On or about this day in history, October 22, 1896, Helga and Clara Estby walked through east-central Iowa on their way from Des Moines to Davenport, and ultimately New York City. Thirty six year-old Helga Estby had left Spokane WA on May 6, walking with her oldest daughter, Clara, age 18, leaving her husband and six young children behind. Their goal was to save the family farm from foreclosure by winning a $10,000 wager allegedly offered by a bicycle dress-designer/manufacturer to any woman who would walk coast to coast in seven months in their daring new costume. (see photo) Under the terms of the wager a walker could start with just $5 and had to support herself along the way with odd jobs and by selling photographs--begging and train-riding were prohibited.

Like previous long distance walkers, the Estbys found following railroad tracks a lot easier than using the regular roads . . . the tracks at least were mapped and ran straight to known destinations. The dirt roads were unmapped, unmarked and zig-zagged across the landscape following property lines. Each section of the railroad track had a section house, occupied by a lonely RR hand overseeing the property and equipment in his sector, and often eager to trade room and board for a little company and conversation. The hills and turns in Iowa, however, made walking the tracks dangerous, and section bosses were apt to heed company rules and order "tramps" off the RR right-of way for safety. The Estby's took to the wagon-roads and found our bordering farmers the most unfriendly and discourteous bunch of the whole trip. Neither shelter nor food was available at any price and they had to sleep outdoors in haystacks. (Olympia WA Standard; November 27, 1896) Perhaps we should forgive them, there was a serious farm recession at the time and many tramps on the road.

The Estby's arived in NYC on December 23, missing the deadline and losing the bet. Many questions remain however about the whole venture. The "eastern industrialist" with the $10,000 offer was never identified; Helga in all likelihood fabricated the wager story and hoped to capitalize on the publicity she received in NYC and/or from future book sales. However, her fame evaporated quickly. . . transcontinental "tramps" arrived and departed on an almost weekly basis and were "old hat" without a compelling gimmick (e.g. Paul Jones' paper suit (see June 22 post)). When Helga finally got home the farm was gone, two children were dead with diphtheria and the remainder were bitter toward their mother about being abandoned. She apparently worked on a book in her later years but never finished it, and her daughters burned the notes after her death in 1942. ... See MoreSee Less

48 minutes ago  ·  

On this day in history, October 18, 1878, the celebrated pedestrienne Madame Nora Dupree came to Iowa and introduced the spectator sport of women's long-distance walking to Independence in King's Opera House. A week later she performed here at Wetzel & Hart's Hall in Cedar Rapids. We'll tell that story next week on the anniversary, but first an introduction to this long-mysterious early walkist and her sport. Nora Dupree was a true pioneer in competitive pedestrianism. Hundreds of women tried professional walking in 1879, inspired by the spectacular performances of Madame Ada Anderson and Exilda Lachapelle at the beginning of the year. How spectacular? Try walking 3,000 1/4 miles in 3,000 continuous 1/4 hours (i.e. 750 miles in 31 days, virtually without any sleep). Nora Dupree, though, was one of a scant handful of women, who started walking before the huge and adoring crowds developed, before the full-page national newspaper coverage, before the women walkists started taking home purses worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars; before walking was respectable and the "fairer sex" didn't walk alone, didn't put itself on public display, and didn't even sweat! Like most of the early walkists she was driven to the sport by poverty and desperation, and adopted a pseudonym to protect her family. However, unlike many of the others, she followed her own path and came out when it all ended three years later, almost as quickly as it started, successful and probably happy. "Nora" helped prepare the way for every woman sports-figure we know today, which is why we spent so much time tracking down her real identity.

Nora Dupree was unique among the female walkists in three respects. First, she regularly competed against men -- initially with audience members eager to try matching her pace for a few miles (the audience loved it!); later as opponents in 25-hour, 50-hour, 4-day, 6-day races, to see who could walk farther. It was her "thing." Forget competing with women; forget the insane 31-day sleepless marathons, go head-to-head with the best men in town. What a gimmick! She sometimes spotted the men a 10+ mile handicap. As her fame grew and as a way of increasing gate receipts, she began taking on multiple men. . . 2, 3 or 4, allowing them to relieve one another, i.e. competing with a new man and a fresh pair of legs every day, or every two days in a 4 or 6-day race. How could any town resist the challenge to send out their best amateur male athletes to go up against the "Champion Pedestrienne of the World?!" Secondly, Madame Dupree's records ranked with the best in the world at the time. Many men and women tried walking, lured by its apparent ease and the promise of riches; most failed miserably, but Nora was truly a gifted athlete. Finally, Nora Dupree made walking a family business. She appeared in CR with her two children: "Frank," age 15, a fledgling pedestrian himself, who gave an exhibition in fast heel-and-toe (Olympic-style) walking while his mother was taking rest-breaks (he performed in Independence too), and; little Minnie Dupree, age 9, who did impressions of the walking styles of famous figures in the sport. Both went on to enjoy very long and successful careers in the theatre, thanks in no small measure to this earlier experience.

