Letter from Vilhjalmur Stefansson to Alfred J. T. Taylor, 19 April 1922

I don’t see how I overlooked so long replying to your letter
of January 16th.

The information probably comes too late to be pertinent, but
the lady we dined with in Chicago is Mrs. John Fletcher, of 2004 West
Pacific Avenue, Spokane. I know she will like it very much if you will
let her know when you are next in Spokane].

The cause of the Anderson attacks at Ottawa is too complicat
ed a matter for correspondence. Essentially, it amounts to this: We
had been friends in college and got along beautifully on my second expe
dition, as you will see from the book, "My Life With the Eskimo." After
that he was married and his wife (apparently) began to explain to him a
thing he had never himself noticed, - that I was becoming famous by
stealing credit from him. When that point of view is once attained, you
can see how jealousy will grow and how supposed grievances will accumulate.
The rest of the story is found both in "The Friendly Arctic," and between
the lines. It was only after my manuscript had been read by Sir Robert
Borden (and several others, all of whom agreed) that I eventually decided
the Collinson Mutiny would have to be dealt with. You have seen how I
dealt with it.

It is especially interesting to note, first, that the Ottawa
attacks all had for their main plank the contention that the mutineers
were responsible to some officer over my head, and that I exceeded my
authority in doing as I did in the North in ordering them around as I
did. When, after much talk, the time came for them to submit written
charges to the Minister of the Interior, they found in conversation with
officers of the Department that they were not likely to get any support
for their contention that they had had the legal right to disobey my orders.
Accordingly, the fundamental plank of the charges, as they appeared in the
newspapers, does not appear in the written charges as submitted to the Min
ister of the Interior. Those charges are, in a sense, that I am conceited,
fond of newspaper notoriety, untruthful, fond of appropriating credit for
what others have done, and in general a disreputable sort of person. In
particular, they charge that I slandered them in my book, "The Friendly
Arctic," and that I have made violent attacks upon them in that book. All
of these charges you were in some position to judge from your personal con
tact with me, and from the two books, "My Life With the Eskimo" and "The
Friendly Arctic."

At Ottawa the other day I saw the Prime Minister and the Minister
of the Interior and explained to them our motives in forming the Stefansson
Arctic and Exploration and Development Company, and the general idea behind
our operations in Wrangell Island. They seemed well pleased and disposed
to support us. However, I must go to Ottawa in a week or two, and then I
can let you know more definitely. In the meantime, a frank letter from you
to your friend, Dr. King, telling about our mee ting in Reno, Nevada and our
motives and subsequent operations, would be in my opinion a good thing.

How about your proposed trip to England?

For the present, there is nothing to be done about the men at
Wrangell Island.

I think we should pay taxes on the goods taken from the United
States into Wrangell Island. On the whole, I judge I had better not write
the Minister of Customs about this until either you or I have had a chance
to talk with him, for the letter might get into the hands of some irresponsi
ble clerk who might handle it in the wrong way.