The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-30

III y NNLANkn IN anu GmnNNLu NJ wv NH
greenbacks into iho lap Of his wife As abe sat
:. ,SSy1 Sg S&SSJ,, .ai id AS ;. :lS- ,s,t e biz !; s Sts' S EA.ls
backs and poured a literal stream % Eolden
tainsI You WON'T Be making no moro fun about
M. Yankee mine, will ron r.
Henry Fuller and his wife seoe unused TO
once at San afael, near the Ralston' mansion.
and took a TRIP to Europe With their i've chill
to keep him in;ormed on Their trarels and to do
the talking with fellow travellers. In tive years
svsrE cent bad ben speni.. and when the home
the F9llers went back into the very cabin at
Sants Rosa where they we're living when Dame
money never worried tbs. miner or his wife.
We had = heap OF good times anyhow" was
the philosophy Of the wife, rs she once more bent
TN and another mine" said Hank. - and me
and the family viii know how to save money the
Sure enough. Henry Fuller did and a placer
mine In the Goler district, across the Moiave
years later. He got a man interested with him
IN the prospect. and a stock company was formed
in the sum IIs q ISL hat 6EoTsht Fuller
had died and had been buried by charity. and
the children were scattered In San Francisco and
together. and settled down to live on his second
fortune. 50 long as he kept out OF business he
held his money, this time. But. OF course.
man who wanted capital. He could not
ssstst all the pleas, and the nrst thing his
cat projects. His oldest son got into trouble,
and the old man paid heavily to get him clear.
in i ISn Angeles lSi tnas Re faiif NO. n q doIisr left sf f fpom
his second fortune. and he told the truth. He
has been prospecting some in the last few years.
not risk the privations. that a prospector must
experience. His family is scattered. and the
anonS the fshsrmen at san Pedro by the chores
he does for them. Is an illustration OF ebb and
flow OF the tide of fortune among gold miners
The most famous case of the prodigal waste OF
a large fortune in the Western mining region Is
that OF Lemuel Bowers. better known as Sandy
Probably there never was a more extravaSant
use OF wealth than that OF Sandy Bower Coal
jan james eee q. Fair s ssid t that he had dn never rs1e known SeW4'o Of
q great fortune so easily acquired and thrown
away as that OF Sandy Bowers. Bowers wass
could read and write a little. and was the per
sonihcation Of good nature When the BONANZA
Fair. Flood. and O'Brisn in 1869. Bowers was a
day laborer in Carson City. 1t was found that ten
feet OF Bowers placs. out on the hills, covered
widow. Mrs. Bridget Cowan. covered hundreds
OF square feet of the silver bed beneath. Sandy
for years, and when the dawn Of prosperity came
into their lives they pooled their ISSUED by mar;
farms were the famous Crown Point Ravtne and
the Bowers. In the summer Of 1871 the Bowers
couple had an income OF 81 800 . day. For
for about sls,o o often s2l 1000. They received
offers several times of about n million dollars
+ & not 10 Be wondered at that Sandy and his
bride were about wild with the flood Of money
thas anne in upon them. some people say they
but others say they never heard of any such
lamp, and were simply crazy from their eXtraor-
railroads had been opened two years at that
time. Railroad fares in the West were high
and special cars cost small fortunes. ,Nevertne;
less. Sandy and Mrs. Bowers chartered q special
Chicago and New York. The Boverzes stocked
Chieaso. and later in View York. rhey took Their
guests to the best hotels and treated them
ioT Cs1son 6 rhsn am. m We vfrS gefss c fne party returned
Sandy Bowers and his wife bad seen the man
sions In Chicago and New York. and they deter
thew must have a royal home. instead Of the red
wood tbree-roomed house they had delighted in
An architect was summoned from San Fran
cisco, aud set at work
What We want is a banS-up mansion like
what them 1ehsr rich uns have. and We want it
quick, too" This was Sandy order.
There was no talk about the cost OF the house.
A man who two years before occasionally
5000 every day in the week from An appar-
emily tns5h aU, supply OF roes under ,hn ms
the mansion vas in Wsshoe Valley. six miles
from Gold Hill in q dssolats region. which
AIl NuOASut Lac AZ NC - o[en
on the Hudson River. In speaking of the howl
ing wilderness where the Bowers mansion was
landscape gardener sent there By sandy Bowers
was slain by the Indians"
its riches, and in 1878 the Bowers granite man
sion was finished. The army of builders. dec
orators. landscape gardeners. and furuishers. all
York By ssndys young business manager. had
had full swing. and had followed the miners Or
ders 70 DO The Job in grand n, i sI..t The :. house 4 as
Mob Hill II was built Of granite. and up to the
day it vas tuyned over TO It's owners it had cost
had travelled in Europe purposely for decoras
tfons for the mansion in the sage-hrush. deso.ate
rooms rs1 IN fasnP house .ne 4 cologne foantain
spouted in the marble front hall; an immense
buffet OF teak wood. carved in India eI-
room. several thousand books bound in the
~costliest covers AMI chosen by a man in Chicago.
stood on the mahogany shelves in the library.
and a marble bath tub was one OF the Injuries
paid bills to the amount Of IS. 900 for oil paint
and abroad An idea OF. the extravaeance OF
the mansion may be had from the fact that the
unique designs, while the stair rods were of
solid silver, tipped with solid gold such table
vessels as s9up tprsens and Potato dishes we're
In solid silver throughout
Sandy and his wife moved from their $1,000
house into this mansion; Meanwhile the curse
OF a great many suddenly made millionaires in
the West. . taste for intoxicants, had It's hold on
Sandy. He entertained llvishly. 4 Fourth of
July celebration and banquet TO the BONANZA
mining mIIliouaires in 1878 was the most eiabo-
rate affair known even IN those days OF prodi-
gality. 1t is said to have cost $1,000 for one
days hosp atty TO forty gentlemen: Sandy be-
ca me more -eckiess as his taste for liquor. grew:
When his silver lodges bsgan to pinch out
came upon him thick and fast. In 1875
his income had decreased to \ few hundred dol
lars a month. and he was living at the rate Of q
or two q week. He morteaged his
property, sold his library and art treasures
piece by, piece. Then he parted With
Crown Point Ravtne petered out entirely
in 1875. and Bowers and his wife lived In q sin
gle room of their big house; Everything that
could be converted into ready cash was sold at
any price. Sandy died in 1877. He was buried
BY contributions from people who had enjoyed
his bounty when he was rich. Mrs Bowers Is
still alive she goes about California and Ne
vada telling fortunes from cards, at twenty-five
and fifty cents a head; She is very poor and
feeble She recently told a reporter In Los An
Eeies that her only hope Is to get enough money
together to be buried at the side Of her husband
in Carson City.
The Bowers mansion Is In ruins now. It was
proposed that James J. Corbett might use it as 9
home and training place In his preparations for
the recent fight with Fitzsimmons at Carson
City, but the building was found too dilapidated