To Charles Kelly, July 29, 1950

This context for this letter is best set in This Month in Olson History, July 1950. But it also shows the variety of public relations activities Sigurd pursued on a regular basis in order to gain favorable publicity for the Quetico-Superior wilderness that could lead to greater wilderness protection. Charles Kelly, President of the President's Quetico-Superior Committee, was, along with his law partner Frank Hubachek, Sigurd's boss on QS matters.

Dear Charley:

The Canadian Canoe Trip is over and I feel it was a real success. Fred Bodsworth will soon have an article prepared for Maclean's magazine, possibly a series if things work out. He is completely sold on the QS program and has all the information plus first-hand experience he needs to do a good job. He will submit the story in rough to me for checking.

John Mitchele, Exec. Secr. of Anglers and Hunters of Toronto will be a crusader from now on. I am confident that he will be influential in swinging that organization and its powerful affiliate Ontario Anglers and Hunters into support.

Dr. Carl Atwood [note: father of later-to-be-famous Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood] whose support we were already sure of after seeing the area is convinced more than ever that it is worth fighting for.

Peter Fessenden, who I felt originally was somewhat skeptical as to the Quetico area's recreational possibilities is already planning another expedition. I don't believe in all of his travels he ever enjoyed such good fishing, or had such a good time.

I feel that this first all-Canadian trip will be the forerunner of many others which will bring to the attention of Canadians the real values of the Quetico. Carl Atwood is checking with people in Fort Frances and Kenora and along the CPR possibilities of additions to the Canadian Committee [he refers to the Canadian Quetico-Superior Committee, which advocated from a Canadian perspective the establishment of an international treaty to manage the wilderness on both sides of the border of the Rainy Lake Watershed in Ontario and Minnesota]. Fred Bodsworth will accompany him. They have a complete list of contacts. I wonder if it would not be a good plan to have him on the Canadian QS Committee. He certainly knows the problem and the area, is enthusiastic and will work.

At Hub's yesterday [Frank Hubachek] I met Pat Fallinsbee, writer for Esquire and Coronet, who through Grant Halladay had contacted Hub and received an invitation to come up [to Hubachek's retreat on Basswood Lake]. He left today with the rest, is going to do a story in the near future. I worked with him on possible slants and methods of new approach and think he went away with some ideas. We will hear from him and he wants to come back for a canoe trip as soon as his duties permit. He was exposed to the enthusiastic accounts of the Canadian group, in fact met us when we came out of the bush Thursday night. I feel Hub made a mighty fine contact by encouraging him to come up.

Grace Nute [who would write several books about the canoe country's history] from the Minnesota Historical Society, a Mr. King, librarian and a Mr. Whitehead on the staff stayed with me last night and went up to Hub's this morning to spend the weekend. Last night I took them all to a Finnish Boarding house and tonight at Hub's they will enjoy a sauna. Grace is in the midst of her new book, "Iron Land," or "Iron Country," an account of the nationalities that comprise the Range. We talked until late last night.

This noon upon our return to Ely, Bill Trygg [of the U.S. Forest Service district office in Ely] gave me the news that Leithold Airways had received a cancellation of their permit to fly into the Quetico, date, July 27th. Parties still in the push will be allowed transportation out but as I understand it, the permit system is through. Dr. Atwood, who was instrumental in having Harold Walker appear before the legislative Fish and Game Committee in Toronto last spring believes that his appearance there had something to do with it as the request to Ottawa presumably came from the Legislative Fish and Game Committee in Toronto. There may be other angles too. Frank McDougal, Deputy Minister of Lands and Forests, in an interview with Fred Bodsworth before the canoe trip intimated that something would have been done. No doubt the activity of the Canadian QS Committee generally, the accomplishment of the Air Space Reservation [seven months earlier President Truman signed an executive order banning flying into the American portion of the canoe country wilderness], the general feeling all over Canada that controls should be enacted in the QS and other places contributed. Someday we will know the score, but the important thing is that Quetico flying will end swiftly from this side. [In reality, it would take five years and a lot of sweat and toil before Ontario established an airspace reservation over Quetico Park.]

This order, together with the order by the Dept. of Lands and Forests ordering all resort boats out of the Quetico may indicate a trend toward the ideals of the QS program and the preservation of the wilderness interiors. Even though the Dept. has not committed itself openly, certainly these two actions speak louder than words.

I have had a rough homecoming. Thursday night I was informed that a dear friend had died and that I was to be a pall bearer Friday. Friday morning I was informed of a death in my family with a funeral tomorrow at Hayward, Wisconsin. Friday noon, a close friend in Ely, Wilson Carlson, died of a heart attack, funeral Monday. Three in a row is pretty bad. I will be in Ely next week, preliminary to my trip to Washington. Do you want me to come via Chicago for a conference? [Kelly's and Hubachek's law office was in Chicago.] Will route my trip that way if you think it advisable.

One final thought - the Canadian airban will have a decidedly good effect on our negotiations for the border resorts. This fall should be the time to deal, the sooner the better.