The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-06
PRODIGALITY OF SANDY BOWERS.
Nevada Miner Who Spent Millions in Few and


and you've got to show it, if it takes all |
When Mr.. and Mrs Bowers came back to |
the West in the fall of 1863 the mansion was |
almost ready for occupancy. Sandy had |
gained all manner Of ideas in Europe a, to
what mansion should be. So he kept small |
army of workmen and decorators and furnish |
ers busy in alterations in the house until |
the spring of 1864. When warm weather re- /
turned to Washoe Valley, great force OF |
workmen were employed in converting two |
acres of pine woodland into a most beautiful |
ers' themselves, what the fine mansion and /
its surroundings cost, but 1t was roughly |
reckoned to have used up over S4500G0. Ex- |
Gov. j. f. Johnson, who was early chief |
executive in California was the master build |
err of the home. He got large salary for |
his services In looking after the Bowers min, |
ing interests and the building operations |
while Sandy was doing Europe.
There were thirty-seyen rooms in the |
house. 1t was mode,e3 IN wood after the |
famous Old aristocrat,c home OF Nine. Bon
aparte in Baltimore. only 1t was far more |
ornate and modern. There were great draw |
ing rooms on the frs. floor and an enor
nous dining room, where $4,000 worth Of
costly polished woods were used. The lag
chandeliers giittering masses Of cut |
glass and were bought by Sandy himself in
Paris. when he was showing the Prince of
Wales ret,nue that the Washae miner had
some money to spend. The mural and ceiling
decoration was done by several fresco artists
who came purDosely to the. Pacific coast to
do the Bowers job ard exquisite. The
velvet carpets came from Europe and in
those DAYS Of the Cicil and OF high
tariff duties the expense must nave been away
up. The hall and the stair carpets were woven
In sold pieces. There was statulry all over
the house. for Sandy bought quantities Of It
when he was in Ealy When niche had
been made in every possible s!ace in the
walls, by order Of Sandy. to accommodate his
statuary and two marble pieces remained
unprovided for. he had inches cut in the
kitchen walls for Psyche" and costly
''Shenherd Boy
It would take columns to tel the expen-
sive features of the Bowers mansion. But
| an idea may be had Of the orodigal Syaste
| of money there by the statement that even
the door knobs and door locks were, with
| great BIS in them. of solid silver. The stair
rods were OF solid silver and were tipped
| with gold. The hardwood mantels were
| inlaid with gold and the wainscoting Of the
upper rooms of mahogany.
NO PICTURES.
| When the Bowers were ready to move into
| their home they suddenly realized that they
had bought 70 pictures for the walls and
| no books for the elegantly carved cases in
the library. So a young lawyer named
| Pe.tys, from Sacramento, sent hurry
| ing across the continent to New York to buy
$4,000 worth of appropriate pictures and
| enough tUoks authors or matter was not
| thought of for the library.
| Out in the grounds elaborate stables and
| a private gas works had been built, several
| fountains carved from POLISHED granite were
| set ~ and rare exotics from everywhere
| planted about tue mouse.
| But in srite Of his royal home and splen-
| did environment Sandy Bowers and his wife
| always maintained democratic ways. Old
residents the Comstock tell Of how they
| used to see Mr. and Mrs. Sandy in their
| old clothes, and not the least personal
style about them, riding after a spanking
team Of bays in $1,5O0 carriage across the
| sage brush pains round about Virginia
| City and Carson City. All the miners and
their families IN the Washoe who had been
| friends ofo the Bowers in their days Of pow
fhn iofro r,d dtr,nd
! and feted. Frequently there were from fifteen
to twenty guests in the house fo- days at a
| tine.
| In 1864 the tide of Sandy Bowers fortune
| began to ebb and in the fall of 1854 the in
come from the mines had fallen off so per
cent. Sandy and his associates believed that
it only temporary. There seemed to
them heap of ore yet to be worked up. In
1865 and 1856 the income fell off every month
Everything went wrong at the mine. and
the several superintendent could not better
the fortunes Of the owners. In November,
1867, the Bowers income ceased, and from
that time until Sandy's death. in May, 1868,
the couple partially maintained their extrava-
giant life by selling off the articles in their
home. The paror furniture went in lump
to the Washoe club, at Virginia City, at a
sacrifice.
