Public Opinion and the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872
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ABSTRACT “A DELIBERATE AND ODDLY PLANNED MASTERPIECE OF ROGUERY”: PUBLIC OPINION AND THE GREAT DIAMOND HOAX OF 1872 In August 1872, a mining company in San Francisco, California started a diamond rush that lasted for four months until the scheme was exposed as an elaborate hoax. The story of The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872 is regularly retold as a legend of the frontier, but it also sheds light on the broader social context of the postbellum West. The diamond hoax forced westerners to consider where they placed their trust at a time when war-weary Americans familiar with eastern humbug were migrating into the region in search of a fresh start. This duality, a jaded skepticism existing at the same moment as a hope for prosperity, played itself out in the western public’s reception of the diamond hoax. Both the press and the scientific community functioned as interpreters of the diamond news for the western population. The press explained the hoax through local priorities and reflected the widespread skepticism of the era. The scientific community, on the other hand, and their silent partner the federal government, were increasingly trusted as legitimate protectors of the public good. This was reinforced when a prominent federal geologist revealed the diamond hoax to the public. The newspaper coverage of this brief diamond rush reveals the irregular trajectory of information exchange in the postbellum American West and highlights the role of scientific experts and the western press as cultural intermediaries between rural settlements and urban hegemony. Katy Lee Hogue May 2017 “A DELIBERATE AND ODDLY PLANNED MASTERPIECE OF ROGUERY”: PUBLIC OPINION AND THE GREAT DIAMOND HOAX OF 1872 by Katy Lee Hogue A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History in the College of Social Sciences California State University, Fresno May 2017 APPROVED For the Department of History: We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the university and the student's graduate degree program for the awarding of the master's degree. Katy Lee Hogue Thesis Author Blain Roberts (Chair) History Ethan Kytle History Daniel Cady History For the University Graduate Committee: Dean, Division of Graduate Studies AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION OF MASTER’S THESIS X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in its entirety without further authorization from me, on the condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of authorship. Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must be obtained from me. Signature of thesis author: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project could not have been accomplished without the support of the women in my family. Thank you, Mom and Sara. I can’t express how much you mean to me. None of this would be possible without your patience, encouragement, and the occasional kick in the rear. My master’s degree will always remind me of your continual support. I would also like to thank the fantastic faculty in the Fresno State History Department. Thank you to Blain Roberts, Ethan Kytle and Dan Cady for guiding me through this process. I also want to acknowledge the support provided by Brad Jones, Frederick Vermote, Maria-Apericeda Lopes, and Lori Clune in my academic career. The warm community they have created encouraged me in my undergraduate career, motivated me to pursue a graduate degree, and continues to inspire in my professional life. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 Historiography ................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2: HUMBUG CULTURE AND SKEPTICISM IN THE RURAL ARIZONA PRESS ...................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 3: MINING EXPERTS AND SCIENTIFIC LEGITIMACY IN THE POSTBELLUM WEST ...................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 58 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Every few days news would come of the discovery of a bran-new mining region; immediately the papers would teem with accounts of its richness, and away the surplus population would scamper to take possession. Mark Twain, Roughing It1 In the summer of 1872, the San Francisco & New York Mining and Commercial Company announced an exciting American diamond discovery with a stunning display at the Bank of California. