William Hill Barrington. (1870 - 1935)
Hill Barrington was born in Oak Harbor, Puget Sound to parents Christina (McCrohan) and Captain Edward Barrington. All of the Barrington sons became sea captains, helping to run the Mosquito Fleet line of sternwheelers and steamers around Puget Sound. In 1896, Hill’s brothers Ed and Syd went north to the Kenai Peninsula to search for gold. Hill wanted to go but he was just out of high school and enrolled at San Francisco’s Cooper Medical School in 1896. Hill’s brother Syd called him to go north during the Klondike gold rush and Hill dropped out of school and joined his older brothers and a cousin in the north. They staked claims on Bonanza Creek and dug up about $70,000 worth of gold. They went into business buying and leasing riverboats and made a lot of money in the summers, which they spent in the winters down south.1)
Hill married Babe Wallace, a prostitute from Tacoma, Washington who, in 1898, was arrested in Dawson for running a house of ill repute. She did well at her trade and soon purchased a piano, a rare and expensive purchase for the place and time. The marriage did not last, as Babe divorced Hill and left town.2) She died young of tuberculosis.3)
The head of the Barrington family, brother Ed, died of typhoid fever in 1899 and Syd took his place. The Barrington business included Syd and Hill, their brother Harry and cousin Matt. Syd was the gambler, and Hill was the one who looked after the details. Syd had a quick temper and Hill was easy-going. They made a fortune in the summers and spent it all during the winter down south. Hill loved to dance, and Harry was the sensible one. Harry spent more time in Washington than the other brothers.4)
In 1900, Syd and Hill Barrington leased the sternwheeler Florence S. from Humboldt Gates and made more than one trip from Dawson up the Koyukuk River in Alaska. In July, Syd was the captain of the Florence S when it capsized in the Thirtymile River. Syd had not been at the wheel at the time and he was absolved of blame in the civil court, but the Washington Steamboat Inspection Service reviewed the disaster where three people died and withdrew Syd’s pilot’s license for two years. During that time, Polk’s directory lists Syd as a pilot, Hill as a bartender, and Harry as a miner.5)
The brothers were not away from the water long. Near the end of July 1900 the owner of the sternwheeler Clifford Sifton wanted to move the boat from the waters above Whitehorse and put her on the Dawson to Whitehorse run. The Sifton was 145 feet in length, and 25 feet longer than any other boat that had come through the rapids. 6) There was some worry about bringing the boat through the turbulent water. Sydney and Hill Barrington looked at the situation and took on the job. They slung bales of hay all around her and they sent all but one volunteer ashore. Sydney went to the pilot house and Hill to the engine room, and they started downstream with the engine running in reverse. There was a crowd of observers. They came down the canyon in reverse, except at the bends where Sydney swung the boat and rang for full speed ahead to get out of the eddies. Then went reverse again to the next bend. Hill said it was one ship, one mile, three men, three minutes, three thousand dollars. The Barringtons were men of skill and determination.7)
Hill spent some time in Washington. He was a freight clerk on the sternwheeler Fairhaven on Puget Sound, and he established a prosperous cigar and tobacco business in Seattle. When Hill was in the Yukon he was based in Dawson and worked as the purser of the Prospector. In 1904, Hill and Christine Anderson were married in Dawson and Hill mined with his brothers. In 1906, Hill was back into riverboating and he and Christine lived in Dawson during the navigation season. Hill, Harry, and their uncle J. P. McCrohan were also working on mining claims in the Kluane district at Sheep Creek. In 1909, Hill and Syd quit The British Yukon Navigation Co. with Hill as a sometimes purser. Their new firm, Side Streams Navigation Co., specialized in deliveries on the smaller Yukon tributaries; the Pelly, Stewart, Ross, Porcupine, and the White rivers, going further than had previously been navigated. In 1911, Hill’s wife Christine died during routine surgery and Hill spent the summer in the south. Hill often worked as a purser on the Barrington boats in 1913. He met Mildred Clare Ward of Skagway on one of the Barrington boats when she was on her way to visit her father, Frederick C. Ward, who owned a roadhouse on the Stewart River. They were married in Whitehorse in 1913 and lived in Dawson during the navigation season. In 1916, Hill was master of the Vidette while his brother Syd was working in Alaska. That year the Side Stream Navigation Co. was sold to White Pass & Yukon Route and the Barringtons moved on to new adventures on the Stikine River in British Columbia. Hill stayed in Dawson for the 1917 season to tie up the business.8)
Hill and Mildred lost their first child. When a second, William, was born it was the time of the 1918 flu epidemic and neither wanted to risk their health. They rented and then purchased a house in Oak Harbor. Hill bought a drug store, and they remained in town for five or so years. Hill was elected for two terms as the mayor of Oak Harbour, 1920 to 1924. Before 1925, the Hill Barringtons were spending the navigation season in Wrangell and Hill was a captain on the Stikine River.9)