Helmer Samuelson (1908 – 1973)

Helmer Samuelson was born in Granville, Yukon to mining parents Martin & Joanna Samuelson. He worked part time as a printer's devil for the Dawson News in 1922 while he was still at school. He graduated in 1924 and signed on with the paper full time. Samuelson enlisted for service in the Second World War, and the newspaper owner, Harold Malstrom, promised he would sell him the paper for a dollar when he returned. Samuelson returned in 1946 and bought the paper, which at that time was a four-page weekly. The Dawson News came to an end in 1953 after a fire. In 1954, Harry Boyle became the owner of a Whitehorse newspaper. He bought some of the equipment from Dawson and Samuelson came with it. He worked in Whitehorse as a linotype operator and worked up to a photo typesetter. He was a diabetic. When he dropped hot lead on his leg it didn't heal, and the leg was amputated. A small cut on his other foot, soon after that, meant the amputation of the other leg. He went to live in the Norman Macaulay Lodge and died of cancer at age sixty-four.¹⁾