Four days later, on
August 7, 1883, the Spectator carried the result of an investigation into the conditions
of another problematic alley:
“Complaints have been
made of the bad condition of the alleyway running between Main and Jackson
streets from Spring to John streets,
“A reporter took a
walk through this alleyway yesterday morning and found that the reports
concerning it had not be exaggerated. The alleyway is not very wide, and heaps
of rubbish piled on each side have given growth to flourishing beds of
burdocks, thistles and other weeds, which are more annoying than ornamental,
and have completely blocked up any track for a vehicle which might have once
existed. Now it is with difficulty that one can pick his way through without
cutting his boots on broken bottles and old tin ware.
“There are, in several
places, large manure heaps standing in the middle of the road, and as these
places are made the receptacles for other matter, they are not very pleasant
additions to the alley.
“There is one poster
in the alley to warn people against depositing rubbish, dirt, vegetable or
animal matter in that place, but as anyone wishing to read it has to climb up
over a heap of manure, it is not perused much.”1
1 “Model
Alley No. 2 : Points for the Board of Health”
Hamilton
Spectator. August 7, 1883.
Walking a little
further east, the reporter came upon an exceptionally offensive portion of the alley:
“From Walnut to Cherry
street, the alleyway was kept in fair condition, except near the Cherry street
end where the odors that assail a pedestrian give him to understand that he is
near a city farm. The person who keeps this assemblage of horses, cattle, pigs
and fowls should see that the drains on his premises are in proper working
order, as to all appearances the rain has washed a good deal of manure and
other refuse matter into the public alleyway.
“From Cherry street
to Spring street, where it ends, the alleyway is in very bad condition; very
foul and disgusting smells arise from water-closets, and stables alongside of
it, and putrefying heaps of garbage, with the usual compliment of old boots,
tinware, bones, dead chickens and other rubbish lie stinking in every corner.
From one house in this part of the alley all the dirty water and slops are
emptied into the road, where it forms a rill of sewerage down the only path
that the piles of rubbish and the too luxuriant growth of weeds will permit.”1
(To Be Continued)
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