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The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., February 26, 1931, page 1

SAMUEL HILL RESTING EASILY IN HOSPITAL

Many hearts and minds in this community have been anxiously lingering around a bed at St. Vincents hospital, Portland, where Samuel Hill is making a heroic fight for his life. His condition has been so serious that his death has been hourly expected. His only son was appraised of his condition and was racing in an airplane to reach his father's bedside.
Mr. Hill is the pioneer good roads builder of the Northwest. He built the first modern highway in this county and was responsible in a large measure for the Columbia River highway, one of the scenic spots of the world. He is one who dreamed dreams and made his dreams come true.
This morning's Oregon Journal had the following to say: "The condition of Samuel Hill yesterday was such it was believed he has a fighting chance to recover. He was able to take nourishment for the first time in several days and his will to live continues strong. To a friend he said: 'I have won the fight.' He was much cheered yesterday by the arrival of his son, James Nathan Hill, from New York.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., March 5, 1931, page 1
Includes portrait

DEATH SENDS SUMMONS TO SAMUEL HILL

Samuel Hill, the 74-year old railway magnete who began his spectacular career as an unpaid employee of "Empire Builder," James J. Hill, died in Portland last Thursday evening after an illness of two weeks.
Death followed an operation for intestinal disorders. The condition of the capitalist and "good roads" enthusiast was critical for several days, but a cancerous condition made improvement impossible.
Amid a profusion of flowers, simple rites for Samuel Hill, road builder and friends of kings, were held in the Bonney-Watson chapel, Seattle, Sunday afternoon. Mourners from all walks of life came to pay their final respects. For Samuel Hill's friends were made among men who labored on the projects he sponsored, as well as in the high places of his own country and the royal courts of Europe.
All who came could not be accommodated in the chapel nor in the foyer and many waited outside until the services were concluded.
"His monuments are of cement stretching over miles and miles of roads he pleaded for," said Frank Terrace, an old friend of the road builder, in a eulogy.
Among floral offerings were those from the consulates of Japan and Belgium. Premiere and Mrs. S.F. Tolmie, of British Columbia, Governor Hartley, Mayor Frank Edwards, the Washington State Highway Patrol and friends and neighbors at Goldendale.
Samuel Hill was a cosmopolite, friend to royalty, indefatigable worker for peace, an eccentric, and a visionary -- far beyond his times.
The world will remember Samuel Hill as the son-in-law of James J. Hill, the "Empire Builder," the eccentric citizen of the world, the friend of Queen Marie of Roumania and King Albert of Belgium, the holder of many foreign orders -- but the Pacific northwest will remember Sam Hill as the man who dreamed great dreams of roads; roads of scenic beauty and of material utility.
Samuel Hill's dreams of "good roads" - an almost unheard of term at that time - were engendered when he was a figure in the railroad world and saw that roads must be built to bring people and goods to the railroads. His first efforts, along in the '90s, were scoffed at, as "just another one of Sam Hill's funny ideas." But Samuel Hill lived to see most of his dreams come true - the Pacific highway stretching in one long ribbon from Blaine, Wash., on the Canadian border, to San Diego on the south; the Columbia River from The Dalles to the sea; the Evergreen highway across their river in Washington from the Columbia River in Oregon; and the hundreds of lesser roads wending there paved networks throughout the Pacific northwest.
The man who later claimed the whole world as his home was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, May 13, 1857. His family moved to Minneapolis in his early youth and young Hill started life piling wood at 10¢ a load. He attended Cornell University, Harverford college, Amherst and Harvard, receiving his A.B. degree from the last. He later attended Harvard law school and practiced law in Minneapolis where he specialized in cases against the railroads.
This practice was so successful that James J. Hill invited him to join the legal staff of the Great Northern. Samuel Hill refused but told the "Empire Builder" that he would go to work for him for nothing to learn the railroad business. Jim Hill accepted this offer and made Samuel Hill president of the Montana Central and other railroads.
