It seems as if there was no subject so mundane or seedy that it was considered unworthy of filming by Edison and his contemporaries at the turn of the century. Here the cameras - and New York City in 1903 must have been teeming with intrepid cameramen roaming the streets in search of something - anything - to film - capture the work of a few poor souls employed to spread the garbage dumped onto a massive wharf docked by the edge of the (apparently) East River.