skid row(1931) and "skid road"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Fri, Sep 08, 2006 at 08:01:59PM -0400, Sam Clements wrote:
>
>  While the conventional wisdom is that the term perhaps
> originated as "skid road" in reference to logging in the
> late 1800's, especially in the Pacific Northwest, I find an
> almost total lack of that term, "skid road," used from
> 1880-1931 in searches using ProQuest and Newspaperarchive.
> At least, in reference to the poor section of town.
>
> Why wouldn't we find this term "skid road," referring to a
> poor section of town, available more freely in newspaper
> stories?

Because the conventional wisdom is wrong?

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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