Eilley Bowers
Encyclopedia
Alison "Eilley" Oram Bowers (September 6, 1826 – October 27, 1903) was a Scottish American
woman who was, in her time, one of the richest women in the United States, and owner of the Bowers Mansion
, one of the largest houses in the western United States. A Scottish farmer's daughter, Eilley converted to Mormonism as a teenager, before immigrating to the United States. After briefly living in Nauvoo, Illinois
, she became an early Nevada
pioneer, farmer and miner, and was made a millionaire
by the Comstock Lode
mining boom. Married three times and divorced twice, she had three children but outlived them all.
Following the deaths of her last husband and her three children, and the collapse of the Nevada mining economy, she became bankrupt
and destitute, reinventing herself as "The Famous Washoe Seeress", a professional scryer and fortune-teller in Nevada and California. Worth over $4 million at the height of the Nevada mining boom, she died penniless in a care home in Oakland
.
, Scotland, one of ten children. Although she had little interest in religion, she was dissatisfied with her prospects should she remain in Scotland, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to gain the means to move to the United States.
Accompanied by her sister Betty, Eilley arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois
, then the hub of the Latter Day Saints movement, in 1841. In 1842 Eilley married Scottish widower and missionary Stephen Hunter, at 45 years old thirty years her senior. Following the assassination of Joseph Smith, Jr.
the couple joined the migration of the Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley
, settling in Salt Lake City.
As Hunter believed Eilley to be unable to conceive children, he took a second wife, polygamy
at this point being legal in the Utah Territory and socially acceptable within the Mormon community. Unwilling to share a husband, in 1850 Eilley paid $15 (approximately $ today) to divorce Hunter, supporting herself by working in a Salt Lake City general store.
to Mormon Station
, near the western edge of Utah Territory
. Shortly afterward the mission relocated to Franktown, in what is now Washoe County, Nevada
. Eilley and her husband settled near present-day Virginia City
, roughly halfway between Reno
and Carson City
. They bought 320 acre (1.29 km²; 0.500000442086972 sq mi) of land, which contained a hot spring
, for $100 (approximately $ today). Alexander farmed, and Eilley opened a boardinghouse in nearby Gold Canyon
.
During the crisis of the Utah War
in 1857, Brigham Young
recalled Mormon colonists from the western areas of the proposed State of Deseret
to the core area of Mormon settlement south of the Great Salt Lake
. Alexander heeded the call, but Eilley remained at home. Cowan's 13-year-old nephew Robert Henderson assisted her with the boardinghouse, and she hired casual labor to work the farm. For a short period afterwards Alexander returned periodically to Virginia City, but in 1858 he settled permanently in Salt Lake City for unknown reasons and ceased to come back to Nevada.
When the Mormons abandoned the Franktown settlement, Eilley and Robert moved to the mining camp of Johntown, south of Silver City
. As prospector
s began to enter the area in large numbers, Eilley opened a new boardinghouse in the growing town of Gold Hill
. (Fetherling claims that she was the only woman in the community, a claim which cannot be verified.) She cooked and laundered for her boarders, and was known to engage in fortune-telling
using a traditional Scottish "peep stone"
she had brought from Forfar when originally emigrating to the United States. Henry de Groot recorded that on his arrival in August 1859:
Two of the boarders, Lemuel Sanford "Sandy" Bowers
and James Rogers, jointly owned a 20 feet (6.1 m) mining claim in Gold Canyon, registered on January 28, 1859. In 1859 Eilley purchased Rogers's half of the claim for $1,000 (approximately $ today). On August 9, 1859 Eilley married Sandy Bowers, and on June 4, 1860 she divorced Alexander Cowan on grounds of desertion, being granted half of the 320 acres (1.3 km²) farm they had owned in the Washoe Valley.
