The term skid row originated in the neighborhood surrounding this industry.
Steel
Lobster-fishing
Logging
Gold mining
Logging. Henry Yesler built a sawmill on Puget Sound; reportedly, logs were slid down a hill on "skid roads" made of old railroads ties; later, the area became home to vice dens and Skid Road became synonymous with the bad part of town. The term morphed into skid row during the Great Depression. Some sources say Skid Road was a common term for log slides in the 1880s, not just for Yesler’s.