James F. Cook (d. 1940)
In 1939, James F. Cook applied for a trading post operating permit for Ross Lakes, at the headwaters of the Ross River. He was to manage his new post at the outlet to Sheldon Lake while his brother Les (a pilot for Northern Airways) would fly in supplies when needed. Art John (Ross River) says Cook tore down what was left of Keele's old cabins and used the logs to construct one of his buildings across the creek. James spent his first winter there trapping and then opened the post. Before he could do any business, he fatally wounded himself while adjusting a gun-set trap intended for a bear. Art John and others arrived at the post shortly after his death and assisted his wife to Ross River. Les Cook began running Mount Sheldon Trading Post after his brother's death and took on a new partner. About a year before Les Cook's death in the early 1940s, he sold the post to Taylor and Drury who ran it for a year when the North Canol Pipeline went through. The post continued to run for about three years after the closing of the Canol Road in 1945 but the high cost of airlifting goods in and out closed it permanently.1)