Posts Tagged ‘Ballast Point’

Mr. Kitterman has taken the precaution to construct a sewer from his restaurant to the bay. Patrons of the establishment declare that it is one of the nicest places in town since the completion of the improvement, and say that the immunity from flies is remarkable. –San Diego Union, Sept. 1, 1872.

With no municipal oversight, privately built sewers, privies, and cesspools multiplied in San Diego of the 1870s—some emptying their odiferous loads on the beaches of San Diego Bay, others simply spilling into city streets.  In the mid-1880s, the City Board of Trustees decided it was time for a needed civic improvement.

The story of Sewering the City.

San Diego and its sewer outlet.

 

The last and largest whale captured this season made an interesting chase. Her blowing was observed by the crews of the four boats almost simultaneously.  The moment she was seen the orders came quick and sharp from the boatswain in command, and at once the men bent to their oars with a will, making their boat bound over the water with such speed as would astonish a green hand. 

–San Diego Union, January 11, 1872

Read the story of The Whales of San Diego Bay.