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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
Title: Asbury Harpending papers
creator:
Harpending, Asbury.
Identifier/Call Number: MS 950
Physical Description:
12 boxes
(5 linear feet)
Date (inclusive): circa 1862-1919
Language of Material: Collection materials are predominantly in
English, with some documents in Spanish and French.
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.
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates:
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All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives, North Baker Research
Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Consent
is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the owner of the physical items
and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission
must be obtained from the copyright owner. Restrictions also apply to digital
representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Asbury Harpending papers, MS 950, California Historical
Society.
Photographs have been separated from the collection and shelved under the call number MSP
950. Identified portraits may have been separated from the collection and filed in the
Portraits Collection.
The collection was reprocessed and additions incorporated by Marie Silva in 2014. More
additions were incorporated by Louisa Brandt in 2017.
The collection is arranged in chronological order. Scope and content notes have been added
at the folder level to facilitate discovery.
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.
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Hoaxes--West (U.S.)
Swindlers and swindling--West (U.S.)
Mines and mineral resources--California.
Mines and mineral resources--Colombia.
Mines and mineral resources--Mexico.
Mines and mineral resources--West (U.S.)
Cipher and telegraph codes--Mining.
Manuscript maps.
Telegrams.
Harpending, Asbury--Archives.
Arnold, Philip.
Ralston, William Chapman, 1826-1875.
Roberts, George D.