The Nugget was a feisty little newspaper in Dawson City, and the excerpts collected here provide vivid glimpses of what life was really like at the height of the gold rush.

Ian Macdonald was born and educated in Glasgow and worked for several years on Scottish newspapers before moving to Canada. He was a reporter in Ontario and Alberta before finding his way to the West Coast where he worked on the Victoria Colonist, the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun. He was Ottawa correspondent for the Sun for five years before becoming press officer for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He made an award-winning documentary film, and then turned seriously to the writing of history. Betty O'Keefe was born in Vancouver and wrote for the Province newspaper for several years. She then moved into the field of public relations as a consultant and later as supervisor of communications for a large Canadian corporation. In 1988 she opened her own communications company, but decided that her real interest was in writing history. Together, Betty O’Keefe and Ian Macdonald have co-authored a dozen books.

Ian Macdonald's profile page

Betty O'Keefe was a Vancouver Province reporter for seven years in the 1950s, working as childrenís columnist, features writer and church editor. She then worked in corporate communications for 15 years and was commissioned to write two corporate biographiesóBrenda: The Story of a Mine and The Mines of Babine Lake. Betty was the first woman to head the public-relations committee for the Mining Association of BC and the first woman to chair the information department of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association.

Betty O'Keefe's profile page