As the area boomed following the discovery of the Comstock Lode
, the Bowerses' claim proved to hold one of the richest seams of silver ore in Nevada, and because the lode was close to the surface, it was easily extracted without initial capital investment. Sandy and Eilley's claims together yielded over $4 million (approximately $ today), at one point generating over $100,000 (approximately $ today) per month, making the couple among the richest people in the United States, Sandy Bowers the first Comstock millionaire, and Eilley Bowers the first female millionaire in Nevada.Smith (1998), p. 96, disputes the claims regarding the wealth of the Bowers family and the cost of the construction of the Bowers Mansion, claiming that on the death of Sandy Bowers his entire estate was valued at approximately $88,000.
Shortly before their departure, the couple hosted a banquet at the International Hotel in Virginia City, to which the entire town was invited, and which included free champagne. After travelling to California, the Bowerses sailed from San Francisco for England on May 2, 1862, aboard the steamer Golden Gate. The couple visited Eilley's family in Scotland, and purchased large quantities of furniture, including an ornate formal walnut wood chair custom made for the couple there and other pieces in London, and took ivy
cuttings from the walls of Westminster Abbey
and broom
from Forfar, which were to be planted on the verandah
of the house. While in London, the couple planned to meet with Queen Victoria
, with Eilley going as far as to have an ornate dress made for the occasion; however, Victoria refused to meet with the couple as she disapproved of Eilley Bowers's two divorces. Following the visit to England and Scotland, the couple visited Paris, where they bought silverware
, jewelry and a large number of dresses, and to Florence
, where a sculptor was commissioned to make a series of bust
s.
The couple returned to Nevada and the newly-built Bowers Mansion
in April 1863, accompanied by a baby girl, whom the couple called Margaret Persia Bowers. The couple never divulged where they had acquired the child. Some contemporary sources claimed she was Eilley's child, born on the crossing to Europe. Others state that she was a Scottish orphan, adopted during the couple's visit to Scotland, while other sources claim that she was the daughter of a Margaret Wixson, who died on the return journey to the United States, and that the Bowerses had undertaken to find the child's relatives but, unable to locate them, had adopted the child as their own. There is no evidence for any assumption, and no record of Sandy or Eilley Bowers ever having spoken about the matter.
The Bowers Mansion was one of the most expensive buildings built in the western United States at the time. Designed by J. Neely Johnson
, the former Governor of California
, it cost around $400,000 (approximately $ today) to build and furnish, and soon became nicknamed "Bowers' Folly". As a twice-divorced woman and a Mormon, Eilley Bowers in particular was unpopular with much of the population, while the couple's conspicuous displays of wealth were unpopular during the local recession caused by the fall in demand for silver following the end of the American Civil War
.
-related illness, aged 35. He was buried on a hill at the rear of the Bowers Mansion. Following his death, it was discovered that he had seriously mismanaged the couple's financial affairs—loaning out large sums of money to friends and acquaintances without collateral, and mortgaging much of their stock—and had entered into negotiations to sell part of their holdings.
With the Comstock lode almost exhausted and the mining industry in severe decline, and occupying a house costing large sums to maintain, Eilley Bowers opened part of the Bowers Mansion to the public as a resort
, allegedly on instructions received from her peep stone. The hot springs in the grounds were advertised as being beneficial to health, while dances and social events were held in the mansion with Bowers charging admission fees. Bowers borrowed funds to build an extension to the mansion, adding a dance hall and luxurious hotel rooms, including indoor bathrooms. Meanwhile, Margaret Persia Bowers was sent to live with friends in Reno to keep her away from the sometimes-raucous parties held at the mansion, and to allow her to obtain a better education than was available in Virginia City.
Bowers was by this point in chronic debt. The mines were sold to pay off creditors, and she entered into negotiations with the newly created State of Nevada
for the state to purchase the mansion as a psychiatric hospital
. Unfortunately for Bowers, the deal fell through, and she was obliged to begin to sell her possessions to settle debts. To maximize income, jewelry, silverware, paintings and clothing were raffled off with tickets costing $2.50 apiece.
