Lemuel Sanford Bowers (nickname: "Sandy") (February 24, 1833 â€" April
21, 1868) was an American teamster of Irish descent, miner and owner
of the Crown Point Mine near Gold Hill, Nevada. Bowers and his wife
were the Nevada Territory's first millionaires. Their home, the Bowers
Mansion, was the first of the stately homes built in Nevada with the
wealth from the Comstock Lode.Bowers was born in Madison County,
Illinois. After coming west in 1856 and spending some time in
Sacramento, he soon traveled to Gold Hill. A new mining community
located south of where Virginia City, Nevada is today. Sandy quickly
began investing in mining claims. Once his claims were set, he bought,
sold and traded his investments.Bowers and James Rogers registered
their holdings for a 20-foot mining claim in Gold Canyon on January
28, 1859. In 1859, Eilley purchased Rogers' half of the claim for
$1,000 (approximately $28,000 today). Though she was married at the
time to someone else, Eilley married Bowers on August 9, 1859, and ten
months later, she divorced Alexander Cowan on grounds of
desertion.Their first two children, a son, John Jasper Bowers (June
28, 1860 â€" August 27, 1860), and a daughter, Theresa Fortunatas
Bowers (June 16, 1861 â€" September 17, 1861) died as infants. Shortly
thereafter, the Bowers decided to build a home and they travelled to
Europe between 1861 and 1863 to purchase furnishings for their mansion
and had a desire to meet Queen Victoria, who not give them an
audience. The couple returned to Nevada in April 1863, accompanied by
an adopted baby girl, Margaret Persia Bowers. With furnishings, they
spent $407,000 (approximately $6,653,000 today). Though Bowers could
only read and write a little, every book in the Bowers Mansion library
had his name on it. The Bowers Mansion in Carson City, Nevada,
completed in 1864, is an example of fine homes built in Nevada by
those who became rich as a result of the Comstock Lode mining boom. Sandy Bowers Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter