A few years before 1882, when this photos was taken, cows, ducks, chickens and other livestock often wandered along Main Street. An unkempt grazing ground, called the city commons, was near today’s Columbia and Eighth streets on land Esther Short donated to the city of Vancouver in 1853. Residents freely grazed their livestock on the unfenced commons grass. Until the town incorporated in 1857, no one fussed over the animals or their waste. Townsfolk slaughtered animals and dumped the leftovers in alleys or on the streets.
Livestock effluvia became irksome in 1866. Whether responding to complaints or their own noses, the city council passed an ordinance against butchering animals in ways that might “cause any offensive smell or endanger the health or convenience of any Citizen.” The law also banned discarding fresh or rotting animal byproducts within the city limits. A violation carried a stiff $25 fine (nearly $400 today).
That was a step toward sanitation, although livestock still legally wandered Vancouver’s streets for a decade. In 1876, the city council cracked down, passing a law hobbling roving farm animals. Shortly after, the sheriff impounded a businesswoman’s bovine. Mrs. Mary Schofield objected on her cow’s behalf and spearheaded a protest. She gathered signatures from her upper-class friends, who, in turn, pulled political strings to overturn the ruling.
For several years the council and the city’s wealthy skirmished over peripatetic cows. Eventually, the territorial legislature struck down part of the city’s charter dealing with livestock. It voided several livestock regulations and ended the battling. The city council lost.
