DCHP-1 Online

skidroad ((n.)) Skid Road

• 1 n. Lumbering, Hist. a prepared road having greased skids (def. 1d) over which logs were dragged by teams of mules, oxen, or horses.

  See also: jumper road  skid ((n.))  skidway (def. 1a)  

  • c1889  (1956)  They used [about 1864] to have a lot of mules at Moodyville to draw the logs down the skid-roads. . . .
  • 1900  A shanty town of rough-hewn logs, warmly mudded-up, a band of glossy-coated horses to haul the sawn timber over the skid roads, the inevitable Chinese cook, and the very best of food are the chief adjuncts of a British Columbia logging place.
  • 1937  Hauling logs [by four-horse team] on a greased skid road.

• 2 n. Lumbering a slide or chute down which logs are skidded (def. 1) or dragged by a donkey engine.

  See also: skidway  skid ((v.)) (def. 1)  

  • 1924  Still the river is small and the channel is blocked by rocks. One would be forced to build a skid-road to easy water.
  • 1958  A skidroad consisted of three logs let into cross pieces cut away to form a convex in which the logs rested.

• 3 n. Lumbering See quote.

  • 1942  _{SKID ROAD} . . . Now applied to the line along which logs are hauled to the track from any given setting of blocks and rigging. Thus a spar tree, looked down on from the air, is the hub of a complete wheel of skid road "spokes."

• 4 n. Lumbering an improved logging road along which logs are hauled from the cutting area.

  • 1966  A tractor, or rubber-tired skidder vehicle, with an attached metal arch and power winches for lines pulls several logs per trip on short hauls over skid roads to the landing.

• 5a n. Orig. Lumbering, Slang, Hist. a low-class district of drinking and gambling houses, brothels, hotels, hiring halls, etc. catering to lumberjacks, seamen, miners, and construction workers.

  • 1906  "We'll likely see him in town." "Sure, Mike. He'll be in the Skid road, somewhere."
  • 1966  When the loggers came to Vancouver to blow their stakes they congregated in the area bounded by Carrall and Cordova streets. This area soon became known as the "skid road."

• 5b n. Orig. Lumbering, Slang, a city district characterized by cheap lodging houses, second-hand stores, low-class beer parlors and cafes, mission soup-kitchens, etc. and frequented largely by derelicts, transients, petty criminals, and unskilled workers.

  See also: skidroad ((n.))  (def. 1 and 5a)  skid row  (def. 1)  

  • The original skidroad (def. 5a) was Yesler's Way in Seattle, Wash., built in 1852. Certainly the term was in use in British Columbia before 1900, having been used of the Vancouver derelict district for many years. The districts so named in Seattle and Vancouver appear to have grown up near the terminus of actual skidroads (def. 1), becoming gathering places for loggers when unemployed or seeking amusement. After the logging operations receded inland, the name for these districts was retained, becoming a general term for such districts even in cities having no connection with logging.

  • 1936  When I got out I went up to a mission flophouse on the skid-road.
  • 1963  I remember, Mr. Mayor, one cold night 14 years ago when a young Indian girl tried to end her life by jumping out the window of a skidroad hotel. There was interest in cleaning up the skidroad then, too. . . .

• 6 n. Figurative use. See quote.

  • 1964  These operations [by beavers] often result in unmistakable skid-roads, chutes and canals being developed to expedite their enterprise.