Letter from Ralph Lomen to Allan R. Crawford, 19 August 1922

The arrival of the schooner "Teddy Bear"
and her crew will evidence the fact that we have been
assisting Mr. Stefansson in sending the ship to bring
out your party.

Our first communication with Mr. Stefansson
was only a matter of a few days ago and since then we have
been negotiating with small schooners, and only a few days
ago signed a charter with Mr. Joe Bernard, of the schooner
"Teddy Bear".

Since informing Mr. Stefansson of our
action, he has requested us to send for the relief party
that spent the past winter on the Island. You will notice
from the attached correspondence that he is desirous of
one or more of your party remaining another season in
command of the expedition which we are sending. I am
sending you a complete file of the correspondence which
we have had. You will observe that there is a great deal
of latitude left to us, and we have exercised our best
judgment, and in some instances accepted the best that was
available. It is rather difficult to furnish supplies to
an expedition of this nature, not knowing what you might
have on hand. Those whom we are sending seem to have but
little of their own and it is necessary to furnish them
with rather complete outfits. We have aimed to keep down
the expense, but we hope that what we are sending, together
with what you have left, will be sufficient to make up a
good outfit.

It is our understanding that you have
with you a great deal of ammunition and plenty of guns.
If this is true, we are rather fortunate, as guns are a
scarce article in this camp at this time. Our men have
their own guns, and we have purchased ammunition, to make
certain that they would have ammunition to fit their guns.
We assume that you have a number of guns which you will
leave with your successors?

One of the men, Mr. Fridolff Hogglund,
is taking with him several dogs. We recall that you
took with you Louis Erickson's dog team. However, no
doubt this new blood will be acceptable, and they should
be self-supporting.

I have explained to the men that they are
to accept orders from you, and that in the event your
party are all returning, one of them will be placed in
command and held responsible.

Billy Patch, the Eskimo which we are sending,
is a good man. His wife is a very good sewer. We are
sending with her reindeer skins, sinew, drilling, thread,
et cetera, and she should keep the outfits in repair for
all the men.

With regard to fur clothing, et cetera, I
would suggest that you leave behind all clothing which
you can spare.

I am sending you duplicates of all invoices.
All goods have been purchased on this market, subject to
return. I request that you go over the invoices carefully
and only retain such goods as you consider will be of material
benefit. During our rush in outfitting we may have made
some mistakes. You will have the opportunity to correct
them.

We are sending one sack of U. S. mail, which
is an accumulation of the winter. Part of this mail was
sent in care of Mr. R. W. J. Reed, Customs Collector, and
he delivered it to us today. The balance had been turned
over to us by the Post Office.

I am also enclosing copies of all contracts
with the men and the charter with Mr. Joe Bernard.

Joe Bernard is taking a considerable quantity
of trading goods with him on speculation. You will notice
by Mr. Stefansson's instructions that you are authorized to
purchase supplies from him.

Mr. Scarborough is a passenger on this boat,
and I would be very glad if you would assist him in securing
pictures which will have a news value, especially motion
pictures.

I regret very much that I am unable
to accompany the "Teddy Bear", as Wrangel Island has
a fascination for me.

We will be glad to welcome you back in
Nome, and sincerely hope that the past winter has been
kind in all respects to the entire party.

Assuring you of my best wishes, I remain