The Pedestrians

EACH TIME HELGA Estby looked over her shoulder, the big cat was there. Crossing Wyoming’s Red Desert on foot, in the dust and heat of August 1896, was tough.

- Timothy Tocher

Being stalked by a mountain lion made it frightening as well. Stopping before dark, Helga and her eighteen-year-old daughter, Clara, built a fire. They kept it burning all night, taking turns on guard duty, their Smith & Wesson revolver cocked and ready. When the sun rose, the lion was nowhere to be seen.

How did two women end up alone in the desert? In the early 1890s, Helga Estby lived with her husband and nine children on a small farm outside of Spokane, Washington. Ole Estby worked the land and earned money as a carpenter in the city. Helga raised the children, helped with farm chores, and took care of the house. With everyone pitching in, the family stayed one step ahead of the bank, which held a mortgage on their property.

Then the country was hit with a depression. People stopped building new houses and stores, so Ole’s carpentry skills were no longer needed. An injury left him unfit to do heavy work. Soon the Estbys were in debt and unable to pay their mortgage. Helga decided it was up to her to save their home.

Helga heard that an anonymous person connected to the fashion industry out East was sponsoring a prize of $10,000 for any woman who could walk from Washington State to New York City, a distance of 3,500 miles, in seven months. Traditionally, women wore bone corsets under long skirts that dragged on the ground. These garments restricted movement. The prize sponsor was promoting a modern outfit called the bicycle skirt that left women’s ankles exposed, freeing them to walk or pedal without being tripped by their clothing. Leggings were worn underneath to protect modesty.

To prove their fitness, women were walking long distances. Nicknamed “pedestrians” by the newspapers of the day, they argued that women were equal to men and should be granted the right to vote. Some pedestrians had walked hundreds of miles, but none had ever attempted a cross-country trek.