Bowers Mansion

Few estates born from the discovery of the Comstock Lode still survive. Among the grandest, Bowers Mansion, dates to the height of the Civil War. The property has a tragic history shrouded in legend, laid bare within these pages: from the mansion’s construction; to Eilley Bowers’s fight to maintain the property after her husband’s death, running it as a resort and telling fortunes; to the mansion’s restoration in the sixties with aid of a handful of determined women. Bowers Mansion: The Legacy of a Comstock Family is a tale of wealth and poverty, of decay and revival, offering up a powerful story from Nevada’s history for readers of all kinds to enjoy.

Tamera J. Buzick is the Bowers Mansion curator. While teaching at Hug High School, she worked closely with Betty Hood as the historical researcher and traveled extensively in search of new information about the Bowers family. She is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno.
Ronald M. James is a retired Nevada state historic preservation officer, a former member of the National Park System advisory board, and one-time National Historic Landmarks Committee chair. He authored The Roar and the Silence: A History of Virginia City and the Comstock Lode, among other books, and was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.
Michael A. “Bert” Bedeau is a member of the Nevada State Board of Museums and History and a retired district administrator for the Comstock Historic District Commission. He has authored National Register of Historic Places nominations and secured a National Historic Landmark designation for McKeen Motor Car #70. Bedeau is a founding board member of Preserve Nevada, former president of the Society for Commercial Archaeology (SCA), and co-editor of its SCA Journal.