Shakespeare Ghost Town and Grant County Chronicles

 

George D. Roberts

 

 

One of the reasons why the written history of Ralston City and the Virginia Mining District has been so muddled and error – laden from the very beginning is that few people ever realized that the silver boom of 1870 was little more than a very elaborate stock float scam. From day one it was never intended to be anything else; the elaborateness of the scam itself (coupled with poor research) contributing to the muddle.

Another reason is that very few accounts pay much heed to Roberts’ involvement in the Virginia Mining District. Perhaps one of Roberts’ greatest talents was his ability to, more often than not, maintain a degree of disassociation between himself and the scam. There was always a “front-man”, someone whose name would be more directly linked to it and who would, therefore, come to be the one most closely associated with it. In this case that person was Asbury Harpending, who would again be Roberts’ front-man in a much more famous fraud in 1872.

Most accounts of events at the Virginia Mining District focus on Harpending, W. D. Brown, and Philip Arnold. There are many references to “Harpending and Company” or “The Harpending Mining Company”, which might lead one to think that Harpending was at the head of those companies formed to float stock in the mines of the District. This is not so, and in fact there were no such companies. In the Incorporation papers of those companies which were formed to promote the mines, Harpending’s name is nowhere to be found. George D. Roberts’ name however appears in each of them.

Duane Smith describes Roberts as “a ruthless sort who cut his teeth on California and Nevada mining speculations.”²⁸ Dempsey and Fell describe “the shipwrecks of mines, reputations, and fortunes” which Roberts left behind him.²⁹  All of these authors were writing about Roberts’ unscrupulous activities in Colorado in 1880, where he is reported to have turned a mine by the name of the “Robinson” into a stock float scam on the New York Stock Exchange, and to have ruined another mine named the “Chrysolite.”

By 1880, Roberts had a well-established career in the buying and selling of mining properties. He had located the “Ophir Hill” lode at Grass Valley, Nevada County, California in 1850, and had interests in several other properties there. Many names  linked to that of Roberts at various times are also found associated with other mining operations at Grass Valley.³⁰

In 1867, Roberts, along with William Lent and S. Heydenfeldt, were named as the trustees of the “Rising Star Silver Mining Company” which operated in Idaho.  Lent and Heydenfeldt are another two men who would maintain an association with Roberts.

 

How can we be certain that what took place in the Virginia Mining District in 1870 was really one of Roberts’ fraudulent ventures?  A comparison of the strategies employed in the Virginia Mining District promotion with those of the “State Line” shows remarkable similarities between the two.

 

The Lack of Water/Plans to Obtain and Transport It

At both the “State Line” and at the Virginia Mining District, Roberts knew from the outset that there was either no water or a grave insufficiency of it. Water – and a good and steady supply of it – was an absolutely vital element to any working mine. It was needed in order to provide steam power for the operation of on-site stamp mills, and for any subsequent on-site processing of the crushed ore. It was even essential to that most basic of processes – the crushing of ore in an arrastra.³¹

 

 

 

The Daily New Mexican of April 26, 1870, reported that Ralston City had no running water nearer than 20 or 30 miles away, while the Weekly Arizonan of April 16^th had reported that, despite the fact that it had originally been supposed that water was unavailable for a distance of at least 12 miles away, a spring had recently been discovered right at the site which was capable of supplying “sufficient water to answer all purposes.” This spring could be accessed at “not more than two feet below the surface.”

Here we need to consider the sources of these two conflicting reports. The Editors of the Daily New Mexican state that their report was contained in a letter “from a friend in La Mesilla”, once again possibly Sam J. Jones, or at least someone with no direct connection to the Roberts/Harpending operation. The second report, of ample water having been discovered, was given to the Weekly Arizonan by Charles O. Brown. Brown was a well-known figure in Tucson at the time. He owned a large saloon there, and had lived in Arizona for a number of years. Brown had a vested interest in ensuring that the Virginia Mining District received good publicity; he had claims there. He owned 100 feet in the “Devin” mine and 200 feet in another on the Harpending ledge. The April 16^th report describes him as having 20 pounds of ore from the Ralston mines on display at his saloon, and also as having recently returned from Ralston, reporting that there were over 100 people at the place of which “all, or nearly all, own valuable claims.” What better place to promote Ralston than in a popular saloon in Tucson frequented by the mining community. It seems that Mr. Brown liked to exhibit “prizes” at his saloon. In February of 1870, the Weekly Arizonan reported that “the scalp of the Indian killed by Col. Barnard” was on exhibition at “Charley Brown’s Saloon.”³²

Sam J. Jones, writing to the Daily New Mexican in April of 1870, says that:

It is proposed to bring a sufficiency of water from Cienega de San Simon, or the Gila, by means of machinery and pipes, a distance of 25 miles, for the purpose of running stamp mills.³³

Another letter to the Daily New Mexican printed on May 23^rd  says that water could be found in plentiful quantities by sinking wells – this time to a depth of 12 to 15 feet – but, should that provide an insufficient amount, water could be brought in from the Cienega at San Simon, approximately 18 miles away. The second letter was written by John S. Crouch who, by the time the census was enumerated at Ralston in August of 1870, was the Recorder for the Virginia Mining District.

