Letter from Alfred J. T. Taylor to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 10 May 1922

From your letter of May 3rd, I feel that you have spent a very busy and profitable day in Ottawa, and am in complete accord with what you have accomplished and cannot see how you could have been more successful.

The terms of the lease appear to be most satisfactory, and I am sure that, even though you were unable to see Dr. King, we can count on his support for whatever it may be worth. There is no doubt of the value of Mr. Crerar's influence in Ottawa at the present time.

Assuming that we have within the next thirty days the lease of Wrangell Island along the general terms set forth in your letter, I do not see any great difficulty in arranging here for the financing of our company.

You have not told me how much money you think we ought to have, and for what purposes this will be required, but I am assuming the initial amount will not be very large.

Whether or not we shall develop the resources of the Island under our present company, or form a new company, will depend partly upon how much money you think we will require for the development of the resources on a proper scale, and partly as to whether you desire to allow any part or all of the money that you have invested up to the present to remain permanently in the venture. These are details that we can settle much better in conversation than we can by letter, and I am prepared to give whatever time is necessary from now on to carry this business through along the lines that we might agree upon as being best.

In the meantime I gather from your letter that a lease is in preparation, and should be completed early in June. I shall say nothing whatever about this matter here, for we cannot keep our preliminary negotiations too quiet. No doubt you have given Crawford and party strict instructions not to make public any information regarding Wrangell Island or their expedition until authorized by you, for there is no doubt that the information that they will be able to give, as soon as we are in communication with them, will have an important influence one way or the other upon our financing.

What plans have you made for getting in touch with Crawford at the first opportunity? Are we sending a boat from Nome to Wrangell Island upon the opening of navigation, and who is looking after this for us in Nome?

I had a letter from Mrs. Crawford yesterday asking about the forwarding of mail, and I wrote to her at once and told her to send all letters to this office, and that we would not know how soon they would reach her son, but probably not until July.

As nearly as I can plan at present, I will reach New York between the 25th of May and the 1st of June. I see no hope of getting away from Vancouver before the 20th, and I may be delayed until the 26th, but in any case I will wire you as soon as my plans are definite, and will arrange to spend just as much time with you in New York as may be necessary to complete our programme for the season.

Meanwhile, please let me know where you expect to be after the 3rd of June. I presume you will not be far from New York in any event, but as my principal reason for coming East at this time will be to see you, I want to be sure that there is no possibility of our missing each other.

Can you tell me where I will find the best account of Wrangell Island. I want to gather together as much reliable information as I can about the Island itself, and I also hope to have from you before I come

V. Stefansson, Esq. -3- May 10, 1922.

East an outline of the programme for development you think we would be wise in following during the next season. I presume among other things we will have to arrange for a ship of our own, and in view of the shortness of the season, it seems to me the quicker we can get our plans under way, the better.