Samuel Hill later became more closely associated with the "Empire Builder" when he was married to James J. Hill's daughter, Mary Hill. Mrs. Hill and their two children, Mary Mendenhall Hill and James Nathan Hill, are still living.
Retiring from the railroad business in the late '90s, Samuel Hill moved to Seattle, where he became the president of the Seattle Gas company and brought its affairs out of chaos. There and then began the campaign for the fulfillment of his dream of good roads. Gathering a few progressive men and whom he later referred to as the "old guard" about him, he succeeded in the organization of a state highway system. Politicians soon interfered and he stepped out of the picture and went to Portland.
In Oregon he received a hearty welcome. The then governor, Oswald West, said to him "You are just the man we want. God sent you." Portland responded to Mr. Hill' visions of modern, wide highways with banked turns and easy grades.
During his residence in Washington Hill purchased a tract of land on the bluff overlooking the Columbia River. He named the place Maryhill, and there he had constructed a number of different types of modern highways. In 1913 he chartered a special train and took a number of legislators to Maryhill. On that visit was born the Oregon highway commission. Henry L. Bowlby, who had been associated with Hill, was appointed state highway commissioner, and on a day in September that year at a luncheon that at Chanticleer inn on the Oregon bluffs overlooking the most beautiful stretch of the Columbia gorge, Hill persuaded a group of Portland men to start of the now famed Columbia River highway.
A few years later Hill thought politicians were interfering with his work and he dropped out of the picture as he had previously in Washington.
However, he never lost interest in "his" highways. On the international boundary at Blaine, Wash. he erected as his own expense what he termed a "peace portal" to commemorate 100 years of peace between Great Britain and the United States. He had been reared a Quaker and always lived and worked for peace.
Another of his later acts, which received wide recognition was the dedication of the never-finished mansion at Maryhill which he intended as a museum for historical articles from all over the world. Queen Marie of Roumania dedicated the "Roumanian room" in this huge structure when she visited the United States a few years ago, and was the guest of Hill.
Hill also presided at the dedication of the link in the Pacific highway which was closed when the interstate bridge was built from Portland to Vancouver, Wash., across the Columbia. Marshal Jeffre of France dedicated the bridge.
Physically large, handsome and of commanding presence, in his mental makeup there was a blending of great and small. In some respects he never lost the attributes of childhood.
Imperious and impatient of contradiction, pretentious, egotistical, he was, and vainglorious; yet at times realistic; sentimental one moment, cold and unsympathetic the next. In the drama of life he assumed the center of the stage and directed the play, or withdrew from the cast.
Those who understood him recognized the sincerity of his desire to aid his fellow man, which was so often veiled by the screen of self glorification.
"Where do you want to be buried?" he was asked one day.
"Standing on the bluff in front of my place at Maryhill," he said, "and looking down the canyon of the Columbia, you will see a mass of jagged rocks, nature's great upheaval. Here on the bluff in time to come I hope there will be over my ashes a bronze tablet bearing this inscription:
"'Samuel Hill, amid nature's unrest, he sought rest.'"
Mr. Hill sponsored and erected the replica of Stonehenge at Maryhill, as a memorial to the soldier dead of Klickitat county of the World War. This is one of the interesting monuments of the state, and is located near the tomb of which he had previously erected as the last resting place for his ashes.
Samuel Hill's castle-museum, is a rectagonal of concrete standing on a shelf on the north bank of the Columbia River. It is a 600 or 800 feet above the water and about 11 miles from Goldendale.
Many rumors continued for years that Hill had built it originally to entertain King Albert of Belgium, but Hill explicitly said prior to the dedication of the Roumanian room by Queen Marie of Roumania, in 1926, it was intended as an international museum of fine arts.
Concrete driveways lead to huge ….. the rest of the article is missing.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., March 5, 1931, page 1

