The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02
Water Works That Wouldn't Work and a Sinking Foun-
 dalton.
things that he did.

things that he did .. Adjoining Biltmore was a mountain known locally as Busbee. George did not care for Busbee. It wasn't nearly as high as Pisgah, and there was nOth- ing about it that was in any way dis tinctive from the mountains that he already owned. One day, however, he learned that on the top of Busbee was a spring of very fine water, such as may be found not infrequently in these mountains But this particular spring was so clear and so limpid and so sweet that George coveted it's waters. He wanted the spring, and so he bought the mountain.
 He constructed a reservoir, put up the most elaborate pumping machin- cry and laid five miles of pipe, reach ing from Mount Busbee to Biltmore House. What the cost was may be l better imagined than told He had al ready. everything that he could think | of, and now he was going to have Mount Busbee water in Biltmore House. He did have it for while, and i then he didn't, and that fact furnishes the immediate cause for his rgoing to | India.
 1 to Europe and toCk with him his cousin McNamee, who is the attorney and general manager of the BiItmore es- tate. While they were away part of the foundation of Biltmore House sank until the walls sagged, and l the fine marbles used in decorating were cracked. The man left in charge | of Biltmore House bacame alarmed | fnT 11n tor who erected the house to come on and see what was the matter The lat. ter responded post haste and made some remedial improvement. But it is still a question as to whether it will be temporary or permanent.
 About two months ago MT. Hamilton Mckay Twombly, the most astute Of Vanderbilt brothers-in-law, took a run down to Biltmore and carefully looked over the place, taking an inventory of everything.
 Now MT. Twombly isn't a bit theOr- etical. He is always practical and he has no use for anything that doesn't pay its way. MT. Twombly has tried fancy farming himself. but it didn't pay, and MT. Twombly very promptly sold out and quit the game.
 When he had examined the condition at Biltmore and had seen that the ex- pertinent did not pay and never would pay, he advised George Vanderbilt to | give it up. George didn't like the ad- l vice He had made a paradise of a desert and he wished to enjoy it. He didn't care for the money that it cost him. He was rich and could stand it.
 But as he was consoling himself with the fact that he had what he wished for, even if it did cost him more than other men, he called for servant to bring him a glass of water-water from 1 the Busbee spring. The servant went, but returned with an empty glass. The master of Biltmore demanded to know why his order had not been obey- ed. The servant replied that something had happened to the water pipes or to the machinery, and that no water could be had. =
 Then George Vanderbilt stopped. The sunken foundation, the cracked marbles, the idle saw mill, the unprG- ductive dairy farm, the expensive for estry school, the unprofitable truck farm. and all the failures that his brother-in-law, TwombIy. had pointe'} out came rushing in on him. He could have stood all these, put ne coulu IFgt stand the climax He had spent ten million dollars on Biltmore, and he could not get a drink of water! .:
 Can we wonder that he decided togo !. to India? .:
 Half the help of Biltmore has been discharged The model village is at a standstill. The hundred thousand -dol= lar chicken house is unbuilt. The game preserve is unused. The prize cattle are for sale for half their cost. :: The thoroughbred horses may be had: at a: bargain. Buncombe County is. in mourning and the people of: Western n North Carolina feel as though they were smitten by a calamity. And a because the water supply of -BiltnloTe is out of order. :: = ::