Nora started her 100-mile walk in King's Opera House in Independence on Friday evening at 9 PM. She set a brisk pace with a large crowd cheering her on. Tickets cost $0.25; admission for women and children was just $0.15. The track consisted of a chalk line promoters had drawn just inside the outer walls of the hall. A few young men joined her on the "track" at points, but they quickly dropped out after just a mile or two, more appreciative of the fast pace she was setting. The crowd thinned considerably after midnight, but Elnora plodded on, without the adrenaline that always comes with an appreciative audience, relying only on her inner resources. Those long overnight hours must have been the toughest, with only the soft scraping of her slippers on the plank floor and her thoughts to keep her company. . . Friday night receipts were below expectations and attendance would have to pick up considerably on Saturday if this trip was going to be a success. (It's the kind of mental courage we've discovered often, and have come to admire in the other pedestrians, bike-riders and autoists we talk about in the current exhibit.) The audience grew after Saturday morning chores. As in an automobile race, more than a few, I imagine, hoped to witness the moment when Dupree would crash. She didn't. Just after noon, on her 63rd mile, she was joined on the track by a young buck named Stone, a local painter. On the 69th mile Robert N. Stites joined them. Rob was the 20 year-old son of Conrad and Helen Stites, pioneers in Buchanan county. Rob stayed a showman and moved to Chicago in time to manage "Cafe Marine," a famous restaurant at the World's Fair. (Find a Grave memorial # 58173575). The three--Nora, Rob and Stone, finished together that evening, just after 9:55 PM. Stites and Stone were exhausted and had to be carried home on stretchers. (Independence Conservative; October 23, 1878) They were both up and walking again on Sunday, but looked like, "foundered nags." (Buchanon County Bulletin, October 25, 1878) Nora got ready for walking again, here in Cedar Rapids. ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago  ·  

On or about this day in history October 11, 1906 Winfield S. Gehr drove through eastern Iowa on his way to completing the first coast-to coast family vacation-trip by automobile in the US and becoming just the ninth person to drive across the country. With him in his Glide Model E touring car was W. E. (Ed) Camfield an experienced automobilist, their respective wives, Emma and Nellie, the first women to make the coast-to-coast trip, six year-old William Camfield, Jr. and Gehr's pointer, Snip. They had left Wenatchee, WA June 7 and arrived in NYC November 28, 1906, traveling the last 400 miles by train to make a hastily scheduled appearance in an auto show. The trip was for Gehr’s health and pleasure, and they made extended stops to see the tourist sights and visit with family and friends along the way.

Gehr's drive through Iowa was relatively uneventful compared to his perilous trail-blazing trip across the northern Rockies where he found the Glide 36 hp engine up to climbing any hill, but the brakes woefully lacking for getting back down in one piece. On one occasion they had to use a block and tackle to lower the car 100 ft. at a time. Gehr entered Iowa from Sioux Falls, SD and spent two days visiting old friends in Spirit Lake. From there he drove to Des Moines and dropped in on the local Glide dealer. They stayed in Newton a day waiting for warmer weather. Fifty miles east of there they lost their brakes on another hill and snapped a pin on the drive shaft when they drove into an embankment. Two days to make repairs, and then on to the Amana Colonies, Oxford, Iowa City and Davenport. They arrived in Peoria on Oct.13, “Tanned to a ripe berry color. . . and coated with Illinois dust.” (Peoria Herald-Transcript)

Gehr was the former president of the Orando WA Shipping Co. and Wenatchee Milling Co. He was later a real estate developer in Wenatchee. He was born in PA but came to Iowa after college and studied for the law. He practiced for two years in Spirit Lake before moving to Flandreau, SD, where he went into banking and later the ag. implement business. He moved to Orondo, WA in 1888. See him at Find a Grave memorial # 68952570. Camfield is at # 54557646

More about Iowa's early transcontinental travelers in the current Good Roads exhibition. ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago  ·