What Harpending and, by proxy, Roberts, were associated with are the reports that it was planned to bore artesian wells at Ralston. Of course, the machinery necessary to achieving this goal, just like all the other machinery and equipment promised for Ralston, never materialized, nor was it ever intended that it should. Just like the rich ore specimens being exhibited at various places, this was all part of the “false and misleading promotions and exaggerated statements” referred to in the Preface to Part IV.

The Daily New Mexican of April 26, 1870, contains the first reference to artesian wells, stating that it was expected that artesian wells would soon be furnishing all the water needed for mining operations at Ralston, and that the necessary tools and machinery were “already on the way from California.”

On July 16, 1870, the Weekly Arizonan published a report attributed to C. O. Brown who had:

Received a letter from a friend in San Francisco to the effect that … materials and implements for the sinking of an artesian well were shipped from San Francisco and are now enroute for Arizona, to be put into operation at the Burro Mines.

From the Daily New Mexican of August 22, 1870:

The artesian well boring apparatus will soon be in operation, and it is expected that abundant water can be procured for all necessary mining operations.

The Weekly New Mexican, September 13, 1870, declared that the news from Ralston was that:

The machinery for boring the artesian well is on the ground, and work will commence at once.

This is the last report regarding the sinking of an artesian well at Ralston; no further items on the subject could be found in newspapers. The artesian well seems to have died a quiet death.

 

Machinery for the Mines 

The progress of the machinery necessary to mining operations at Ralston appears to have followed a similar pattern to that of the well boring equipment, as the following references illustrate:

• Weekly Arizonan, May 7, 1870:

Some time must necessarily elapse before silver can be procured in paying quantities … as the delay of transporting machinery necessary to the reduction of the quartz will be very considerable.

• Daily New Mexican, May 23, 1870:

Mills from the Pacific coast are enroute and will soon arrive … the necessary machinery for working the ores will have to come from the eastern states or California, which will necessarily delay operation … tons of ore will be in readiness for the mills as soon as they can be got in running order.

(This in the letter written by John S. Crouch referred to earlier.)

• Weekly Arizonan, May 28, 1870:

As soon as the necessary arrangements can be made in San Francisco the Company will forward machinery, and commence operations in good earnest.

• Weekly Arizonan, July 16, 1870, in the letter received by C. O. Brown from California: “a 20 stamp mill” was among the equipment shipped from San Francisco and on its way to Ralston.
• Daily New Mexican, August 22, 1870:

The machinery for some of the mines is already near that city [Ralston City], having been brought up the Colorado River as far as the steamers could proceed and thence taken overland.

• Weekly New Mexican, September 13, 1870:

All our waiting for the San Francisco capitalists, to commence work, and as they will at present do nothing further than test the ores so as to order the requisite machinery next spring, this winter will be a hard one to the poor miners at Ralston.

• Weekly New Mexican, October 11, 1870:

At Ralston it is reported that Californians are bringing machinery to work the ores in that vicinity.

• Weekly Arizonan, November 19, 1870:

Mr. Harpending … is actually negotiating for the purchase of the necessary machinery, which will be shipped from New York at an early day, if, indeed, it has not already been shipped, and which will probably be enroute through Arizona in the course of a few months. Within the next year Harpending & Co. expect to have one thousand stamps in operation, some of which will have commenced work by mid-summer of the coming year.

(Note the reference to 1,000 stamps. The largest stamp mill in the world ever erected was the 300 stamp mill established in Alaska in 1899 by the Alaska Treadwell Mining Company. Of course, it is unclear here whether Harpending is alluding to a single mill of 1,000 stamps – which would be highly unlikely –  or to multiple smaller mills. 20 stamp mills seem to have been the most common.)

Just like the updates on the much awaited arrival of well boring equipment, the updates on the expected arrival of the other machinery, including a stamp mill, eventually tail off and fade away altogether.  Even the most cursory reading of the above newspaper excerpts, as presented in chronological order, brings to light a number of discrepancies; in May the machinery is to be forwarded soon, in August it has almost arrived at its destination, and in September it is reported that the machinery will not even be ordered until the following Spring.

This of course was all part of the stalling process; a process which seems to have become much more refined by the time of the “State Line” affair in 1880. By this time Roberts had perhaps realized that he needed to provide something more tangible than constant promises that a water supply and machinery were on their way. A much more effective and plausible stall would be in place if they were actually on-site, hence the laying of pipe and the erection of a mill at the “State Line”.

As would happen with the “State Line”, the public’s attentions were diverted away from the stalling process. Newspapers continuously printed reports on the marvelous quantities and qualities of the ores at Ralston, and they effused about the specimens being displayed and the assays obtained. Such reports are far too numerous to list in full; what follows are just a few examples. Although this continual reproducing of newspaper items may appear tedious and repetitive, it is done with a specific purpose in mind; the reader is asked to make careful note of the dates of the various excerpts, the newspapers in which they appeared, and the specific details contained in them.

