Eilley Orrum, Nevada Millionaire
used to. She had to sell stock to pay for further development. Eventually, she sold enough stock, she no longer had majority interest. Mr. Sharron's bank now owned her property.
She wanted to build a large resort near the mansion, but she didn't have enough money. A friend came up with a scheme to sell tickets for a lottery in which her mansion was the prize. As it turned out an unsold ticket was picked. So she still kept the house and the money. She put the money towards her outstanding debt. Now she had enough to refinance her house and build her resort.
She gave a huge grand opening in which marching bands played, the dance hall was opened, and food and wine flowed freely. Not long after this her daughter Persia died from scarlet fever at the age of 12. She threw a big picnic for the Miner's Union afterward to drown her sorrows.
She had always claimed to have "second sight" and had, in fact, predicted the Yellow Jacket mine fire in 1874. She started calling herself the Washoe Seeress. She predicted that the next big mines would be in the northern part of the vein. Unfortunately, she didn't have any of her own money to invest. She added on 18 rooms to her resort and took in borders, but she still had a net loss. She was even doing "readings" in her "peep-stone" for money.
Ultimately the bank foreclosed on her mansion. After New Year's 1877, she was forced to leave the mansion. The bank allowed her to occupy a small cottage on the property. She continued to read people's fortunes and even moved to San Francisco for a short time to read fortunes. She moved into the Home of the King's Daughters, a Masonic facility in San Francisco. She stayed there until 1903, when Henry Riter brought the mansion and allowed her to move back in. Unfortunately, she died, at 76, before she could return. She died still believing that a resurgence of the Comstock was just around the corner.
(SOURCE: Eilley Orrum, Queen of the Comstock, Swift Paine, Alta, California: Pacific Books, 1949.)
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