Last Bonanza Kings

The Bourns of San Francisco

Ferol Egan

• Publisher: University of Nevada Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780874177862
• eBook ISBN:
  9780874178494
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: History

Much of the wealth from the great mining bonanzas of the nineteenth century American West flowed into San Francisco and made possible the growth of the city and some fabulous personal fortunes. Among the wealthiest and most powerful of the Bonanza Kings were William Bowers Bourn I and his son and successor, William Bowers Bourn II. Their wealth came from rich mines in Nevada's Comstock Lode and Treasure Hill and California's Sierra foothills, as well as astute business ventures in the booming port city of San Francisco. Last Bonanza Kings tells their story with all the colorful detail and sweeping sense of epic drama that the characters and their times demand, setting them into the turbulent context of an age of rampant financial and civic growth, major technological advances in mining, lavish philanthropy, and opulent personal lifestyles.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Chapter 1 - Planting the Seed
• Chapter 2 - Westward Vision
• Chapter 3 - Bound for California
• Chapter 4 - San Francisco: A Rough City of Golden Dreams
• Chapter 5 - An Interlude of Family Happiness
• Chapter 6 - Bourn's Nevada Adventures
• Chapter 7 - Bourn's Luck
• Chapter 8 - Tragedy and Responsibility
• Chapter 9 - The Cambridge Years
• Chapter 10 - Young Bourn and the Empire Mine
• Chapter 11 - The Napa Valley Years
• Chapter 12 - San Francisco: City of Promise
• Chapter 13 - Expanding Horizons
• Chapter 14 - The New Century
• Chapter 15 - Growing Fortunes
• Chapter 16 - Water, Land, and Politics
• Chapter 17 - The Changing Times
• Chapter 18 - The Final Years
• Notes
• Sources and Acknowledgments
• Index