National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

GEORG SÖDERBOM IN CHICAGO

Meantime, GEORG SÖDERBOM arrived on November 15th from Peking. He had come to America to undergo a course of training at the Moody Bible Institute. In his leisure hours he was to have charge of the temple, and supervise the sale of the guide-book that MONTELL and I had written.

As SÖDERBOM was an expert mechanic and had a wide experience of travelling by car in Mongolia, I had long conferences with him about the motor-expedition to the interior of Asia that I had for a long time been revolving in my mind. He suggested having a little car-column, say four cars, including one Ford one and a half ton truck and three lighter cars. The route he suggested was Edsen-gol — Suchow — Anhsi — Tun-huang — new Lop-nor, which I found excellent. He did not think, however, that we could be ready to start before the following autumn. I tried to find someone in Chicago who might finance this plan to go over the Silk Road with cars, but I cannot say that I met with any success. We also projected a car-journey right across Asia and Europe; and in this BENDIX was very interested.

LEAVING CHICAGO

When the temple was completed and SÖDERBOM installed to look after my interests, it was time for me to return to Peking to be nearer the real field of work of the expedition and finally to wind it up, for our contract with the Chinese expired on May 9th, 1933.

Just before leaving Chicago I received the first letter with the expedition's own stamps. One could scarcely say that they were very beautiful, and the picture was much too jumbled for justice to be done to the details. Still, the esthetic point of view is often not decisive for the philatelist. See Plate 56.

On December 19th I took the west-bound train from Chicago; and the day before Christmas Eve I stepped on board the »President Garfield » and glided out through the Golden Gate. America faded from sight, and before me stretched the Pacific Ocean.

The extension of the work of the expedition constituted by the Chicago temple may herewith be considered as a closed chapter.

192