George M. Hill

Notable work and positions

Weekly Fairbanks News (predecessor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner) - Founder

Biography

George M. Hill was an itinerant printer who founded the first newspaper in Fairbanks, Alaska. After working in Dawson City during the Klondike gold rush era, Hill packed a small printing press, likely a Washington Hand Press or an 'Army' press designed for transport by pack animal, and traveled to the newly established Fairbanks settlement in early 1903. On September 19, 1903, he printed the first issue of the Weekly Fairbanks News, the town's first newspaper, a ten-page publication selling for $0.25 per copy or $10 for a year's subscription. In May 1904, Hill sold the paper to R.J. McChesney, who invested in a Linotype machine and larger press and expanded publication to semi-weekly and then daily as Fairbanks grew into a boom town. The paper went through further ownership changes, becoming the Fairbanks Daily News in 1905 and eventually merging with the Tanana Miner in 1909 to become the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the newspaper that continues publishing today as Alaska's oldest continuously operating daily.

Career highlights

• Founded the Weekly Fairbanks News September 19, 1903 · Fairbanks' first newspaper, printed on a press hauled from Dawson City; its lineage continues today as the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.