Black greasy dust, Hmm. That sounds like the black greasy soot that caked the
beach at Ballast Point surrounding the 1860-1886 shore whalign station
(CA-SDI-12953), which is in San Diego, CAlifornia. The tryworks oven had two ovens
that burned spent whale flesh to heat two 150-gallon pots to render the whale
blubber into oil. The soot from the fires belched out smokestacks and then fell
to the beach. Excavations revealed a 15 centimeter thick layer of black
greasy soot on the sand. It was a real mess and took forever to wash out in the
shower.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.