Part 6: Bessie arrives in Idaho

In Bessie's era, personal trips and other items were put into the local paper. I guess the equivalent now would be the gossip columns.

News announcement in paper

According to this small announcement in the paper, on her way to find true love, Bessie intended to visit friends in Springfield, Massachusetts, and then travel on to New York, NY where she attended the New York World's Fair. Note: The Fair was actually held in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens and, ironically, the theme was "Building the World of Tomorrow" something Bessie was on her way west to do.

Bessie's Tickets
Top one is a reissue for 27 Nov,
With final destination New York
the bottom is for 22 Nov. with
final destination, New Jersey.

She traveled by bus from Maine across the United States. These are two of the bus tickets. I'm not sure who took her or how she got to Massachusetts, but she told me that when she stopped in Boston, a police officer stopped the traffic for her because she was too afraid to cross the busy street.

In September 1939 she started the first serious leg of her journey west.

On way west - Elder Richard's car

She traveled from New York City, New York, to Chicago, Illinois by Greyhound bus. According to the tickets, she had to use them before November.


She arrived in Chicago and I don't know the story of how she met or connected with the Elders who would take her to Salt Lake.

Elders Richards and
Hochstrausser by Elder
Richards car

She traveled from Chicago to Utah with two missionaries - Elder Hochstrausser and Elder Richards - who were on their way home from their missions. They slept in the car and she got the hotel room when they had to stop along the way.


Sorry, I don't know which missionary is which in this photo, just that the car belonged to Elder Richards.

Bessie in Logan staying
with Elder Baugh's family

Before the journey ended in Salt Lake, Elder Hochstrausser proposed to her. I have a (possibly faulty) memory of Bessie saying they had both proposed to her (but the only one written down is Elder Hochstrausser).


I'm not sure how she got to Logan, Utah from Salt Lake City, but she stayed with Elder Baugh's family.

The young man (Paul...she didn't remember his last name) that brought her from Logan to Archer also proposed before he dropped her off at her sister Laurel's house.

LDS Archer Ward Church in 1934, 
taken five years before Bessie's arrival. 
Unknown men are standing in front.

Bessie's brother-in-law Kenneth had grown up in the same area as Bessie's future husband, Norman, who had seen Bessie's picture and wanted to meet her when she came west.

Norman B. Erickson

That opportunity came when Bessie arrived at church and he saw her for the first time. He heard a voice tell him, "That is your wife" He nudged the guy next to him in the choir and told him that Bessie was the one he was going to marry.

From her point of view, things were a bit different. This is what she recorded about it:

"The first time I went to church, I asked, "Who is that young man who's leading the singing?"
(Her brother- in- law) Kenneth answered, "That is Norman Erickson."
I said in disappointment, "That kid?"
Kenneth said, "That kid is eight months older than you!"
Bessie recorded: "I felt better and he was cute and had wavy very light brown hair."

While living with her sister and brother-in-law, Bessie looked for work and soon secured a job at SH Kress.

Kress Building built in 1929

One of the stories she told (I think it was this store, but could have been JC Penney's) was about the manager. One day a woman had come in with a baby she sat on the counter. It's cloth diaper leaked and Bessie and her co-worker hadn't had time to clean up the puddle when the manager walked by, saw the puddle, and put his finger in it and tasted it. "Tastes like vinegar" was his comment and he went on his way.

Missing picture - I am trying to find my original (Google stole it)

While working in Idaho Falls, she rented a room in this house at 557 N. Ridge Ave. This picture was taken in 1985.

I'll try to find a picture of it for the time period Bessie was there, but on this one she drew an arrow to show the window of the room she rented for $3 a week from Mrs. Brandstetter, (who had a handicapped son named Donald and needed boarders).



Southeast Idaho was a change for Bessie.
It was dry instead of humid and the wind blew more often than not.
Farmland stretched as far as the eye could see once you were out of the city. Even the major crop (potatoes) were large compared to those they grew in the east.

Snow was measured in feet and winter lasted a very long time. But the most significant change was the most welcome. She was surrounded by members of the LDS church and the young men found her fascinating. She wore hats, she spoke with an adorable accent, and she had a different kind of style and class.

From her many dates (sometimes she had three a day) she would receive and politely refuse three more marriage proposals : Thane Hacking, Steve Grover, and Neil Machen.

She always loved Archer and pronounced it like any New-Englander would: Ah-cha. Her sister-in-law, Viola, an author, captured some of why Archer is such a wonderful place to live.

Archer by Viola Rawls Erickson
If you're travelin up the country
Through the valley of the snake
And the Archer-Ririe highway
Is the route you choose to take
Then I say you've chosen wisely
And you're headed for a treat
When you see the friendly faces
Of the people that you meet
There's a world of warmth and kindness
In the smiles that you receive
Makes you mighty glad to be here
And a little sad to leave
Cause you know by somethin special
In the way they shake your hand
That by chance you are sojourning
In a mighty favored land
For our daughters are the fairest
And our sons the very best
And our valley is the greenest
You will find in all the west
Yes our cattle are the sleekest
And within our sparkling streams
Are the kind of trout and salmon
You have landed in your dreams
If your favorite sport is huntin
Then here too you've chosen well
As observe our local sportsman
And the stories that they tell
There's real beauty in our grainfields
Waving golden in the sun
And we raise the finest taters
Butter ever melted on
So drive slowly through our valley
For the time will come I know
When your heart recalls the
Friendly peaceful Archer Idaho