Who was Sam Hill - as in "what in the Sam Hill are you talking about"?

Question

common in old movies

Answer 1

There is a story sometimes told (for example in Edwin Mitchell’s Encyclopedia of American Politics in 1946) that one Colonel Samuel Hill of Guilford, Connecticut, would often run for political office at some point in the early nineteenth century but always without success. Hence, “to run like Sam Hill” or “go like Sam Hill”. The problem is that nobody has found any trace of this monumentally unsuccessful candidate.

On the other hand, an article in the New England Magazine in December 1889 entitled Two Centuries and a Half in Guilford Connecticut mentioned that, “Between 1727 and 1752 Mr. Sam. Hill represented Guilford in forty-three out of forty-nine sessions of the Legislature, and when he was gathered to his fathers, his son Nathaniel reigned in his stead” and a footnote queried whether this might be the source of the “popular Connecticut adjuration to ‘Give ‘em Sam Hill’?” So the tale has long legs.

The expression has been known since the late 1830s. Despite the story, it seems to be no more than a personalised euphemism for “hell”.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

1) It's a polite way of saying "What in the hell are you talking about?"
2) He was Gilroy's brother (as in "Gilroy was here!")

I'd go with #1, personally.

Answer 4

a euphemism for Hell, back when Hell was something that polite people didn't say

Answer 5

Sam Hill was born on May 13, 1857 at Deep River, North Carolina. He moved to Minneapolis in 1865 and was practicing law there when he met James J. Hill in 1886. Hill was the president of the Great Northern Railroad. He hired Sam as his lawyer. In 1889, he became president of Minneapolis Trust Company. Charles Pillsbury, the miller, was an early investor. Hill also knew Weyerhaueser, the lumber man. He married the bosses oldest daughter, Mary Franches Hill, that year. They lived in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Part of his early success was due to his very good memory. Before starting work as a lawyer he memorized all 35 books of Minnesota court cases and after setting up practice subscribed to every newspaper in the state and memorized them. Whenever a client came, he would look over the material from the client's hometown so he would be familiar with its affairs. Once a week he would visit some town in the state and talk to the people there; he always remembered who lived in what town. He had won several personal damages cases against the Hill railroads when J.J. Hill finally decided to get Sam on his side in 1886. Sam went, but not as a lawyer; he wanted to learn the railroading business. Hill eventually made him president of several railroads.

His daughter, Mary Mendenhall Hill, was born August 23, 1889. In 1893, son James B was born. That same year, he went to Europe to sell stocks in the Great Northern. This is when he met Marie, the crown princess of Rumania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

Things went good for a while, but then a few sour deals began to turn him off on the whole business. He abruptly resigned from the Great Northern Railroad in 1900 without giving a reason. During this time he was also president of eight other railroads, big and small, and half dozen other concerns. It was through his railroad connections that he got involved in the Seattle Gas Company. By December 1901 he'd gone to Seattle to take control of the Seattle Gas and Electric Company. That same year he went to Russia to inspect the trans-Siberian railroad.

He became the president and principal owner of Seattle Gas and Electric Company in 1900. He really enjoyed the enterprise since it was one in which his father-in-law had no hand in or influence over. He also liked the area because he foresaw a new boom in timber. Sam went to Europe in 1901 and saw the gas works in Rome, Florence, and Milan. He actively promoted gas for cooking and heating. He also had shares in a coal mine in Roslyn, Washington. In 1903, after his financial problems were squared away, he sold his shares in the gas company.

Mary did not want to move and within a few months went home, supposedly because of her health. She never returned to the northwest. In 1904 he began building a mansion in Seattle to entertain the Belgian Prince Albert while he visited the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific expo. Unfortunately Albert had to cancel, but Sam built it anyway to accommodate his other European guests. When his wife went back east he lost interest in building it for several years. He hired men to build the foundation of the house. These same men would later work on the stone retaining walls of the Columbia River Highway. The house is Grecian Doric style and cost about $37,800, which was way below the estimate by experts of $250,000. The house wasn't finished until 1906.

