Why Crawford Joins the Stefansson Expedition
From the contents of Allan Crawford's letters, the Arctic expedition drew Crawford's attention with its promising source of New-World wealth, opportunity to be an early investor, and experience that engages his previous studies.
Crawford was nominated by Sir Robert Falconer, President of Toronto University, upon request by Stefansson to find a Canadian citizen willing to lead the expedition.
In his letter (Letter from Allan Crawford to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 11 April 1921) to Stefansson in August 1921 after his nomination, Crawford demonstrates his interest in the expedition. He fashions himself as of "above average" health and cites his involvement in the Officers Training Corps in Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, the First Edward Blake Scholarship in Science, and his coursework in "geology, palaeontology, chemistry and mineralogy." Indeed, he intended to be responsible for mapping in the party, as indicated in a letter to Stefansson. Additionally, just the act of writing the letter shows how interested he is; it was unnecessary as Falconer already submitted the nomination.
On the left is a photo of 20-year old Crawford.
In his letter to his mother Helena (Letter from Allan Crawford to Helen Crawford, 18 August 1921), we discover that Crawford invested $500 in 1921, which is equivalent to $8,615 now. This enormous sum is akin to a small angel investor contribution. He directly gives two reasons for this investment, which was also unnecessary to join the expedition and purely for his own interest. He writes:
(1) I am convinced that Stefansson now and for some time to come is the big man of the north this identifies me with his interests.
For his second (2) reason, Crawford writes from the perspective of a Canadian that had witnessed the boom of other extractive industries that capitalized on colonialism: "the great fortunes were made from minerals, railways, + the exploration of what land," and that a similar future can be seen for the "reindeer meat industry" since cattle ranching was declining in profitability.
Though Crawford presented a strong front in this letter to his mother, a previous letter sent by Letter from Vilhjalmur Stefansson to Alfred J. T. Taylor, from 3 July 1921 indicated that Crawford had previous reservations:
Crawford has this idea - that being a limited Company we might fail while he is gone and he get no wages... He wants some responsible person to sign a guarantee that if the company fails he will nevertheless get paid.
These reservations, however, seemed to disappear, as seen by his August letter to his mother. Additionally, Crawford's confidence seems to further increase as he writes to Stefansson in September (Letter from Allan Crawford to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 18 August 1921) on his way to Arctic asking for
an option on [shares] say at 10% or anything agreeable to you... The idea is that I pay one hundred dollars and the balance nine hundred if I take the shares.
Perhaps due to the nature of embarking on the expedition, Crawford's confidence in the wealth prospects of the expedition while leveraging his university skillset seemed to fuel his journey to the Arctic.
Works Cited
Letter from Allan Crawford to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 11 April 1921
Letter from Vilhjalmur Stefansson to Alfred J. T. Taylor, 3 July 1921
Letter from Allan Crawford to Helen Crawford, 18 August 1921
Letter from Allan Crawford to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 18 August 1921