Fred “Digger” Cook
Fred Cook was born in Saskatchewan and came to the Yukon to work on the Alaska Highway construction.1) Fred and Jean Cook moved to Dawson and became active in the town. Fred was elected to the Dawson Council and he ran again in the 1958 election.2)
Fred and Jean started their own business in 1949 when they bought a taxi concession from a Dawson operator. They were the first to receive an open operating licence permitting them to carry people and goods around the territory. Fred did the driving and Jean looked after the office and raised their two children, Jim and Beatrice. They bought a 20-person bus to transport the seasonal miners and transported a 400-person work force to and from the dredge camps. The same bus was used as a school bus. Fred travelled the Granville loop once a week. Hauling freight and men was an all-day trip. They also took visitors off the sternwheelers and ran tours. They went 112 km up the Dempster Highway, and on the winter roads near Old Crow. Fred was one of the first to travel the Alaska Highway as he was in Edmonton getting a new vehicle when he heard the road was open. 3)
In 1969, the Cooks were living on the top floor of a Dawson building. The main floor was their office where they were also agents for the Canadian Pacific, and their garage was next door. A fire that year destroyed everything the couple had except two vehicles they managed to save. Their son was going to high school in Whitehorse and so they started over there. The company was running again by 1972. The couple retired in 1979 and in 2003 they were living at Marsh Lake. Fred Cook and Jean Cook were inducted into the Transportation Hall of Fame as the 2003 Transportation Persons of the Year.4)
Fred Cook’s stories are published in The Yukoner Magazine.5)