Bowers Mansion: The Comstock's First Fortune in Washoe Valley

Bowers Mansion sits in Washoe Valley, roughly 20 miles south of Reno, a two-story stone house with a spring-fed pool in its backyard. It was built on the first great fortune of the Comstock Lode. Its owners, Lemuel Sanford “Sandy” Bowers and Eilley Orrum Bowers, were a Gold Hill miner and a Scottish-born boardinghouse keeper, and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office calls them “probably the first millionaires produced by the famous find in Gold Canyon.”

Their story is one of the West's great rags-to-riches-to-ruin tales. The fortune came fast, the house and the European shopping trip were spectacular, and within about a decade Sandy was dead, their adopted daughter was gone, and Eilley was losing everything. Because the figures in this story are so often repeated and so rarely documented, we have named our sources throughout and flagged the places where they disagree. The wider boom behind it is told in our guide to Virginia City and the Comstock Lode.

Eilley and Sandy Bowers

Eilley was born Alison Orrum (the surname is also spelled Oram) on September 6, 1826, in Forfar, Scotland, according to Wikipedia and the Nevada Women's History Project. Her first husband, Stephen Hunter, joined the Mormon church, and the couple sailed for America in 1849 and reached Salt Lake City, but they separated by about 1850. She married Alexander Cowan in 1853. When Cowan returned to Utah in 1857, Eilley stayed in the Washoe country, where she ran a boardinghouse at the Johntown mining camp and later in Gold Hill.

Sandy Bowers was born February 24, 1833, in Madison County, Illinois (per Wikipedia), and came west in 1856. By the late 1850s he was one of countless young men chasing color in Gold Canyon, in what would soon be called the Comstock.

A Comstock Fortune

The state historical marker puts it simply: as strangers, Sandy and Eilley held adjoining claims, and after a rich vein was struck they were soon married. They wed on August 9, 1859. Beyond that, accounts differ on the details. Wikipedia reports that Sandy registered a 20-foot claim with James Rogers on January 28, 1859, and that Eilley bought Rogers's half for $1,000. It also says miners paid Eilley for board and laundry with pieces of their own claims. A Las Vegas museum's biography of Eilley says she received ten feet of the Lode in payment for room and board. Treat the exact footage and the order of events as unsettled.

What is not in doubt is the scale. A 1970 Gold Hill marker, placed by the Julia C. Bulette Chapter of E Clampus Vitus, names the Imperial Company gloryhole as the source of the first Comstock millionaires, Eilley and Sandy, and says it produced more than $1,000,000 in gold and silver. For a boardinghouse keeper and a miner, the leap to wealth took a matter of months, in the same silver rush that built the boomtown next door.

The Granite Mansion in Washoe Valley

The Bowers chose Washoe Valley, a green and watered pocket well below the smoke of the mines. The National Park Service says the land was first bought in 1856 by Eilley and her earlier husband, Alex Cowan. The house was designed by J. Neely Johnson, a builder and former governor of California, and blends Georgian and Italianate styles. The National Park Service says Eilley drew on her memories of elegant buildings in Scotland, and Scottish stonecutters did the work.

The Archipedia architectural guide describes the walls as granite quarried from the hills behind the house, trimmed with sandstone, with corner quoins, a veranda, and an octagonal cupola on a shallow hipped roof. A natural hot spring on the grounds predates the house.

Even the date is contested. The National Park Service and Wikipedia give 1863. The state historical marker (No. 166) says 1864, and a 2005 Northern Nevada Business Weekly account says construction began in 1864. Treat it as 1863 to 1864. The cost is murkier still. Wikipedia says $300,000, the National Park Service says $400,000, and Travel Nevada says “over a quarter-million dollars.” No source we found documents the figure, so read all of them as rough estimates of an enormous sum.

The Grand Tour

While the house was planned, the Bowers went shopping. The National Park Service and Wikipedia date their European tour to 1861–1863. Wikipedia's Eilley Bowers entry has her sailing from San Francisco on May 2, 1862, aboard the steamer Golden Gate and returning in March 1863, while its Sandy Bowers entry says April 1863, and the Nevada Women's History Project says the trip lasted ten months. They came home with antiques, marble statuary, paintings, and furniture. One popular telling adds doorknobs and hinges of solid gold and silver, a detail we would call lore.

The amount spent is not settled either. Wikipedia's Sandy Bowers entry gives $407,000 for the furnishings, while the Culture Trip says $100,000, a gap of four to one. Wikipedia also says the couple tried and failed to win an audience with Queen Victoria. We found no corroboration for that.

They also came home with a baby. Eilley and Sandy had lost two infants, John Jasper in 1860 and Theresa in 1861. They returned with an adopted daughter, Margaret Persia Bowers, whose adoption the Nevada Women's History Project says was kept private.

From Riches to Ruin

The marker lays out the decline plainly: “The richness of their vein gave out, a new mill was destroyed, financiers balked, and then Sandy died in 1868.” He died on April 21, 1868, at age 35, of silicosis, which Wikipedia reports and the Las Vegas museum calls lung disease. Wikipedia, the only source we found for the figure, says his estate was valued at $638,000.

