SPOTLIGHT ON THE SPOKANE REGION
Hi Everybody! I am Kris
Krell, and I am preparing to entertain you with interesting stories about the Spokane Region through the EWGS Blog.
Please stay tuned, and send any comments, kudos, or suggestions to me at krellkb1@gmail.com.
I didn’t know about the remarkable mother-daughter team who
walked 3,500 miles from
Helga and Ole Estby, Norwegian-born, owned 160 acres of farm land
in Mica Creek just southeast of Spokane. Their land was purchased in 1887, and
the land was in an enclave called “Little Norway”.
Five years later, Ole could no longer work the farm because of
back injuries. Impossible to think of
losing the farm and needing to support their eight children, Helga and their 17
year old daughter undertook a $10,000 offer to walk from Spokane to New York
City—a 3,500 mile trek in seven months!
The contest allowed walking only as the only mode of transportation,
they could leave with only $5, they were required to visit political leaders in
every state they walked through, they could not beg, and they could only wear
bicycle skirts to cover their legs.
Helga and Clara left Spokane on May 5 or 6, 1896; however, they
didn’t arrive in New York City until December 23, 1896. The contest sponsor refused to pay the
$10,000 saying Helga and Clara had missed the deadline. Helga tried to raise money for her daughter and herself to return home; eventually a railroad tycoon gave them paid passes to
return home by train.
Helga returned home to find that two of her children had died of
diphtheria. The farm went into
foreclosure in 1901, and the family moved into Spokane where Ole started a
construction company, and Helga became involved in the suffragist movement.
Source: Spokane Historical app
