I can because I've seen it. Well, yeah. You're going to do these in for it. That and I've seen that many rats on the farm.

I mean, it's wild. Yeah. You need a lot of cats. Yes.

A lot of cats. Yes. Do the cats bring you the rats? On occasion.

Yeah. Yeah. They would. They're very proud.

Or at least parts of them. Great. Sometimes I get just like the top half or the bottom half that they would bring me. Is it how do you feel when you get a rat head?

Not great. No, not great. They open the door and they're just a dead mole or something. Yeah.

Yeah. So it became such an issue that when brownstones were being built in the city, they purposely built them with those long, large stoops. That's why they built them. So that basically waste couldn't get into their homes.

Interesting. Because if your door was right there at street level, the species and like all the vermin and everything else could just sweep right into your house. Yeah. So that's why they built those large stoops.

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. How very cool.

Yeah. So now, as you can imagine, this excess legal matter and urine smelled and clogged up the streets. I would imagine so. So you can't escape the foul odor of the city.

Like imagine how the hot summer day, your house, you open the window and like it just wafts into your home. Yeah. That's, I mean, New York City has a unique smell. I live there.

We described it as hot garbage. It's what it smelled like. Even on cold days, it smelled like hot garbage. Absolutely.

That makes sense. You got really, really good at finding goods into candles. Makes sense. Yeah.

Yeah. Welcome to the city. It smells like shit. All the time.

Yeah. Yeah. Even now. Even now.

Just different kind. Different kind. So along with it being gross and smelly, like I said, it also brought rats and other vermin which created a health crisis. Yeah.

So disease was running rain bit in the city. Yeah. And it wasn't uncommon for people to die of cholera, typhoid and yellow fever. Yeah.

So this was becoming a massive problem and health officials remarked that if they didn't get the waste under control, millions more would die, which is a tragedy in itself, but would also affect New York City's economic stability because now everybody's dead. We don't have anybody to work. Our garment trade. What are we going to do?

Oh my gosh. Yeah. So this eventually would become known as the Great Manure Crisis of 1894. And it was reported because this was also going on in other cities, including London.

So it was reported that in 50 years, the city of London would be buried under nine feet of manure. Yes. That's crazy. Where's the love of my life?

Oh, she's buried under the manure. But you know, it sounds nicer when they're British. Yeah. I think I was.

Oh, darling. Now you've covered in fecal matter as opposed to, you know, like, yeah, yo, what you doing in the shit over there? Yeah. Sounds better.

Sounds classier. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. In 1898, a world meeting was held about urban planning because obviously in other cities, this was happening as well.

So really, the question is, what do we do about all the shit? What do we do about it? What do we do? So they came up with this solution, start another city, just move away, just like leave this and just go on like an outhouse.

You filled up that hole. So now you gotta go somewhere else. There you go. That was their solution.

That was their solution. All righty then. And doesn't that seem easy and attainable? Not absolutely.

That seems good. Great. So eventually what happens is you get this guy who is a 28 year old engineer. He's working for Edison Light Company and he saved up some money and he's heard about this guy in Germany, Carl Benz.

And if the last day, Benz found familiar, think Mercedes Benz. Okay. So this Carl guy, he was able to make some kind of fuel for transportation in Germany, like creating a transportation system of sorts. So this, this engineer here in the US is like, that's a good idea.

So he starts tinkering around. And around 1896, he built what was called a quad cycle, which was like powered by a motor. It only went like two miles an hour, but he was like, I'm on to something here. I'm on to something.

So he decides to form his own company. Any idea what the company was? No Ford Motor Company. I had that was a guess.

You didn't say it. I know. I got scared. I mean, we're talking about shit here.

At one point, do we really, you know, there's no boundaries with us. That's true. It's clear. That's true.

So 1908, he builds the Model T. This was revolution because this automobile was mass produced. Yeah. And so many people in New York City started using the Model T.

That's what they started using for cabs. It impacted the city in a positive way. Now they didn't need horses to get around. So they were implementing the Model T and they were, you know, obviously contaminating the planet, but I'm a different one.

You know, at least it wasn't poop. At least it wasn't poop. So it sort of saved the city from being drowned in feces. And you know, no longer were horses just, you know, killing over in the streets and leaving them there.