In mid-July 1874 Reno was struck by simultaneous outbreaks of typhoid, malaria
, diphtheria
and cholera
, and on July 14, 1874, Margaret Persia Bowers suffered a severe fever. Eilley immediately left for Reno to be with her, but before she arrived Margaret died, aged 12. Her body was brought back to Virginia City and buried on the hill behind the mansion, next to Sandy Bowers.
Bankrupt and with no remaining family in the United States, Eilley Bowers set herself up as a fortune-teller
using her peep stone, billing herself as "Mrs L. S. Bowers, The Famous Washoe Seeress". She enjoyed some success with her predictions, successfully predicting, among other things, the fire which destroyed much of Virginia City in 1875. Due to the continued economic decline in northern Nevada following the collapse of the mining industry, in the 1880s she moved to San Francisco, where she continued to practice as a scryer.
, but was ignored. Destitute, she was placed in the Washoe County poorhouse
, and became the subject of a protracted legal dispute between the governments of Nevada and California over who was to pay for her care. In August 1901 it was agreed that California would take responsibility for her welfare, and she was summarily put on a San Francisco-bound train by Reno officials with $30 cash. For the last two years of her life she lived at the King's Daughters Home in Oakland
, dying on October 27, 1903. Her ashes were returned to Nevada and buried alongside Sandy and Margaret at the Bowers Mansion.
Following its sale at auction following foreclosure, the Bowers Mansion was abandoned. Eventually purchased by Reno saloon owner Henry Riter, it was renovated and reopened as a resort in 1903. The hot springs were remodeled to feed warm swimming pools, and a spur was built from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad
to serve the property. It continued to operate as a resort until 1946. It is now considered the finest example of the mansion houses built by the millionaire beneficiaries of the Comstock boom, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, and is administered by the Washoe County Parks Department.
Scottish American
Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...
woman who was, in her time, one of the richest women in the United States, and owner of the Bowers Mansion
Bowers Mansion
The Bowers Mansion, located between Reno and Carson City, Nevada, was built in 1863 by Lemuel "Sandy" Bowers and his wife, Eilley, and is a prime example of the homes built in Nevada by the new millionaires of the Comstock Lode mining boom....
, one of the largest houses in the western United States. A Scottish farmer's daughter, Eilley converted to Mormonism as a teenager, before immigrating to the United States. After briefly living in Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
, she became an early Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
pioneer, farmer and miner, and was made a millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
by the Comstock Lode
Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...
mining boom. Married three times and divorced twice, she had three children but outlived them all.
Following the deaths of her last husband and her three children, and the collapse of the Nevada mining economy, she became bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and destitute, reinventing herself as "The Famous Washoe Seeress", a professional scryer and fortune-teller in Nevada and California. Worth over $4 million at the height of the Nevada mining boom, she died penniless in a care home in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.
Early life
Alison Oram (sometimes spelled "Orrum"), commonly called Eilley, was born into a farming family on September 6, 1826 in ForfarForfar
Forfar is a parish, town and former royal burgh of approximately 13,500 people in Angus, located in the East Central Lowlands of Scotland. Forfar is the county town of Angus, which was officially known as Forfarshire from the 18th century until 1929, when the ancient name was reinstated, and...
, Scotland, one of ten children. Although she had little interest in religion, she was dissatisfied with her prospects should she remain in Scotland, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to gain the means to move to the United States.
Accompanied by her sister Betty, Eilley arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
, then the hub of the Latter Day Saints movement, in 1841. In 1842 Eilley married Scottish widower and missionary Stephen Hunter, at 45 years old thirty years her senior. Following the assassination of Joseph Smith, Jr.
Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...
the couple joined the migration of the Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably West Valley City, Murray, Sandy, and West Jordan; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010...
, settling in Salt Lake City.
