THE DUMP

The other day I made a trip to the Oakland transfer station or as many of us call it "The Dump".  My memories drift back to my younger days growing up in Willows, California in the 1950's and 60's.   We used to load up the old pick up truck and make the drive to the county dump once or twice a month.   The dump was a series of pits where the county had dug up gravel over the years to rock and pave the many miles of county roads.  Afterwards the gravel pits, maybe an acre or two in size and 40 to 50 feet deep were used as a place to dump trash.   As we would back up to the edge of the pit along with other county residents we could see all kinds of debris thrown in the pit, including tires, appliances, furniture and God knows what else in addition to household garbage.   Fires smoldered in the pit as a toxic smell of smoke was in the air.  There was a man that looked like he had been raised in the pit that started the fires and rummaged through the debris.   He was small man in dirty clothes and with very dark skin.  There was a shack off to the side where I always thought he lived.   Not sure if he was paid by the county or what?   There were no fees for dumping there and nobody ever questioned us on what we were putting in the pit.   

Some time in the late 1970's open pit burning was banned nationwide and landfills came into existence.  The word recycling was not part of our vocabulary until the 1980's.