George M. Allen (d. 1935)
George Allen was raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington. He travelled north with his brother Gene Allen and Zach Hickman to set up the Klondike Nugget newspaper.1) According to author Pierre Burton, the Nugget was Dawson’s first newspaper as Allen borrowed a typewriter to produce the first issue on 27 May 1898. G. B. Swinehart’s eight-page Yukon Midnight Sun was published on a proper printing press on 11 June 1898. The Nugget’s plant was a small army press and it, plus a ton of paper, reached Dawson on 10 June 1898. The first printed paper was published on 16 June, and it became a semi-weekly on it third issue. The Nugget became the champion of the mostly American citizens who felt oppressed by Canadian officialdom. George took over the newspaper from Gene in 1899 and ran it until its demise in 1903. Without a goodbye, Allen announced that the Daily Klondike Nugget and the Semi-Weekly Nugget with its plant, stock and fixtures had been sold to the Record Publishing Company. The last issue was dated 14 July 1903. The editor of the Dawson Daily News paid tribute to Allen, saying the Nugget had never avoided a fight. Allen was bankrupt when he left Dawson.2)
George Allen was the publisher of the Toppenish Review at his death in 1935. He was survived by his wife and four children.3)