Sunset (magazine)/Volume 31/A National Road-Builder
A National Road-Builder
"Gentlemen, a toast to Sam Hill!"
There was a moment's confusion as a hundred representative citizens of the state of Oregon arose to their feet to respond. Then some one with a gift of song started "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow," and Sam Hill's eyes twinkled and his jolly face lit up with genuine happiness. The "Testimonial Dinner" was a "Sam Hill" banquet arranged by business men who wished to present the "Father of good roads in America" with a loving-cup as an earnest that his labor to create a definite and productive sentiment favorable to better built highways had not been unnoticed and unappreciated.
Tucked away somewhere in Mr. Hill's belongings, the ink still wet upon the paper, was a copy of Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 13, of the Twenty-Seventh Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, which tenders a vote of thanks to a private citizen of Oregon, namely Samuel Hill, "For a pleasant and profitable time . . . as his guests and for the royal manner in which they had been entertained" et cetera, and which winds up with "a testimonial of the appreciation of this Legislative Assembly of the unselfish work that is being done by Mr. Hill in the cause of good roads."
Sam Hill had a right to smile indulgently and to feel a bit gratified, for seldom does a man in the public eye receive a unanimous vote of approval for his good works. The banqueters bestowed upon him the title "Oregon's Friend." It might well have been broadened to "The Nation's Friend."
Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 13 is a reminder of the unique entertainment of a state's assembly by a man with an unselfish interest to exploit. It perpetuates a lesson to lawmakers in road-building. The Oregon legislature was in session in February last. At the fall election the people, confused by a multiplicity of good-roads measures, defeated all of them. The state was sadly in need of legislation that would permit the levying of necessary taxes for highway improvement. The people, after the election, realized their mistake and hoped for favorable legislative action. The good—roads enthusiasts were downcast. But not so Samuel Hill, chief exponent of good roads. Never for one moment after the decisive defeat of the good-roads measures at the fall election did he lay down. He merely shrugged his shoulders and remarked "that they were confused." There was much wrangling over proposed measures in the legislative body. Mr. Hill feared that the outcome would be but another set-back to the cause. He determined to impress every lawmaker with the advantages of honestly built highways. He invited the entire assembly to be his guests for one day.
Eighty-eight gathered at the office of the Home Telephone Company in Portland, and from there took train for Maryhill, across the Columbia and up state in Washington to Klickitat county. The train was chartered by Mr. Hill. His favorite chef was given carte blanche to fill the buffet car, and the chef asked for no further orders. He took the instructions literally. The guests included state senators, representatives, prominent citizens of Oregon and Washington, and newspaper men. Governor Ernest Lister of Washington was present in person and Governor West of Oregon was represented by George F. Rodgers of Salem. Along the route Mr. Hill pointed out what 
he considers the world's blue-ribbon scenery, and here and there the work of road gangs on stretches of the Columbia river highway. At Maryhill Mr. Hill talked and talked and proudly displayed his seven varieties of highways, constructed at a personal expenditure of over $100,000, from Maryhill to the Columbia river, demonstration highways built to satisfy a whim and to prove the value of an enthusiast's deductions. Oregon's lawmakers were convinced. The state now has one of the most effective good-roads acts of any state in the Union.
Mr. Hill is one of the highest authorities in the United States on the subject of permanent road construction. It has been more than a hobby with him. It is on obsession. For years he has been traveling here, there and everywhere, studying highway construction, figuring out high transportation taxes voluntarily assumed by farmers. He has crossed the seas several times to continue his studies in England and Germany and France. He goes about over the states of Oregon and Washington lecturing on his favorite study. He drops into a city or hamlet, engages a hall, makes no admission charge and talks for an hour and a half, illustrating his lecture with splendid stereopticon views of good and bad roads from Illwahee to Timbuctoo, from Maryhill to London and Berlin, and incidentally, quite incidentally, brings in a series of beautiful slides showing the grandeur of scenery in the Oregon Cascades. It is alecture that is not only inspirational but effective. He seldom leaves an audience unconvinced of the value of well-built highways.
Who is Sam Hill? Even though the facts were abbreviated to intensive terseness, it required a whole page of the menu prepared for the testimonial dinner, first referred to, to tell about Sam Hill. He was born in North Carolina, in 1857, and he has been so busy since that he has never had time to rest. He is a graduate of Haverford and Harvard. He has been president, associate counsel, general manager or director of a half-dozen railroads. He is president of the Home Telephone Company in Portland, and just now as a side issue is amalgamating the independent telephone companies throughout the United States. He is president of the Maryhill Land Company, Maryhill, Washington; President of the United States Trust Company of Seattle, Washington; President of the American Road Builders' Association; Honorary Life President of the Washington Good Roads Association; Vice-president of the Pacific Highway Association; Vice-President of the Columbia River Highway Association; Vice-president of the International Road Congress; Member of the Canadian Highway Association and an active member of over a dozen social clubs from New York city to Portland.
Sam Hill is a busy man.
He has another hobby aside from good roads, although related to that very laudable subject. For some years he has had made in Berlin, each year, a globe, similar to those found in all well regulated libraries, but embodying some special line of study. One is devoted to earthquakes; another to tidal waves; another to roads, good and bad; another to railroads. These globes he has had prepared by experts and then, not wishing to hide them under a bushel, has presented them to friends or institutions where they will serve as valuable reference works. One such may be found in the Congressional Library. Others have been presented to railroad presidents; still others to social clubs. Among the fortunate possessors of these globes are George Baker, Henry Cannon and the estate of the late J. P. Morgan, New York.
The latest effective gift was that to the state of Oregon of a comprehensive outline for a series of highways for the state. This plan, based upon information secured at a personal expenditure of $10,000 and a thorough canvass of the state, is given to the people as a suggested means of development and a donation to the cause of good roads. Mr. Hill worked quietly for months, traveling over the proposed routes, studying their feasibility from standpoints of topography, people to be served and traffic to be encouraged. He had in mind the desirability of the most direct connection between rural regions and markets and between centers of population, and was influenced by the experience of the districts where good roads had already been built. He reaches this succinct conclusion—that the directest road which serves the most interests the longest distance is the best.
One of the happily chosen tributes to Samuel Hill's work is that by ex-United States Senator Charles W. Fulton: 'Samuel Hill is doing more than any other one man for the good of Oregon. He is making it possible for people to get acquainted with each other. He is making it possible for tourists to see our scenic attractions."
What a lot of good could be accomplished if more men of aggressiveness and wealth and great constructive ability should give as unstintingly and as generously of their time to some especial phase of national growth as has Samuel Hill, of Portland, Oregon, to the cause of good roads!C. E. Fisher.