Talk:Ridgeway (road)

A fact from Ridgeway (road) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 November 2008, and was viewed approximately 4,519 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that prehistoric ridgeway trails, though often steep, were usually the firmest and safest cart tracks before the advent of paved roads in western Europe?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/November.

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Criteria

Let's please limit any further examples of prehistoric ridgeways in this article to (1) routes which are (2) elevated above the surrounding country and (3) carried vehicular traffic (4) between population centres. If possible, please include a citation of a historical study of the road. There is probably not a single ridge in Europe which has not been used by some human at some time as a footpath, but that does not in itself qualify that track to be styled a ridgeway. Nor is the English word ridgeway applicable to roads through flat country like the Hærvejen in Jutland. The mere fact that a road goes around the headwaters of streams is not enough alone to call it a ridgeway. JB Piggin (talk) 21:44, 9 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Trails to California and Oregon

Do you have a source for these generally following low ground? They certainly did in the relatively flat plains, where water was at a premium, but when the trails got into the mountains I believe they tended to follow ridges to minimize water crossings, and at least in part because surveyors coming from the low areas could more easily find a ridgetop route than follow a river and hope not to get trapped in a canyon. One example can be seen east of Placerville, California, where the old Mormon Emigrant Trail follows the ridge, while the modern US 50 uses a river valley. There is some history of this at U.S. Route 50 in California#Emigrant trails and wagon roads. --NE2 22:40, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A more modern example is the Ridge Route, built in the 1910s and bypassed by a lower road in 1933. --NE2 22:44, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. I had a look through Lee Kreutzer's series of US National Park System books published this year (http://www.nps.gov/oreg/planyourvisit/upload/WY_ATRIG_Web_OR.pdf) and it was plain most ascents went up and down the other side, or stayed on valley floors. Hence the word "generally." But Iron Mountain Ridge and Peavine Ridge do seem to be exceptions. It would of course be also great if we could get some instances of ridgeways in Asia. --JB Piggin (talk) 22:53, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]