He did not really miss his wife or son. But his daughter had mental problems. She had gone to private schools in Seattle and a girl's school in New York. There was evidence she was slightly mentally retarded. He thought her condition was made worse by contact with her mother, who was a little strange herself. Mary Mendenhall stayed with Sam about two years both at Maryhill and Seattle during 1910-12. James didn't do well in school and dabbled in various occupations. But he would never marry and Mary could not have chidlren. So there was no one to carry on the name, perhaps leading to his later affairs.

In 1905, Sam became president of a telephone company in Portland, Oregon, but that company later failed in 1917 due to competition from larger companies. On his overseas travels he used to give people globes of the world. He had a German mapmaker add special features, such as location of railroads in America, depths of ports on the West Coast, and submarine cable connections.

About 1900, Sam had begun his crusade for better roads in Washington. The discovery of oil as a cheap fuel for cars and mass production of cars making its cost considerably cheaper led to the increased need for better roads. In 1900, he appeared before a U.S. Senate Committee to get funds for experiments in road building. In 1904, Judge Hanford, Alfred Battle, and Frank Terrace, and Sam were appointed to the Washington State committee to study roads in other states as a basis for a state highway organization. By 1907, the ten laws they developed had been passed. As president and founder of the Washington Good Roads Association, Sam represented the state at the first international Road Congress in Paris in October 1908. He began his own road work in 1909 at his planned town of Maryhill. Began building the town of Maryhill in 1907.

The idea of building a town came to him in 1906 when visiting his sister in North Carolina. He picked this spot in what would become Klickitat County because of the railroad service, successful apple orchards on the Oregon side, and good grain and stock raising at Goldendale, the largest town. He bought the Gillenwater ranch of 240 acres for $11,000 to get his start. This is where the Maryhill Museum now stands. He called it Maryland Ranch. The small town of Columbus had existed in the area since the early 1860s, founded by Amos Stark, in 1852. The townspeople earned a living by hauling cordwood and selling it to steamboats. The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company built its line on the Oregon side in 1883, which made a transcontinental link from Portland to the Union Pacific. This provided an outlet for fruit and produce for Columbus and Goldendale farmers. A crude wagon road linked the two towns in 1873. Another ferry, a barge pulled by the tug, Waterwitch, began in 1905.
Sam had a rock crusher, which he used on the local rocks, and he brought heavy oil from California to create a macadam-like road. These first experimental roads from the river to his home and around the area totalling about ten miles cost Sam about $100,000. They were the first roads in the state to be paved. His best reason for good roads was to help farmers get goods to market. The Seattle, Portland, & Spokane Railway on the north bank was completed in 1909, by which time, Sam's plans were underway. In 1910, Sam used convict labor to build his roads. But the new government didn't allow convict labor and refused to endorse a plan to build a road on the north side of the Columbia. This made him mad, and he vowed nver to return to Seattle until a Washington government allowed convicts to work. So he crossed the river to Portland, where he began to urge the public on new roads, especially on the south bank of the Columbia River to boost tourism.

Sam's next project was a water power plant at Lyle. In 1908, he formed the Columbia Land Company and began acquiring land, eventually 17 farms and ranches. He ended up with about 7,000 acres. He began building dams for irrigation in 1909. There were then three stores, two churches, one school, a post office, railroad depot, small railway hospital, and two saloons. That year he began to advertise for Quaker settlers. No Quakers came so he began to campaign for anyone to come -- by then the town was called Maryhill. He also began to put in service roads. The north-south oriented streets were named for fruit trees and plants. East-west oriented streets were named for shade trees, except one to honor his friend Ambassador Jusserand. J and Peach streets were the only ones paved. There was also a weather station, stable, blacksmith shop, garage, housing for road crews, and the Maryhill Land Company. In 1910, Sam finished a small house for his daughter and her nurse.

At first the grapes, apples, and peaches did well. And a few came to live here but it never became Sam's dream town. In 1913, the post office was closed. He still kept building on his home, but stopped in 1917 when he ran out of money and World War I interfered. The ferry service operated until the fall of 1962 when the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge was built at Biggs. The house wasn't finished until after his death.