In Memory of our Friend, The Hon. Samuel Hill

In the death of the Hon. Samuel Hill, February 26, 1931, Klickitat county lost its most distinguished citizen. He was a self-made man. Beginning as a common laborer, he rose to distinction as an engineer, attorney, railroad builder, head of large business organizations, and last but not least, the pioneer builder of modern highways in the great northwest, the first of which was constructed in Klickitat county on the Maryhill-Goldendale road.
He was the friend and companion of not only the great men and rulers of the world but also had the love and affection of thousands who trod the lower paths of life.
His work was unfinished and his brethren mourn. To those of us remaining it should be our desire and purpose to complete that task which he has so notably begun and the consumption of which during his lifetime was frustrated by his untimely death. The bridge at Maryhill to span the mighty Columbia and thereby connect the great highways running north and south between Mexico and Alaska and on into the southern hemisphere, and the Columbia River and the Evergreen highways east and west, is a dream of his as yet to become a reality.
Let us know highly resolve that his vision shall not have been in vain; that this uncompleted task of that departed shall become an actual apparition; that this great bridge when completed shall be dedicated as a fitting a monument to the departed, -- a memorium to the unselfish devotion of a mighty heart whose every pulse beat was for that happiness and betterment of mankind.
'Tis entirely proper and fitting that his ashes rest amid the granite stones of Klickitat county overlooking these great highways and the bridge of his dreams which future generations yet unborn will travel over and read in history pages of Samuel Hill, the highway builder, who freely gave that mankind might enjoy life more abundantly.
From this life of sacrifice in labor and wealth so freely given may we learn that true happiness comes from serving others; in strewing the path of life with flowers of love; and thus may we, like the departed, when we reach the other shore press boldly forward, our hands filled with deeds of charity, the golden keys that open the palace of eternity. Until then, dear friend, farewell.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., October 1, 1931, page 1

ASHES OF SAMUEL HILL PUT IN TOMB AT MARYHILL

The ashes of Samuel Hill, the 74 year-old railroad magnate, who began his spectacular career as an unpaid employee of the "Empire Builder" J.J. Hill, were deposited in their last resting place at Maryhill Monday.
Without any ceremony the last simple rites of the man who was a friend of Kings and Queens were performed. The man who dreamed great dreams of connecting all parts of the world through his visions of good roads and lived to see his dreams come true. One of his later acts was the dedication of the never finished mansion at Maryhill, which Queen Marie of Romania dedicated, when she visited the United States as the guest of Mr. Hill.
"Where do you want to be buried?" He was asked one day. "Standing on the bluff in front of my place at Maryhill," he said, "and looking down the canyon of the canyon of the Columbia, you will see a mass of ragged rocks, nature's great upheaval. Here at the bluff in time to come I hope there will be over my ashes a bronze tablet bearing this inscription: "Samuel Hill, amid nature's unrest, he sought rest."
The ashes were accompanied by Edgar Hill, a cousin, from Seattle.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., October 3, 1935, page 1

MONUMENT FOR SAM HILL TO BE ERECTED BY HIGHWAY ASS'N.
Decided At The Meeting
R.D. Sunderland Is Member Of Committee To Select Site And Type Of Monument To Mr. Hill

R.D. Sunderland, who attended the Washington State Good Roads Association convention at Yakima last Friday and Saturday, was one of a committee of three appointed to arrange a suitable memorial for the late Samuel Hill. Former President John Hartman, of the association, and Frank Terrace, of Orillia, for many years a close friend of Mr. Hill, are the other members of this committee. At present they would like to get some local ideas as to the location of this memorial on the highway, as well as suggestions as to what sort of a marker it shall be.
There is already a fountain on the Goldendale-Maryhill road, dedicated by local friends and neighbors, and another such fountain at an advantageous place would be desirable.
There was a good turn-out out to the meeting, and a number of important resolutions were adopted. The continuation of the Code Committee was desired, as was cooperation with other organizations to prevent diversion of motor vehicle funds, the association also favoring the addition of a reasonable amount of mileage to the state primary highway system to shorten distances between important points in this state and to secure a better distribution of traffic.
An account of the minutes will appear next week.