Yeah, everything had changed for the positive. So the New York City that you know today filled with like Ubers and cabbies and everything else really got started in around the early 1900s with the invention of the Model T because before that, we'd have just been, you know, continuing to cover ourselves and poopy. Wow. So that is the great manure crisis of 1894.

That is fascinating. I'm glad you said that. I actually, when I found this story, I was like, this is not about murder. It is not about mystery.

But damn it. This is a good story. You know, and you know, maybe we should pre-warn everybody that, you know, we say the S word. I don't think it matters at this point.

If you've made it this far, you love our ship. I mean, you're here with us. That's right. Well, well, and shit.

Yeah. If this is your first episode with us, this is your first episode, baby. Come on in. Come on in.

Well, sit down. Stick around. Yeah, the jacuzzi with us. Come do your taxes with us.

Oh, yes. Well, Haley, you don't want me to do your taxes. I'll do your taxes. Haley can also watch you and watch you do your taxes.

Make sure that you're doing them correctly. You have pointers helping hand. Give you a hand. That's right.

I'm ready to be of service. But you know, don't just blow them off. Really? Really?

Really stick with them to the end. Oh, well, yeah. Sorry. I won't be hanging.

Don't have any hangouts. No. You know, just, just keep everything pointed upward and know that soon they'll all be over. Yeah.

It'll be a resolution. Yeah. Happy, happy ending. Yep.

Your taxes will be done. Absolutely. You'll feel good. Yeah.

A lot of endorphins. Relieved even? Yeah. Released from the burden of taxes.

Yeah. Absolutely. We're going to get emails. Yeah.

Sorry. We talked about shit. That's entire episode. That's true.

I mean, Yeah. This was a shitty episode. This will go down as the shitty episode. And I do wonder when we reflect upon what episodes really stuck with us.

Will it be the shit episode? Will it be that one? Will it this comeback is the episode that we're like, that was the worst episode ever. Why did we do that?

Or is it going to be a fan favorite? Right. I want to know, actually. Or is this the one that ends the podcast?

Oh, wow. Is this the one that ends our friendship? Is this where we go our separate ways and you're over there with a solo cup collecting manure? And I'm doing taxes.

I mean, maybe. Who knew? I thought that we could handle any shit that came in front of us. Not this one.

It broke us. Ha ha. Yeah. That happened.

No. We're gonna be back next week. I mean, we're here to stay at this point. You're stuck with us.

Whether you like it or not. Oh, yeah. And if you don't like it, well, I'm sure there's other better podcast out there for you than me. Yeah.

Okay. All right. So if you want to share any of your shitty stories, we would love to hear it, please. And let us know what you think.

How we're driving. Do you find us entertaining? Do you wish we would just, you know, just go to the bathroom? I don't know.

Let us know. Tell us what you want. But you really, really want. I want to want to go to the Goodwill bathroom and take a poop.

I don't know. I will not convince you as pooping in there. I am. I am.

Like, why else would you? I mean, okay. She was growling and clearly was having some kind of mental health crisis. However, I would get frustrated if I couldn't get to the toilet paper and I'd grab myself.

And I didn't have the clarity of mine to rip off my undies and clean my butt with. Right. I mean, the scenarios that we gave out are certainly plausible. Absolutely.

But I don't know about the growling. I don't know either. I mean, if all I was wearing was my pants, I don't think, number one, I wouldn't be checking out. I would just leave my heart and leave.

What I was going to buy used at Goodwill is not as important as getting home and putting on some drawers. But, you know, everybody's different. Everybody's different. Okay.

So, tell us your stories. Please email us at Mountain Mysteries dot Appalachian at gmail.com. You can find us on Facebook at Mountain Mysteries, tales from Appalachia. You can find us on Instagram at mountain mysteries dot Appalachia and for more exciting content, such as the things that we were talking about here that make grocery out, please find us on patreon at patreon dot com slash mountainistries.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Do you have a shot? No.

Oh, my God. Oh, my. I'm going to shout out my local Goodwill employees. Hey, they're just really holding it down.

I don't know if they listen. When they get paid, which is probably minimal to none. Probably minimum wage, probably. And they're putting up with a lot of shit.