This two-part post on the Davis sewage crisis of 1919
focuses on items in the October 17, 1919 issue of the Davis Enterprise. That issue of the paper had four items on this topic, one of which I reproduced in Part I (post
#53, last week).
That item was state sanitary engineer C. F Smith’s report on
his inspection of the Davis sewage situation, a situation he judged to be
seriously bad.
In this post, I reproduce the other three items. The first
is Editor Scott’s general introduction, in which he notes the critical role of
the Women’s Improvement Club in making sewage a key Davis issue.
The second is a cover letter by Smith’s boss, C. J. Gillespie,
director of the state bureau of sanitary engineering. The letter is, to me, surprisingly
strong in that he uses the word “backward” to describe Davis citizens and unambiguously
threatens to shut down large Davis busineses that produce sewage if the
situation is not improved.
Last, Editor/Judge Scott weighs in with an editorial in
which he acknowledges the need for a sewage system but bristles that state
employees would dare hint that Davis should build a sewage system before it
installs a water system.
One outcome of all this is that an election to issue bonds
to build a water system was held on November 4, 1919 and passed by a three to
one vote.
An election to bond a sewer system was held in January, 1921
and was approved by a sixteen to one vote. I guess this lop-sided result is testimony
to how weary people can get living almost literally afloat in sewage.
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| Introduction |
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| Gillespe |
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| Scott |