When Sandy Bowers died he left the man
sion mortgaged and somewhat dsmanted.
The widow met with financial disasters by
the half dozen, and ere she knew it there
was q
SHERIFF AT THE DOOR
to take the place for debt. That was in
1869. From that day to this Mrs Bowers
has gained a livelihood by al manner of
schemes. The old time miners have a ten
der spot in their hearts for one who has had
vicisstudes OF luck like their own-only in
much greater degree-and they have al
ways been generous with the forlorn. but
| cheerful, old lady. She has tod fortunes
and cast the horoscope for hundreds and hun
dreds of Nevada and California miners time
ana again, until she is universally known
the Washoe seeress.
, The ruins of Sandy Bowers mansion may
De seen today amid the pine trees on the
. mountain side, midway between Carson City
[ and Washoe. Thousands of people have Wis
tied the spot, and have wandered through
the wreck OF former gradeur awed at the
extraordinary vicissitudes of fortune in min
ing camps. The Ophir mills were long age
: dlsmantled and taken away, and only disin-
I tegrating heaps of masonry out in the sage
brush mark the site of busy hive of hui
man industry thirty years ago. In the yart
that Sandy Bowers spent several small for
tunes in converting into a most beautiful
: spot, with fountains rockerles artificia
= grottoes and abryinth of flower beds fern.
cries and winding walks, only an enormou.
granite fountain remains. Water stu run:
, IN the huge basin, and boys who OCCASIONAL,
, romp through the ruined residence go swim
J., ming In the basin. The grottces are heaps
,. of tumbled stones. Sage brush and clump
Of grass have overgrown the walks and OBJ
liberated the flower beds. while the prett,
ponds OF former days are filled with SAM
INV SASS. i uS TOOI OF the stable is falling
- ana not vestige remains of the aviary
Z winch was show feature to visitors in Wa
= shoe and Gold Hill over a generation ago,
. ohe must be very phlegmatc not to fee
tne pathos of swiftly decaying human cen
celt and sp-endor when he wanders through
e ire re dlsintegration of Sandy Bowers mansion
All that its builder thought would endur
= 70 perpetuate the name of Bowers in Neyad
4 Tor at ieart century is
:. GONE OR IN RUINS.
e Only the costly polished woods in the vain
= scotting, the inches for the statuary tn
: dingy and almost ob.iterated frescoes renal,
2 to tell the prodiga. cost.iness of this building
b Some windows are gone and others ar
: brcken; doors stand open and hang on rust
+ hinges. Birds nest in the rooms where tn
a Bowers used to give champagne suppers an
( OF dollars each. were once played by Com
d stock mil-ioaires The grand staircase
d which was the chef d'oeuvre of architects an
:, builders, is battered and fast going into de
Il cay. Inc air is mustv and dank oder pei
- vades the building The pictures, the stat
uary and the books were sold away niece
II meal so long ago that they only a remin
lscence now by the oid-timers Of Washo
= yaley. The silver doorknobs and locks an
r the golden-tipped stair rods were sod to a sa
" loon and gambling house in Virginia Cit
:. several years ago. and few of them are no,
Il scattered as relics all over Nevada and Cali
. fornia.
Il Out in the rear of the silent, ruined HON
e and the wreck of very beautiful grounds an
h on the steep hillside is tumb.e-down woode
& fence about tiny square of sage brush an
h cfaparral. The unmarked grave of Sand
II Bowers is there. Thrty-three wears ago I'll
d body. was borne to the grave amid all til
2 pomp and CORY that money could buy in til
u mining town. No one ever goes there nows
II days. The pine trees have grown rank abo,
q the grave, and in the breezes that come dow
To ho