The only residents during these decades have been the estate manager, his dogs, and a tame family of foxes. Up close, Bellosguardo appears to be in pristine condition. Bill Dedman heard the story of the American heriess and wanted to find out more. She’s wasn’t ill.Īnd her homes remained empty. She ate austere lunches of crackers and sardines and watched television, most avidly “The Flintstones.” A housekeeper kept the dolls’ dresses impeccably ironed.Īnd one day she went to hospital. Clark lived in the apartment in near solitude, amid a profusion of dollhouses and their occupants. Time stood still.įor the quarter-century that followed, Mrs. When Huguette inherited Bellosguardo from her mother in 1963, she gave the staff two instructions: Everything was to be kept in “first-class condition,” and nothing was to change. Later returned to office by the legislature, he served one term, from 1901 to 1907.Ĭlarks’ favorite portrait artist, Tadé Styka. He vacated the seat in May 1900 as the Senate weighed a resolution to void his election. He took up his Senate seat in December 1899. Clark, a Democrat, was reported to have loosed a cataract of thousand-dollar bills on the Montana statehouse, to no small effect. By this time Montana was a state under the United States Constitution, senators of the period were elected by their state legislatures. Clark went out and bought one, at least temporarily. In the late 1890s, desiring a Senate seat, Mr. He then set about securing political influence. After 1870 open-range cattle operations spread across the high plains, taking advantage of the free public-domain land.ĭuring the 1880’s railroads crossed Montana, and the territory became a state in 1889. Cattle ranches began flourishing in western valleys during the 1860’s as demand for beef in the new mining communities increased.

Miners weren’t the only early settlers in Montana. Little Big Horn Battle Survivors, Cheyenne Tsistsistas ( via)

The book empty mansions