Minnie Mae Mossman Hill (July 20, 1863 – January 9, 1946) was an American steamboat captain. She 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.
Minnie Mossman Hill | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hill c. 1886 | |
| Born | July 20, 1863 Albany, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | January 9, 1946 (aged 82) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Steamboat captain |
| Known for | Being the first woman to hold a captain's license on the Columbia River |
| Spouse |
Charles Hill
(m. 1883; died 1942) |
| Children | 2 |
Biography
editMinnie 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]
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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 in 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
editCitations
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 "Capt. Minnie Hill". The Ottawa Free Trader. 21 September 1889. Retrieved 2018-05-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Salem's Iconic Willamette Queen" (PDF). Salem Magazine. 1 (2): 43–44. Fall 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2018.
- ↑ Leonetti 2015, p. 9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Harrison, Rebecca; Cowan, Daniel (2014). Portland's Maritime History. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 9781439644522.
- 1 2 3 4 "Captain Minnie Mossman Hill". National Rivers Hall of Fame Inductees. National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Captain Minnie Hill was the first". The Bend Bulletin. 25 January 1939. Retrieved 2018-05-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Leonetti 2015, p. 25.
- ↑ Leonetti 2015, p. 36-37.
- 1 2 Leonetti 2015, p. 35.
- 1 2 3 "Minnie Hill, Skipper, Dead". The Oregonian Newspaper. 14 January 1946. Retrieved 8 May 2018 – via Find a Grave.
Sources
edit- Leonetti, Shannon Moon (18 May 2015). "Ordinary Women/Extraordinary Lives: Oregon Women and Their Stories of Persistence, Grit and Grace". Dissertations and Theses. Portland State University. doi:10.15760/etd.2339. Archived from the original on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2020.