Eilley kept the house going. She rented rooms and hosted parties, and by 1873 she was running the property as a resort, according to Wikipedia. It was not enough. Persia died on July 14, 1874, at age 12, possibly of a ruptured appendix, per Wikipedia. The Nevada Women's History Project adds that Eilley sold her mine to George Waters in 1870 under financial pressure.

The loss of the house is where the sources split. Wikipedia reports an April 1876 court ruling for $13,622.17 and a foreclosure auction on May 3, 1876, at which Myron C. Lake bought the property for $10,000. The Culture Trip and the Nevada Women's History Project also say 1876. The state historical marker says 1878, and we have treated that as the outlier. Either way, the mansion was gone within a decade of Sandy's death.

The Washoe Seeress's Last Years

Eilley turned to the one asset nobody could foreclose on. She billed herself as “Mrs. L. S. Bowers, The Famous Washoe Seeress” and read the future with a “peep stone” that Wikipedia says she brought from Scotland. Wikipedia credits her with predicting, among other things, the 1875 fire that destroyed much of Virginia City. That is reputation as reported, not something we can verify.

The decline continued. The Nevada Women's History Project says she vanished from Nevada in 1882 and turned up in San Francisco. Wikipedia says hearing loss ended her scrying, and the Las Vegas museum says she went blind and deaf. In 1901 she was in the Washoe County poorhouse in Reno. Wikipedia says that in August 1901 California agreed to pay for her care and sent her to San Francisco with $30. She spent her last two years at the King's Daughters Home in Oakland and died on October 27, 1903, at age 77. With help from Henry Riter, who then owned the property, her ashes were returned to Washoe Valley and buried behind the mansion beside Sandy and Persia (Las Vegas museum).

The Mansion Today

After Myron Lake the property passed through a succession of owners. The historical marker says Henry Riter (also spelled Ritter and Rider in various sources) ran it as a popular resort from 1903 to 1946. In 1946 it was sold to the Reno Civic Club and Washoe County, according to that 2005 account. In the 1960s county voters approved a bond that helped fund restoration, which the marker dates to 1967. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 31, 1976.

Today it is the centerpiece of Bowers Mansion Regional Park, run by Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space, with picnic areas, playgrounds, hiking trails, the family cemetery, and a seasonal pool beside the museum. The National Park Service says some 500 Nevada families have donated period furniture to the house. Washoe County's 2026 schedule lists guided tours of 30 to 45 minutes at 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00, on Saturdays only from September 12 through October 24 and on Nevada Day, Friday, October 30. Adult tickets are $10 and seniors and children ages 6 to 17 are $7, with no reservations and sales opening 10 minutes before each tour. Hours and prices change, so confirm with Washoe County Parks before you go. The valley's other great Comstock-era house is covered in The Winters Mansion: Washoe Valley's White Mansion.

At a Glance: Bowers Mansion

• Sandy and Eilley Bowers held adjoining Gold Hill claims and married on August 9, 1859; the state marker calls them probably the first Comstock millionaires.
• The Washoe Valley mansion dates to 1863 or 1864, designed by former California governor J. Neely Johnson with Scottish stonecutters and, per Archipedia, local granite.
• Cost estimates run from over $250,000 to $400,000, and none is documented, so treat them as rough.
• Sandy died April 21, 1868, and Persia died July 14, 1874; the foreclosure is dated 1876 by most sources and 1878 by the state marker.
• Eilley became the “Washoe Seeress,” entered the poorhouse, and died in Oakland on October 27, 1903, with her ashes buried behind the mansion.
• Today it is Bowers Mansion Regional Park, a seasonal museum with guided tours and a pool, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who built Bowers Mansion?

Sandy and Eilley Bowers, who struck it rich on adjoining Comstock claims in 1859. The design is credited to J. Neely Johnson, a former California governor, with Scottish stonecutters doing the stonework.

How much did Bowers Mansion cost?

Nobody can say precisely. Wikipedia gives $300,000, the National Park Service $400,000, and Travel Nevada over a quarter-million dollars. The furnishings are given as $407,000 in one Wikipedia entry and $100,000 by the Culture Trip. All of these figures are estimates.

What happened to the Bowers fortune?

The vein gave out, a new mill was destroyed, and financiers balked, according to the state marker. Sandy died in 1868, Persia in 1874, and Eilley lost the house to foreclosure, most sources say in 1876. She died in Oakland in 1903.

Can you visit Bowers Mansion today?

Yes. It is part of Bowers Mansion Regional Park in Washoe Valley, with seasonal guided tours and a seasonal pool. Check Washoe County Parks for current dates, times, and prices before you go.

Conclusion

The Bowers fortune lasted barely ten years, but the house outlived nearly everything else in the story: the mines that paid for it, the resort that kept it alive, and the woman who built it and died penniless. Standing in front of that granite and sandstone, with Sandy, Eilley, and Persia buried behind it, you are looking at one of the clearest pictures the Comstock left of what its first fortunes were meant to buy.

To bring a piece of that era home, explore our curated collection at The Eclection, or see where we will be next at the Reno Antique Faire.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study, these Nevada institutions are reliable, non-commercial starting points:

• Online Nevada Encyclopedia — Nevada Humanities' reference articles on the Comstock, including Sandy and Eilley Bowers.
• Nevada Historical Society — the Reno museum and research library for Nevada history.
• Nevada State Historic Preservation Office — the state's historical markers and National Register program.