skid row(1931) and "skid road"

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:49 PM -0400 9/8/06, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>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?
>
Hey, I'm gonna find those people who took me on a tour of Underground
Seattle and demand a refund!  I wonder what else they made up.

LH

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