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April 2, 1953The Honorable George McGhee, American Ambassador, Ankara, Turkey.
My dear Mr. Ambassador:
Dr. Rainey tells me that between Rodney Young and you they have been able to make a deal with the Turkish Government to exchange works of antiquity found in excavations in Turkey for objects of art that the University Museum has acquired from other parts of the world, thus making it possible to share to a reasonable extent in interesting objects that we may find at Gordian and other places at Turkey.
Rodney Young also tells me that he has discussed with you the possibilities of exploring the great tumuli at Gordian which we all believe, or at least hope, to be the tomb of King Midas.
After our visit to Gordian last year, I discussed this problem with the geophysical department of our company thinking that we could probably locate the actual tomb chamber in this great pile of earth through some electrical resistance methods. Dr. Pearson, who unfortunately has died since this conversation, was of the opinion that the equipment used by the geophysicists in the locating of salt domes, etc. would not be suitable for the locating of such a small mass, and it is his opinion that we probably could locate this chamber more simply by using small core drills of the type used in the oil fields for placing shots. The height of the mound is only about 170 feet and since the tomb is probably on the ground level it would not be a very difficult matter to drill a series of test holes that should definitely locate the tomb chamber and once this is done it would be a comparatively simple matter to run a shaft either down from the top or tunnel in from the side.
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