As others have mentioned here and I understand it could vary state to state but if a landowner has a piece that is landlocked and no road access to it he will get an easement one way or the other. It's just much easier to be able to pick your road and make a nice gentleman's agreement and roll on.
That may be the case if the the parcel was land-locked. The original easement was a matter of convenience to allow the neighbor to access a ridgetop to develop ag land. The neighbor could walk or ride a horse to the ridgetop within his property. The new owner of the farm had an option to access the ridgetop via motor vehicles by spending the money to put in a road. It would have been thru some rough terrain, but it was feasible.