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on August 4 that hundreds of people went to see the exhibition. The diamonds proved to be so popular that they had to be removed within a few days because “the rush of people greatly hindered the transaction of business in the office.”2 Diamond fever quickly took over the city and spread throughout the West. Over the next four months, speculation about the exact location of the new mine fed the craze until the fantastic discovery was exposed as an elaborate hoax. In November 1872, Clarence King created headlines from San Francisco to London when he discovered that the supposed mine had been extensively “salted.”3 American mining veterans had been expecting a diamond discovery ever since the gems had been found in South Africa five years before. After Golconda, India and Minas Gerais, Brazil, Cape Colony soon became the third major diamond producing region in the world, which dramatically increased the number 1 Mark Twain, Roughing It (Hartford, CN: American Publishing Company, 1872), Chapter 26, Kindle. 2 “The Diamond Mines,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 4, 1872, accessed April 3, 2015, http://www.genealogybank.com. 3 “Salted! The Diamond Bubble Bursts,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 25, 1872, accessed April 13, 2016, http://www.genealogybank.com. 2 2 of diamonds on the world market.4 Due to this influx, diamonds became newly affordable for the middle class, rather than the exclusive province of the extremely wealthy. Eager to take advantage of the newfound demand, knowledgeable miners noted that regions in the American West closely resembled those of South Africa. In the months leading up to the announcement of the diamond discovery, western newspapers were full of stories of diamond hunters both at home and abroad.5 In his memoir, The Great Diamond Hoax: And Other Stirring Incidents in the Life of Asbury Harpending, one of the original stockholders in the San Francisco & New York Mining and Commercial Company described the series of events that led up to the Bank of California exhibit.6 Philip Arnold, a veteran miner from the California gold rush and New Mexico silver mines, planned to take advantage of the heightened interest in diamonds with an elaborate confidence game.7 In the fall of 1870, he began his scheme by taking diamonds he had purchased to San Francisco and approaching a mining investor he knew from prior association. Arnold claimed the gems were from a new American diamond mine, but refused to share its location. Even though he was sworn to secrecy, the 4 “The History of Diamonds: The History of Diamond Mining and Diamonds in South Africa,” Cape Town Diamond Museum, accessed October 13, 2016, http://www.capetowndiamondmuseum.org/ about-diamonds/south-african-diamond-history. 5 “The African Diamond Fields. A Diamond Digger's Story of the Mining Operations of South Africa,” San Francisco Bulletin, July 16, 1872, accessed April 12, 2015, http://www.genealogybank .com. “The Glittering Glamour,” Puget Sound Weekly Argus (Port Townsend, WA), August 1, 1872, accessed May 17, 2015, http://www.genealogybank.com. 6 Asbury Harpending, The Great Diamond Hoax: And Other Stirring Incidents in the Life of Asbury Harpending (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958). 7 Arnold’s cousin, John Slack, and their friend James Cooper have also been associated with originating the diamond hoax. Slack took two payments of $50,000 and left the diamond venture for obscurity before the public knew about the discovery. Cooper has only been mentioned as a friend who worked at a drill works and provided drill-bit diamonds at the beginning of the hoax. For the sake of clarity, I am leaving them out of my narrative, since Arnold was recognized at the time as the originator of the fraud. 3 3 speculator was so excited by the possibility of a diamond discovery that he took the news to the president of the Bank of California, and they contacted their mutual friend and fellow mining speculator, Asbury Harpending.8 These three businessmen quickly offered to buy Arnold out, but he held out for a larger payday. The investors agreed to fund another trip to the new mine so they could confirm the wealth of the discovery.9 To fool the investors, Arnold went to London to purchase rough South African and Brazilian diamonds in bulk.10 In the summer of 1871, Arnold returned to San Francisco and Harpending remembered, “A sheet was spread on my billiard table; I cut the elaborate fastenings of the sack and, taking hold of the lower corners, dumped the contents. It seemed like a dazzling, many-colored cataract of light.”11 Satisfied with the mine’s production, the growing syndicate of San Francisco investors decided to take ten percent of the diamonds to New York for authentication. At a publicity event created by their New York attorney, a well- known jeweler examined the stones in the presence of local dignitaries. The stockholders formed the Golconda Mining Company when the stones were valued at $150,000. The financiers attempted to keep the exciting news to themselves while they arranged to have the mine tested in by highly-respected mining engineer, Henry Janin. At that point, Arnold returned to London to purchase more uncut diamonds. In the fall of 1871, he had to find a remote area to “salt” with gems to complete the ruse.12 8 Harpending, The Great Diamond Hoax, 146-148. 9 Bruce A.