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Dr. Edmund E. Hill
Among Nome's early settlers probably no one is better entitled to a place in this work than is Dr. Edmund E. Hill, the subject of this sketch. Dr. Hill came here with the big rush of 1 900 and has been a respected resident of Nome ever since. In the early days of the camp, when the town was really without government, and overrun with the scum of the earth, Dr. Hill, as the presiding officer of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce, took the initiative in ridding the town of the undesirable element. A sufficient amount of money was raised and
the disreputables were rounded up and deported on the last boat that left at the
close of navigation, much to the gratification of Nome's citizens. Later he was
a prime mover in the organization of what is known as the "Second Consent
Government," which was organized by the merchants and property owners of the city and which continued in the management of affairs until the incorporation of the city of Nome in 1901.
The Doctor was health officer and city physician during that period and gave his services gratuitously. It is said of him that never a poor
miner without money and in need of medicine and medical attention was turned away
from the Doctor's door. He is known for his charitable actions to the miners both near
and far, and many a sufferer has reason to remember Dr. Hill kindly.
He is a native of San Francisco, California, and was born November 21, 1868. He was graduated from the Cooper Medical College in the class of '95, and prior to
coming to Nome held several important official positions in San Francisco. He has a
predilection for politics, and when the second election for the incorporation of Nome
was held the Doctor took a leading part in the fight for incorporation, which was
carried by an overwhelming majority. To his efforts is due in a great measure the
incorporation of Nome, Uncle Sam's most northerly incorporated town. He has served
in the common council of Nome, and as chairman of the finance and building committee,
supervised the construction of the City Hall and the Dry Creek Bridge. The Belmont Cemetery and the abolition of the obnoxious dog license tax, which imposed a
great hardship on the prospectors and miners, are measures which he championed, and
should be credited to his diligent work. He has twice been health officer of Nome.
Dr. Hill is a practicing physician and the proprietor of the Cut Rate Drug Store in Front Street. He is also interested in a number of mines near Nome. The
Doctor has a genial personality. His ample face is always beaming with a smile, and
if there be the least bit of a silver lining in a cloud it reveals itself to him with such
luminosity that the cloud is dispelled.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula by
E. S. Harrison. Seattle: The Metropolitan Press, 1905.
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