As Hunter believed Eilley to be unable to conceive children, he took a second wife, polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
at this point being legal in the Utah Territory and socially acceptable within the Mormon community. Unwilling to share a husband, in 1850 Eilley paid $15 (approximately $ today) to divorce Hunter, supporting herself by working in a Salt Lake City general store.
Remarriage and settlement in Nevada
In 1853, Eilley married farmer Alexander Cowan. Two years later the couple joined a missionMormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
to Mormon Station
Mormon Station State Historic Park
Mormon Station Historic State Park is a state park interpreting the site of first permanent nonnative settlement in Nevada, USA. The park is located in downtown Genoa....
, near the western edge of Utah Territory
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....
. Shortly afterward the mission relocated to Franktown, in what is now Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County, Nevada
Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...
. Eilley and her husband settled near present-day Virginia City
Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is a census-designated place that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada. It is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 855 at the 2010 Census.- History :...
, roughly halfway between Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
and Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
. They bought 320 acre (1.29 km²; 0.500000442086972 sq mi) of land, which contained a hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
, for $100 (approximately $ today). Alexander farmed, and Eilley opened a boardinghouse in nearby Gold Canyon
Gold Canyon
Gold Canyon is located a few miles south of Alleghany, California, on the border between Sierra and Nevada Counties. The middle fork of the Yuba River flows through the canyon. Gold mining began in Gold Canyon in the early 1850s and has continued to present day...
.
During the crisis of the Utah War
Utah War
The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...
in 1857, Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
recalled Mormon colonists from the western areas of the proposed State of Deseret
State of Deseret
The State of Deseret was a proposed state of the United States, propositioned in 1849 by Latter-day Saint settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never recognized by the United States government...
to the core area of Mormon settlement south of the Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...
. Alexander heeded the call, but Eilley remained at home. Cowan's 13-year-old nephew Robert Henderson assisted her with the boardinghouse, and she hired casual labor to work the farm. For a short period afterwards Alexander returned periodically to Virginia City, but in 1858 he settled permanently in Salt Lake City for unknown reasons and ceased to come back to Nevada.
Gold Hill and the Comstock Lode
Silver City, Nevada
Silver City is a town in Lyon County, Nevada, USA, near the Lyon/Carson border. The population as of the 2000 census was 170....
. As prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
s began to enter the area in large numbers, Eilley opened a new boardinghouse in the growing town of Gold Hill
Gold Hill, Nevada
Gold Hill is a community in Storey County, Nevada, located just south and downhill of Virginia City. Incorporated December 17, 1862, in order to prevent its annexation by its larger neighbor, the town at one point was home to at least 8,000 residents. Prosperity was sustained for a period of 20...
. (Fetherling claims that she was the only woman in the community, a claim which cannot be verified.) She cooked and laundered for her boarders, and was known to engage in fortune-telling
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
using a traditional Scottish "peep stone"
Crystal ball
A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball believed by some people to aid in the performance of clairvoyance. It is sometimes known as a shew stone...
she had brought from Forfar when originally emigrating to the United States. Henry de Groot recorded that on his arrival in August 1859:
Two of the boarders, Lemuel Sanford "Sandy" Bowers
Sandy Bowers
Lemuel Sanford Bowers was an Irish American teamster, miner and owner of the Crown Point Mine near Gold Hill, Nevada. Bowers and his wife were the Nevada Territory's first millionaires...
and James Rogers, jointly owned a 20 feet (6.1 m) mining claim in Gold Canyon, registered on January 28, 1859. In 1859 Eilley purchased Rogers's half of the claim for $1,000 (approximately $ today). On August 9, 1859 Eilley married Sandy Bowers, and on June 4, 1860 she divorced Alexander Cowan on grounds of desertion, being granted half of the 320 acres (1.3 km²) farm they had owned in the Washoe Valley.
As the area boomed following the discovery of the Comstock Lode
Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...
