San Francisco in the 1900s: Horse Disease & Manure

The West wouldn't be the West without the horse. Unfortunately (or not so unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) a horse can't be a horse without producing manure. During the 1900s in San Francisco, when the horse was used in the city far more frequently than it is today, those who lived in San Francisco had to manage and dispose of a substantial amount of manure. This process created a great concern for spreading disease.

Background

• San Francisco, as a growing city in the early 1900s, naturally had many horses coming and going along the city streets every day. "The Freeman" cites statistics of London in 1900 and how London had 11,000 horse-powered cabs, in addition to several buses pulled by a dozen horses, equaling a total of roughly 50,000 horses in the city. These typical figures could be similar to any great city of the time, including San Francisco. When considering that each horse could produce between 15 and 35 pounds of manure per day, cleaning up after horses and enduring myriads of flies was no small job. The problem, though, seems to have been more cosmetic than pathological. As car makers introduced the automobile in the early 1900s, fewer relied on horses, and manure on city streets gradually became less evident.

Disease from Manure

• More automobiles and less manure, however, doesn't mean that manure is safe. The Council of Bay Area Resource Conservation, based out of the San Francisco Bay area, published a report in July 2000 detailing horse manure concerns that were present in the late-1990s in San Francisco. The report emphasized how horse owners should keep horse manure away from water sources, such as creeks and ground water as this poses a potential threat to humans. Research published in 1998 from Adda Quinn, founder of EnviroHorse, asserts that people who have regular, close contact with horse manure have never been infected from it, as far as known.

Encephalitis and Flu

• Two horse diseases sickened and even killed San Franciscan horses during the 1900s. One of these was the equine flu. An outbreak of horse flu affected racetracks across the U.S., including San Francisco in 1963. From San Francisco the flu spread to other western states -- quickly, to those that held horse races. Further, the California Department of Health Services has monitored horses in San Francisco, in addition to other parts of the state, for western equine encephalitis since 1969; mosquitoes spread this disease.

Other Horse Diseases

• There are also diseases that afflict horses in current day, just as they have throughout the 1900s. Colics and fevers may sicken horses for a period of time, promoting calls to a veterinarian. On the more serious side, an as-of-yet incurable strain of equine herpes was first discovered in California in 1969. SFGate.com ran a story in May 2011 showing that this virus had killed seven horses statewide. The herpes strain causes neurological and tissue damage to the horse, as well as fever, weakness and lethargy.