Harpending (Asbury) Papers, circa 1862-1919

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Summary

Title:
Asbury Harpending papers
Dates:
circa 1862-1919
Abstract:
Consists of correspondence, deeds, agreements, accounts, receipts, manuscript maps, and other papers reflecting Asbury Harpending's business and speculative activities in the Western United States, Kentucky, New York, and Latin America between the years 1862 and 1919. Although the collection contains some letters written by Harpending (mostly to his children), the bulk of the correspondence was written to Harpending by his friends and business associates—including and especially George D. Roberts—and concerns the many mining enterprises in which Harpending was involved. Deeds, accounts, receipts, and other financial records reflect Harpending's interests in numerous mining properties in the Western United States, Mexico, and Colombia. Of particular significance are papers related to Harpending's involvement in the Diamond Hoax (1871-1873), including letters and telegrams written by Philip Arnold, William C. Ralston, and George D. Roberts documenting events leading up to the discovery of the hoax in 1872, and the scandal's personal, legal, and financial aftermath.
Extent:
5 Linear Feet (12 manuscript boxes)
Language:
Collection materials are predominantly in English, with some documents in Spanish and French.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item] Asbury Harpending papers (MS 950). California Historical Society Collection at Stanford, Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collections consists of correspondence, deeds, agreements, accounts, receipts, manuscript maps, and other papers reflecting Asbury Harpending's business and speculative activities in the Western United States, Kentucky, New York, and Latin America between the years 1862 and 1919. Although the collection contains some letters written by Harpending (mostly to his children), the bulk of the correspondence was written to Harpending by his friends and business associates—including and especially George D. Roberts—and concerns the many mining enterprises in which Harpending was involved. Deeds, accounts, receipts, and other financial records reflect Harpending's interests in numerous mining properties in the Western United States, Mexico, and Colombia. Of particular significance are papers related to Harpending's involvement in the Diamond Hoax (1871-1873), including letters and telegrams written by Philip Arnold, William C. Ralston, and George D. Roberts documenting events leading up to the discovery of the hoax in 1872, and the scandal's personal, legal, and financial aftermath.

Papers in Series 1 (1862-1873) include correspondence, deeds, agreements, accounts, receipts, and other records related to Harpending's mining, railroad, and real estate investments in the Western United States and Mexico between the years 1863-1873. Papers dated between the years 1871-1873 document the role of Harpending and his associates in the Diamond Hoax, including letters, ciphered telegrams, agreements, and legal records. A cipher key, dated circa 1871, can be found in this series; undated cipher keys can also be found in Series 2 (Box 10, folder 5).

Papers in Series 2 (1874-1917) include letters, ciphered telegrams, accounts, receipts, and other records related to Harpending's business activities after the Diamond Hoax, with extensive records for the years 1874-1902. Particularly well documented are Harpending's investments in gold and mineral mines in the Tolima region of Colombia (circa 1883-1894) and in Amador and El Dorado counties, California (circa 1894-1902). Papers in this series also concern Harpending's investments in the New York mining share and grain, provisions, and cotton markets; his investments in mining enterprises throughout the Western United States; and the many legal disputes in which he was involved.

Biographical / historical:

Asbury Harpending was a native of Princeton, Kentucky. At the age of fifteen, he ran away from home, joining William Walker on his filibuster expedition to Nicaragua. In 1857, he traveled to California, making a fortune in gold mining in Camptonville, California, and, later, in Mexico. In 1860, he returned to San Francisco from Mexico a wealthy man. In the early 1860s, Harpending participated in Confederate conspiracies to establish a secessionist Republic of the Pacific (1860) and to intercept ships carrying gold bullion from San Francisco to the national capitol (1863). For the latter attempt, he was arrested, convicted of treason, and imprisoned at Alcatraz. He served ten months in prison before he was pardoned by President Lincoln.

Shortly after his release from Alcatraz, Harpending resumed his energetic entrepreneurial activities, investing in gold and mineral mines in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Mexico; railroads (including the Beckwourth Pass Route); and San Francisco real estate south of Market Street. Harpending gained notoriety, however, for his role in the swindle known as the Great Diamond Hoax (1872). According to his own account, Harpending was contacted in 1871 by his business partner and financier William C. Ralston after two Kentuckians, Philip Arnold and John Slack, had approached George D. Roberts (also a business associate of Harpending) and showed him gems purportedly taken from vast, hitherto undiscovered diamond fields somewhere in the American West. The men, with William M. Lent, George S. Dodge, and S. M. Barlow, formed a mining company in October 1871, declaring their respective interests in Arnold and Slack's "discovery" and attracting significant investment from major financiers. It was not until October 1872 that geologist Clarence King discovered the site of the purported field, determined that it had been "salted" with purchased gems, and rushed to publicize the fraud. Arnold and Slack were fingered as the perpetrators of the swindle; although he claimed innocence, Harpending's exact role in the hoax remains unclear.

After the Diamond Hoax was uncovered, Harpending returned to Kentucky, where he began investing in land, mining, and agricultural enterprises. His close associate Roberts remained in San Francisco, apparently embattled by the legal consequences of the Hoax. After a few years in Kentucky, Harpending relocated to New York, and began vigorously investing in the mining share and grain, provisions, and cotton markets. For over a decade (circa 1883-1894), he was an active investor in various gold and mineral mines in the Tolima region of Colombia, forming the Colon Consolidated Gold Mining Company, Las Casas Gold Mining Company, and El Cristo Gold and Silver Mining Company. Around 1894, Harpending returned to California, where he began investing in gold mines in Amador and El Dorado counties, forming the Lucille Gold Mining Company, the Havilah Gold Mining Company, and the Union Gold Mining Company; he managed the latter company for many years. Throughout the post-Diamond Hoax period, Harpending was continuously embroiled in legal disputes centering on his business activities. His autobiography, The Great Diamond Hoax and other stirring incidents in the life of Asbury Harpending, was published in 1913.

Acquisition information:
Source unknown. Transferred to Stanford University Libraries in 2025.
Processing information:

The collection was reprocessed and additions incorporated by Marie Silva in 2014. More additions were incorporated by Louisa Brandt in 2017.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in chronological order. Scope and content notes have been added at the folder level to facilitate discovery.

Physical location:
Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged three business days in advance. For more information on paging collections, see the department's website: https://library.stanford.edu/libraries/special-collections.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Marie Silva.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-12-04 15:57:32 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged three business days in advance. For more information on paging collections, see the department's website: https://library.stanford.edu/libraries/special-collections.

Terms of access:

Material in the public domain does not have any restrictions on use.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item] Asbury Harpending papers (MS 950). California Historical Society Collection at Stanford, Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
chscollection@stanford.edu
Website