, the Bowerses' claim proved to hold one of the richest seams of silver ore in Nevada, and because the lode was close to the surface, it was easily extracted without initial capital investment. Sandy and Eilley's claims together yielded over $4 million (approximately $ today), at one point generating over $100,000 (approximately $ today) per month, making the couple among the richest people in the United States, Sandy Bowers the first Comstock millionaire, and Eilley Bowers the first female millionaire in Nevada.Smith (1998), p. 96, disputes the claims regarding the wealth of the Bowers family and the cost of the construction of the Bowers Mansion, claiming that on the death of Sandy Bowers his entire estate was valued at approximately $88,000.
European tour and the Bowers Mansion
On June 28, 1860 Eilley Bowers gave birth to a son, John Jasper Bowers, who died on August 27, 1860. On June 16, 1861 she gave birth to a daughter, Theresa Fortunatas Bowers, who died on September 17, 1861. Shortly after Theresa's death, the couple began to plan a grand mansion on the 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) in the Washoe Valley which Eilley had received in settlement from Alexander Cowan. While the house was being built, the couple planned a grand European trip to purchase furniture for the new house.Ivy
Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...
cuttings from the walls of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
and broom
Broom (shrub)
Brooms are a group of evergreen, semi-evergreen, and deciduous shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family Fabaceae, mainly in the three genera Chamaecytisus, Cytisus and Genista, but also in many other small genera . All genera in this group are from the tribe Genisteae...
from Forfar, which were to be planted on the verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
of the house. While in London, the couple planned to meet with Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, with Eilley going as far as to have an ornate dress made for the occasion; however, Victoria refused to meet with the couple as she disapproved of Eilley Bowers's two divorces. Following the visit to England and Scotland, the couple visited Paris, where they bought silverware
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, jewelry and a large number of dresses, and to Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, where a sculptor was commissioned to make a series of bust
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
s.
The couple returned to Nevada and the newly-built Bowers Mansion
Bowers Mansion
The Bowers Mansion, located between Reno and Carson City, Nevada, was built in 1863 by Lemuel "Sandy" Bowers and his wife, Eilley, and is a prime example of the homes built in Nevada by the new millionaires of the Comstock Lode mining boom....
in April 1863, accompanied by a baby girl, whom the couple called Margaret Persia Bowers. The couple never divulged where they had acquired the child. Some contemporary sources claimed she was Eilley's child, born on the crossing to Europe. Others state that she was a Scottish orphan, adopted during the couple's visit to Scotland, while other sources claim that she was the daughter of a Margaret Wixson, who died on the return journey to the United States, and that the Bowerses had undertaken to find the child's relatives but, unable to locate them, had adopted the child as their own. There is no evidence for any assumption, and no record of Sandy or Eilley Bowers ever having spoken about the matter.
J. Neely Johnson
John Neely Johnson was an American lawyer and politician. He was elected as the fourth governor of California from 1856 to 1858, and later appointed justice to the Nevada Supreme Court from 1867 to 1871...
, the former Governor of California
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
, it cost around $400,000 (approximately $ today) to build and furnish, and soon became nicknamed "Bowers' Folly". As a twice-divorced woman and a Mormon, Eilley Bowers in particular was unpopular with much of the population, while the couple's conspicuous displays of wealth were unpopular during the local recession caused by the fall in demand for silver following the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Economic hardship
On April 21, 1868 Sandy Bowers died suddenly of silicosisSilicosis
Silicosis, also known as Potter's rot, is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs...
-related illness, aged 35. He was buried on a hill at the rear of the Bowers Mansion. Following his death, it was discovered that he had seriously mismanaged the couple's financial affairs—loaning out large sums of money to friends and acquaintances without collateral, and mortgaging much of their stock—and had entered into negotiations to sell part of their holdings.
