The first time I saw the sign "Charlie Hill Bridge" I wondered, who the dickens is Charlie Hill?!? I asked around Atlin and I was referred to Linda Reed, who has lived in Atlin a long time and knows a lot of Atlin history from her own experiences and her work with the Atlin Historical Society. Linda very kindly wrote up what she knows about Charile Hill - her account follows:
Charlie Hill and Conrad Johnson were brothers from Sweden. They gold mined and trapped the 4th of July valley, sold cord wood they cut with a swede saw, and maintained the road up to the Ruffner Mtn. mine site. They built their 24'x24' trapline cabin in 1929, using trees from the immediate vicinity which, being expert axemen, they squared with a broad ax and notched the ends to fit perfectly. The brothers, who got along well, decided to live upstairs and save the bottom floor for the first one who got married. They built stairs up to the door in the gable end. The cookstove wood and water were packed up, and the used water and ashes packed down.
Charile changed his last name to "Hill" as he and Conrad's mail was getting mixed up. This concerned Charlie as he mail-ordered a bride from Sweden and he wanted to be sure he would get the letters regarding his bride-to-be! The day Hannah arrived in Atlin via the Tarahne, Charlie was on the dock to greet her - a little inebriated to calm his nerves! Well, Hanna decided not to marry him and, instead, married Gus Holmgren, the Tarahne's maintenance man who she just met on the trip across the lake.
Charlie went home alone. Neither he nor Conrad were ever married. The bottom part of the cabin was never lived in. Charlie had died, and Conrad was still living upstairs when Bill and Edith Nelson bought the trapline and cabin in 1965.
Thanks for sharing the story Linda. I felt the story should be shared and what better way than to bring cachers to the bridge, named after him, where you can enjoy the area where he and his brother lived.