Frederick A Cook

On December 21, 1909, the Danish Commission concluded that the evidence submitted by Dr. Cook was not sufficient to prove that he had reached the North Pole. This was a great blow to Dr. Cook, particularly when combined with the bad press regarding his claim to Mt. McKinley. Dr. Cook continued to defend his claims however, forming the Polar Publishing Company in 1911, primarily to publish his My Attainment of the Pole. He toured to promote the book and present his case, including several trips to Europe. In 1915-1916 he took a tour around the world.

By 1917, Dr. Cook was back in the United States, and was hired by New York Oil as a prospector based on his knowledge of geology. Eventually, he became president of Texas Eagle Oil Company. Unfortunately, a slump in the oil industry forced the company out of business in 1920. It was then that Cook formed the Petroleum Producers Association, which became one of the largest employers in Texas. This success was not to last; in 1923, Cook was accused and indicted of mail fraud in relation to his oil business. In Dr. Cook’s memoir he describes this as “the greatest tragedy of my life – that of being a Federal Prisoner for six years and three months, sixteen months in the county jail at Fort Worth, Texas, four years and eleven months at Leavenworth.”22 During his time in Leavenworth, Cook served as physician in the hospital, as well as editor of the prison newspaper, New Era. Dr. Cook used New Era as a vehicle to publish articles on a variety of topics, many having to do with his ideas on human behavior and motivation.

After his release from prison in 1930, Cook went to work on his memoirs and led a relatively quiet life until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1940. Cook received a pardon from President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his mail fraud conviction shortly before his death. Dr. Cook held steadfastly to his claims to both the summit of Mt. McKinley and the North Pole throughout his life.

In 1940, shortly before his death, the Cook Arctic Club was formed by Dr. Cook’s close friend and Mount McKinley Expedition mate, Ralph Shainwald von Ahlfeldt, with the stated purpose of promoting recognition of Dr. Cook’s discovery of the North Pole. This first attempt at an organization devoted to Dr. Cook and his discoveries proved short lived. In 1956, Dr. Cook’s daughter, Helene Cook Vetter and others formed the Dr. Frederick A. Cook Society and in 1975, the group was again reorganized as the Frederick A. Cook Society, with the stated purpose, “to gain official recognition for the scientific and geographic accomplishments of Dr. Frederick A. Cook.”