Minnie Mossman Hill

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Minnie Hill

Minnie Mae Mossman Hill (July 20, 1863 - January 9, 1946) was an American steamboat captain. Hill was the first woman to hold a captain's license on the Columbia River. She commanded her own vessels and traded along the river during her career.

Biography[]

Minnie Hill was born on July 20, 1863 in Albany, Oregon where she spent her early life.[1][2] Her father, Isaac Mossman, had been an agent of the Pony Express and her mother, Nellie, an early pioneer of Oregon.[3] Minnie married Charles Hill, captain of the steamship Joseph Kellogg, in 1883.[1] They lived together on the ship for three years, where Minnie Hill helped Charles with his work and the couple saved $1,000.[1] While on the ship, she learned detailed skills relating to fixing and maintaining boats, navigation and piloting skills.[4] With the saved money, they bought their own ship, a schooner.[1]

Hill's boat the "Governor Newell" in 1900

Hill earned her master's and pilot's license on November 20, 1887.[1] Her testing to earn her license was very difficult because "the examiners wanted to refuse her a license without justification".[4] After earning her license, she became the new commander of the steamer Minnie Hill.[5] She also became the first licensed woman to run a steamer on the Columbia River.[4] Later, Hill and her husband bought the Clatsop Chief and the Governor Newell.[5][4] She ran this ship as the captain for 14 years while Charles worked as the engineer and piloted up and down the Columbia River.[4][6] She also was instrumental in doing business with the Chinookan people along the river.[7] Hill was invited by the Chicago World's Fair to be the guest at the Women's Building exhibition in 1893, though she turned the invitation down.[5][8]

During her time as a captain, she had two children, but only one lived.[4] Her son, Herbert Wells Hill, was born on September 1894 and lived on boats until he was old enough to start school.[9] Around the 1900s, she retired and went on to become a member of the Veteran Steamboatmen's Association.[10] She also went on to "devote herself to raising her son".[9]

Her husband died in Portland in 1942.[10] Hill died in San Francisco on January 9, 1946 from a "heart ailment".[10] She was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame in 2017.[5]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Capt. Minnie Hill". The Ottawa Free Trader. 21 September 1889. Retrieved 2018-05-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Salem's Iconic Willamette Queen" (PDF). Salem Magazine. 1 (2): 43–44. Fall 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2018.
  3. ^ Leonetti 2015, p. 9.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harrison, Rebecca; Cowan, Daniel (2014). Portland's Maritime History. Charleston , South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 9781439644522.
  5. ^ a b c d "Captain Minnie Mossman Hill". National Rivers Hall of Fame Inductees. National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  6. ^ "Captain Minnie Hill was the first". The Bend Bulletin. 25 January 1939. Retrieved 2018-05-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Leonetti 2015, p. 25.
  8. ^ Leonetti 2015, p. 36-37.
  9. ^ a b Leonetti 2015, p. 35.
  10. ^ a b c "Minnie Hill, Skipper, Dead". The Oregonian Newspaper. 14 January 1946. Retrieved 8 May 2018 – via Find a Grave.

Sources[]

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