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Lädt ... A Woman Alone: Mona Bell, Sam Hill and the Mansion on Bonneville Rockvon John A. Harrison
Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch.  oregonobsessionz | Mar 15, 2010 |  keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Mona¿s impressive mansion 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon, was built in 1928 as a gift from her lover, the flamboyant entrepreneur Sam Hill, whose lasting works include the Maryhill Museum and the Columbia River Highway. That same year, their child, a boy, was born in Portland.
Three years later Sam, 33 years Mona¿s senior, was dead. The government condemned the mansion she loved, offering compensation Mona would deride as a pittance. For 15 months she battled the government in federal court with two of Sam¿s longtime friends at her side, a former Oregon governor as her attorney and the current governor as a witness.
While she won three times more than the government offered, she never outgrew the pain of losing both the man and the place she loved in quick succession. Her son was her obligation, but with her new wealth, travel and flowers, particularly lilies, became her passion. Later, her daughter-in-law would say, ¿she just was not cut out to be a mother. She was a woman alone, and she was OK with it.¿ Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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 Google Books — Lädt ...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)920History and Geography Biography, genealogy, insignia BiographyKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt: (3.5)
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Bonneville Dam, one of President Roosevelt's massive public works projects, is now a national historic site. A scenic drive on the Old Gorge Highway, with a stop at Bonneville to see the original powerhouse, navigation lock, and the fish hatchery, is on the must-do list for out of town visitors.
Over the years, I had heard stories that Sam Hill had built a mansion for his mistress on the hill overlooking the present day site of Bonneville Lock and Dam, but it is hard to imagine where such a mansion would fit on the truncated remains of Bonneville Rock. Working as a reporter for The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington, John A Harrison became intrigued with the story of the mansion and the woman who lived there. It took 20 years to do the research, and this slim volume is the result.
Edith Mona Bell was born in 1890 in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Tall and athletic, she was apparently quite a character from the beginning. She claimed she had performed in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show; she worked as a newspaper reporter in several cities; she married and divorced twice, but the details are sketchy. When Mona first met Sam Hill, sometime in 1910, she impressed him by putting her arms around him and lifting him off the floor.
By that time, Sam's wife Mary, who found little appeal in Seattle's rustic lifestyle, had moved to Washington, D.C., leaving Sam to pursue his business interests in the Northwest. Mary was a Roman Catholic, and they had been married by a priest, so divorce was out of the question. Mona became one of three mistresses who bore children by Sam Hill. Photos of these children now hang in the museum at Maryhill.
This book tells Mona's story (to the extent it can be pieced together; she hid her tracks well), her relationship with Sam Hill, the mansion, and her legal battle with the War Department over their appropriation of her property to construct worker housing for the Bonneville Lock and Dam project. (