The second piece of the puzzle begins in St. John's. In 1923, Leonard Earle, a business man in St. John’s, who had a small farm on the outskirts of the city, heard about some suitable farm land on the West Coast in the Humber Valley area. Wanting to get into farming full-time, he decided to visit the area and attempt to purchase some land. He discussed the acquisition of the land with the paper company officials, but the talks foundered when it was discovered that the company did not own the land. Thus, Earle was forced to return to his small farm in the city.