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The Seattle Post Intelligence, Seattle, WA., February 27, 1931, section 1, page 1

SAMUEL HILL DIES IN PORTLAND HOSPITAL
Relapse After Hard Battle Proves Fatal
Strong Rally During Afternoon Is But Short-Lived: Son Present When End Comes

Losing a valiant fight for life, Samuel Hill of Seattle, builder of roads and international friendships and intimate of royalty, died in a Portland hospital early last evening.
Suffering a relapse late in the afternoon after rallying strongly in the morning, the widely-known humanitarian and diplomat passed away at 6:38 p.m. He lapsed into semi-consciousness two hours before death.
As his bedside was his son, James Nathan Hill, whose arrival by airplane from New York Wednesday so cheered Hill that he said:
"I have won the fight."
W.F. Turner, president of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Company, long a close friend of the pioneer railroad builder, and Edgar N. Hill, a cousin, also were at Hill's side when he died.

To Lie In State

The body will lie in state from 3 to 4 o'clock this afternoon in the J.P. Finley and Son funeral chapel, Portland, before being brought to Seattle. Funeral arrangements will be announced after the body arrives here late tonight.
Hill's death culminated a battle for life that started February 9, when he was taken ill in Portland while on his way to Salem to address the Oregon legislature.
An urn containing his ashes is to be taken to Maryhill, Hill's castle overlooking the Columbia River.
In an effort to save his life, a major operation was performed last week. He was near death for several days following the operation. During the past few days, however, his tremendous vitality appeared to be carrying him past the danger point.
Death was attributed by physicians to an attack of intestinal influenza, followed by complications. He was seventy-four.

The Seattle Post Intelligence, Seattle, WA., February 27, 1931, section 1, page 5
Includes illustrations and portrait

HILL ACHIVED WIDE SUCCESS IN MANY ROLES
But He Was Friend Of Humanity Above All; Started As Poor Boy Piling Wood
By. R.B. Bermann

Samuel Hill's life was a perpetual contradiction of the adagethat a Jack of all trades is good at none. He tried his hand at nearly everything - and invariably with notable success. He was a lawyer, a road builder, a financier, a diplomat, a railway operator, a real estate dealer in the course of his crowded career - and in each of these he made his mark.
But it is as a friend of humanity that he will longest be remembered -- an unpaid public servant who gave bounteously of his genius and his energy for the common benefit of mankind.
Although of distinguished parentage - he was a direct descendant of the Samuel Hill who was Oliver Cromwell's treasurer, he spent his childhood in dire poverty and was in every sense a self-made man.
He was born in Deep River, N.C., on May 13, 1857. His father, Dr. Nathan Branson Hill, was a loyalist and was compelled to flee the state at the outbreak of the Civil War, thus losing all his property. He took his family to Minneapolis, but did not long survive, leading his son an orphan when the latter was only nine years old.
Young Hill had to go to work at that tender age. His first job was piling mill wood at 10 cents a load. Later he worked successively for a plumber, a painter, a farmer and a carpenter. This didn't leave him much time for study - but he overcame of all obstacles, and, while working for the geological survey of Pennsylvania, he was able to prepare himself for college.

ENTERS CORNELL

He first entered Cornell University, but transferred to Harverford College, his father's alma mater, from which he graduated in 1878. The next year he went to Amherst and then to Harvard University, getting his B.A. at the latter institution in 1879.
He returned to Minneapolis then, and, obtaining a clerical position in a law office, studied until he was admitted to the bar. At the same time he was carrying on real estate operations, from which he was able to save funds to enable him to go back to Harvard and take a law course. Later he was to be made a doctor of laws by Penn College of Iowa.
Returning to Minneapolis once more, he continued his real estate operations while he built up a law practice that soon won him an enviable reputation. Eventually he had attracted the attention of James J. Hill, the empire builder, who invited him to join his railroad's legal staff.

WITHOUT PAY

Characteristically, the young lawyer refused to accept a retainer - but he asked to be allowed to go to work without pay to learn railroading.
The railroad magnet consented - and young Hill learned so rapidly that he soon found himself president of the Montana Central Railroad. While working with James J. Hill he met the latter's daughter, and they were married September 6, 1888.
Hill's entrance into railroad work was the realization of an ambition he had had since a boy of eighteen.
While his main interest was in the law and road-building, he was virtually compelled to go into other businesses, and he served from 1888 until 1903 as president of the Minneapolis Trust Company. He had similar interests in Seattle somewhat later.
His genius received international recognition in 1916, when he was summoned to Russia to straighten out the hopelessly tangled traffic problem which was seriously interfering with war material shipments.
Four foreign nations decorated him. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor of France, a Commander of the Crown of Belgium, a member of the Queens Body Guard of Rumania and a member of the Order of the Sacred Treasure. He was also given medals of thanks by France and Rumania, and was officially thanked by the United States Senate and the Canadian government for his work in the interest of the international goodwill, as epitomized by the "Peace Portal" at Blaine which was erected as a result of his efforts.

ROAD ENTHUSIAST

President of four highway associations on the Pacific Coast and vice president of the American Road Builders' Association, he was credited with being a largely responsible for the establishment of several major highways.
Despite all these activities, he found time to travel widely and to become known as a patron of the arts. His magnificent Flemish castle at Maryhill, Wash., houses so many art treasures that he finally turned the whole estate into an international museum.
Hill was frequently entertained by royalty on his trips around the world, and numbered among his personal friends King Albert of Belgium and Queen Marie of Rumania.
The late Marshal Joffre visited Seattle as Hill's guest in 1922, and in 1926 the Seattle cosmopolitian played host to Queen Marie of Rumania, Princess Ilena and Prince Nicholas.
Hill was an overseer of Harvard University from 1900 to 1906; he had been a vice president of the Minneapolis Anthenaeum Library since 1880, he was honorary life president of the Washington Good Roads Association and he was a director of many corporations.

The Seattle Post Intelligence, Seattle, WA., March 1, 1931, page 12

HILL FUNERAL RITES TODAY

Friends in every walk of life will pay final tribute today to Samuel Hill, road builder and champion of international peace and friendships.
With the simple ceremonies of the Friends' Church, the services will be held at the Bonney-Watson chapel this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Frank Terrace, Orillia, will deliver the eulogy.
The body of Hill, who died at Portland Thursday, will be viewed by intimate friends at the Hill mansion, 814 East Highland Drive, from noon to 1 o'clock and later at the mortuary chapel from 2 to 3 o'clock this afternoon.
Among the flowers will be a wreath from the Belgian government in recognition of services as consul general for Belgium.
"In the passing of Samuel Hill, an outstanding figure and personality in the upbuilding of the Northwest, we have suffered a distinct loss." Mayor Frank Edwards declared in a statement yesterday.