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
, allegedly on instructions received from her peep stone. The hot springs in the grounds were advertised as being beneficial to health, while dances and social events were held in the mansion with Bowers charging admission fees. Bowers borrowed funds to build an extension to the mansion, adding a dance hall and luxurious hotel rooms, including indoor bathrooms. Meanwhile, Margaret Persia Bowers was sent to live with friends in Reno to keep her away from the sometimes-raucous parties held at the mansion, and to allow her to obtain a better education than was available in Virginia City.
Bowers was by this point in chronic debt. The mines were sold to pay off creditors, and she entered into negotiations with the newly created State of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
for the state to purchase the mansion as a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
. Unfortunately for Bowers, the deal fell through, and she was obliged to begin to sell her possessions to settle debts. To maximize income, jewelry, silverware, paintings and clothing were raffled off with tickets costing $2.50 apiece.
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
and cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, and on July 14, 1874, Margaret Persia Bowers suffered a severe fever. Eilley immediately left for Reno to be with her, but before she arrived Margaret died, aged 12. Her body was brought back to Virginia City and buried on the hill behind the mansion, next to Sandy Bowers.
Bankruptcy and scrying
On May 3, 1876, the bank initiated foreclosure proceedings against Bowers, giving her six months to settle her debts. She was unable to do so. On November 27, 1876, the Bowers Mansion—valued at $638,000 ($ today) at the time of Sandy Bowers's death in 1868—was sold at auction for $10,000 ($ today).Bankrupt and with no remaining family in the United States, Eilley Bowers set herself up as a fortune-teller
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
using her peep stone, billing herself as "Mrs L. S. Bowers, The Famous Washoe Seeress". She enjoyed some success with her predictions, successfully predicting, among other things, the fire which destroyed much of Virginia City in 1875. Due to the continued economic decline in northern Nevada following the collapse of the mining industry, in the 1880s she moved to San Francisco, where she continued to practice as a scryer.
Destitution
In the late 19th century, Bowers returned to Nevada. Her hearing had diminished significantly, and she was forced to give up the scrying business as she was unable to hear the requests of her clients. She launched a claim against the government asking for financial assistance in return for the $14,000 she and Sandy Bowers had donated to support the Union cause in the Civil War and to finance the 1860 Paiute WarPaiute War
The Paiute War, also known as the Pyramid Lake War, Washoe Indian War and the Pah Ute War, was an armed conflict between Northern Paiutes allied with the Shoshone and the Bannock against the United States. It took place in 1860 in the vicinity of Pyramid Lake in the Utah Territory, now within...
, but was ignored. Destitute, she was placed in the Washoe County poorhouse
Poorhouse
A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
, and became the subject of a protracted legal dispute between the governments of Nevada and California over who was to pay for her care. In August 1901 it was agreed that California would take responsibility for her welfare, and she was summarily put on a San Francisco-bound train by Reno officials with $30 cash. For the last two years of her life she lived at the King's Daughters Home in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, dying on October 27, 1903. Her ashes were returned to Nevada and buried alongside Sandy and Margaret at the Bowers Mansion.
Legacy
Eilley Bowers continues to be one of the most famous of 19th-century female pioneers, and a major figure in the early history of Nevada. In one writer's words, she "is one of the most researched, written and talked about women in Nevada history."Following its sale at auction following foreclosure, the Bowers Mansion was abandoned. Eventually purchased by Reno saloon owner Henry Riter, it was renovated and reopened as a resort in 1903. The hot springs were remodeled to feed warm swimming pools, and a spur was built from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad
Virginia and Truckee Railroad
The Virginia and Truckee Railroad was built to serve the Comstock Lode mining communities of northwestern Nevada. At its height, the railroad's route ran from Reno south to Carson City, Nevada. In Carson City, the...
to serve the property. It continued to operate as a resort until 1946. It is now considered the finest example of the mansion houses built by the millionaire beneficiaries of the Comstock boom, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and is administered by the Washoe County Parks Department.