On The Skids

Day 119: Skid Road. The name calls up connotations of down-and-outers, rough men, hard times and the backwaters of many a small town "out west." It describes the mentality and way of life typical of the hobos of the Depression as they rode the rails beneath boxcars and flatcars, risking their lives for a meal and a spot to sleep in some kindly soul's barn. To be "on the skids" was to be sliding deeper into the pit of poverty and loss of self-esteem, a path often greased by drunkenness and crime. But what was this "Skid Road" which led to perdition?

This Fordson tractor dates from the era of Model Ts and was colloquially referred to as a "skidder." Beneath it, you see two peeled timbers, i.e., skids. A "skid road" consisted of timbers such as these laid end-to-end on hillsides and across marshlands to allow logs to be dragged ("skidded") out of the forests. When the lumberjacks drew their checks and wanted to head to town for a well-earned bender, they literally went "on the skids" to their destination. Like many of the Skid Road ladies, this old gal has seen better days.