He had started building a Flemish style house in 1914. The exterior walls were made of thick concrete with reinforcing steel. No wood was used. Exterior double doors were made of heavy copper and painted with green oxide to make them look like green bronze. The house was wired for electricity though it didn't get it for 23 years. Every room was piped for gas heat and light. Twenty-four cars could park under each of two ramps built at either end of the building. There were two elevators. Sam's friend Loie Fuller persuaded him to use it to display French art. It was incorporated as a museum on July 4, 1923. Queen Marie of Rumania came to dedicate it in November 1926 when it was only half finished. Loie's connection with Queen Marie, Auguste Rodin, and Alma Spreckels resulted in much of the art that was brought here. Alma Spreckels donated 68 French World War I posters, a collection of mannequin dolls, a collection of Byzantine furniture, and Queen Marie's throne. The museum opened in May 1940 and had 49,000 visitors the first year.

Sam had long been a history buff and was associated with the state historical groups. He financed Professor Meany's biography on Chief Joseph, and he erected a Chief Joseph monument at Nespelem, Washington. In 1910, the scout, Ezra Meeker, wrote him, asking Sam to get the SP&S railway to change the name of a railroad station called Spedis; the name was that of a treacherous Indian. He asked that the Indian word Wish-rum be used instead. The railroad agreed to the change.

He was successful in raising enough money for the Pacific Coast Highway 101, US84, and US97 through central Oregon. It took five years, until 1922, to finish the first 345 miles of 101. He continually chastised Washington state government for only having gravel roads. The Pacific Coast Highway, though, was one of his big successes -- 1,687 miles from Tijuana, Mexico, to Vancouver, BC. US84 from Portland, Oregon, to The Dalles, Oregon, about 48 miles, was finished by August 1915. By September the road extended from Seaside, Oregon to Pendleton, Oregon, a distance of 363 miles.

Another of his projects was the International Peace Arch at Blaine Washington. Construction started in July 1920. It was a Doric arch that was earthquake proof. The foot walls were reinforced concrete built on wooden piles driven 25 feet into the earth. The arch is built to straddle the border so one foot is in Canadian soil and the other on American soil. It used 800 cubic yards of concrete, 50 tons of steel, and is 67 feet high. There are two flag staffs on top. The cornerstone was laid on September 6, 1921. There are bronze gates; on the U.S. side the portal says, "children of a common mother," on the Canadian side it says, "brethren dwelling together in unity." It was dedicated in 1922. In 1932, Interstate 5 was rerouted to pass by the arch. The timing was largely due to the formation of Peace Arch Park, with 26 acres on the U.S. side and 23 acres on the Canadian side.

After the park came into existence a small town, Semiahoo, developed near Blaine. The name meant half moon. He built a resort there on the Canadian side that would serve alcohol in those prohibition days. He built restaurants, cook houses, an auto camp, and a golf course. The original buildings were torn down in 1979, but the place still thrives.

Back at Maryhill, he built the Stonehenge replica as a memorial to soldiers from Klickitat County who died in World War I. Sam had visited the Salisbury Plain in England and had seen the original structure there; one legend was that ancient peoples used the structure to sacrifie to the gods of war to achieve peace. Sam liked the peace idea. The St. James Hotel, later called Meadowlark Inn, was moved to provide the best location for the monument. The memorial was dedicated on July 4, 1918; three soldiers from the county had died up to that point. Nine more would die later. Bronze plaques bear their names. It was years before it was finished, due to lack of funds. It was finished and rededicated on Memorial Day, 1930.

In the 1920s, he developed paranoia about burglars and Soviet spies. He had a button by the bedside to turn on inside and outside lights. He forbid entry to the milkman and iceman. During this time he mostly lived in Portland, but often visited his Seattle house, Semiahoo, Goldendale, and Maryhill.

In 1931, on a train trip back east, he caught an "intestinal influenza" and got very sick. He was campaigning to do something about damage to roads by heavy trucks. He had surgery on February 25, 1931 and died a day later. A monument was dedicated to him on May 13, 1932. The sculptor, Alonzo V. Lewis, was related to Meriwether Lewis.