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Can anyone add information about the former U.S. Routes 49E and 49W?
Thank you.
Allen (talk) 16:09, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of U.S. Route 49's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.
Reference named "db":
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help){{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help){{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 19:19, 5 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There is absolutely no evidence of any sort that the crossroads of Hwy. 49 and Hwy. 61 in Clarksdale, a.k.a., "the crossroads" where a three-guitar monument currently sits, inspired Robert Johnson's song, "Cross Road Blues." This specific detail isn't even part of the legend propagated by the folks in Clarksdale; they simply suggest that RJ is "alleged" to have sold his soul to the devil at this location--itself a claim without a factual basis. Somebody please rewrite the sidebar to eliminate this non-fact-based and entirely spurious claim.
Those who claim that RJ sold his soul in order to achieve his extraordinary skill on the guitar always argue that the dirty deed, so to speak, must have happened in the 1930-1932 period. But Highway 49 didn't exist at the DeSoto/State St. (aka Sycamore) location at that point, nor did Highway 61 exist at that location. In 1930-32, the DeSoto/Sycamore intersection was simply a nondescript streetcorner on the outskirts of Clarksdale, with no highway egress from any direction. Hwy 49 at that point was East Tallahatchie Street (now called "old Highway 49) on maps, which is a few blocks to the west of the current crossroads. Hwy 61 (called "old Hwy 61" on current maps of Clarksdale) was 4th Street., up in the black section of town. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.74.157.160 (talk • contribs) 18:42, 22 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
That ain't the way I heard it. I lived in the Delta for years, and I remember in about 1981 the Delta Democrat-Times newspaper, in Greenville Mississippi, ran an entire extra section of the Sunday paper one weekend, dedicated to Robert Johnson and the legend of the Crossroads. The song makes no mention of US highways at all. It talks about "the crossroads", a local moniker by which that intersection was known at the time. The two roads became part of the US highway alignments later. My guess would be there was probably a blues lounge there at some point maybe 90 to 100 years ago called The Crossroads, but I don't remember that detail, it's just my guess.
As for the current crossroads of US Hwy 61 and 49, it's well to the east of the traditional intersection, and it's an interchange. It's been a couple decades now since State Street in Clarksdale carried US 61. Berberry (talk) 16:36, 14 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