• Weekly Arizonan, March 26, 1870:

… the richest deposit of ore in the world – blocks of solid silver having been dug from it …

• Weekly Arizonan, April 9, 1870:

… the greatest mineral treasure ever witnessed by the eyes of man …

• Weekly Arizonan, April 16, 1870:

… a mass of ‘float silver”, in the possession of Mr. Hains, weighs about 20 ounces; four-fifths by bulk being of virgin silver.

• Daily New Mexican, May 23, 1870:

 Returns from ores sent to San Francisco for assay are almost incredible … ores that assay hundreds, and even thousands of dollars to the ton …

• Weekly Arizonan, July 16, 1870:

 Returns from various assay offices in California and the East show an average yield of about $500.00 per ton – the rock yielding in some instances as high as $3,000 and in no instance lower than $50.00 per ton.

• Weekly New Mexican, July 26, 1870:

… cliffs of towering fissure veins … carrying silver in large quantities.

• Weekly Arizonan, September 3, 1870, a reprint of figures published in the Scientific Press relating to assays carried out in California:

   The lowest shows $301; the highest, $4871.09.

• Weekly Arizonan, November 19, 1870:

 Messrs. Cowper [Cooper] and Arnold arrived last week from the Burro mines, enroute for San Francisco … they have brought a large quality of silver bullion which has been taken from the rock by the simplest process of smelting.

Pierson Dooner

Note how many of these reports, on both the artesian well and the mining equipment, and on the ores and their assay values appeared in the Tucson Weekly Arizonan. In the Introduction  to this work we made reference to the pitfall of an over reliance on items about Ralston City which appeared in this paper, and stated that its editor, Pierson Dooner, was being manipulated by the perpetrators of the planned stock float scam.

Dooner, a Canadian, had taken over the running and publication of the paper in April of 1869, serving as editor, compositor and printer; immediately prior to this he had been co-editor with H. W. Sherry. It was Dooner who renamed the publication the Arizonan; it had originally been named the Arizonian. There is no doubt that its pages were used as a promotional tool by those at Ralston. Tucson was the commercial center of that part of the country, with a constant flow of miners, prospectors and speculators in and out of the town; it lay on the main east-west stage route.  It was the perfect place to promote the Virginia Mining District. Items from the Weekly Arizonan were distributed by telegraph to be re-printed nationally in newspapers from coast to coast.

The Arizonan suffered from on-going financial troubles. Just six months before the newspaper’s final demise, caused partly by the political stance taken by Dooner in the 1870 election for Territorial Delegate, Dooner’s “supporters” at Ralston enclosed $30 in a letter worded, no doubt, to flatter Dooner and to bolster his amenability towards them:

 

RALSTON CITY, NM

October 19, 1870

Mr. Dooner,

Editor ARIZONAN, Tucson,

Dear Sir: Having noticed that many of your Republican subscribers have withdrawn their support from your paper in consequence of your manliness in expressing Honest Sentiments, we the undersigned enclose you $30, and request that you forward your paper to us at this place, until requested to change our address.

Very respectfully,

J.B. SLACK,

P.ARNOLD,

JNO. PANTLIND,

JNO. FITZGERALD,

M.L.. POWER.

 

This certainly helped to ensure that Dooner would continue to publish the heartening reports on Ralston which were being fed to him; some of which appeared to be “exclusives”, for his favored ears only. On November 19, 1870, after Cooper and Arnold had paid a visit to the offices of the Arizonan, he exclusively reported that – “whilst the great majority of people are unaware of the fact” – Mr. Harpending was in the process of negotiating the purchase of machinery for Ralston. He refers to “Messrs. Cowper and Arnold” as gentlemen whose opinions were “worthy of serious consideration.” Apparently, “no two men were ever more sanguine as to the favorable result of any enterprise than are the above-named gentlemen that the Burro mines will prove to be the best paying speculation ever witnessed upon the Pacific slope.”

 

 

 

The next Chapter will cover what proved to be one of the most valuable sets of documents to our research. These documents are some of Asbury Harpending’s private business correspondences. They reveal information which was not made public, and which provides a much more truthful picture of what was happening at Ralston City.

For clarity we divide the papers into three groups:

• I    –   Letters written by James and William McCallen.
• II   –  Letters written by M. L. Power, Superintendent of Mines at Ralston.
• III –  Letters written by George D. Roberts.

A summary of the most pertinent points in each letter will be given, followed by an explanation/discussion of those points. Where the letters are quoted from, the original misspellings and grammatical errors are left unchanged.

The section dealing with the Group II letters also covers the Curtis -McGoodwin  party, which was attacked by an Apache war band, led by Cochise, in the Pinal Mountains in June of 1870. That party included Ben Harpending, nephew of Asbury.

The Chapter ends with coverage of  The Tide Land Reclamation Company, mentioned in one of the Group III letters. This was yet another of Roberts’ speculative ventures – one which was more successful than some of his other ventures, and which netted Roberts a large profit.

Overall, the importance of the information contained in these correspondences – which we refer to as ” The Harpending Papers –  cannot be over-emphasized as they go quite some way to revealing the truth about the scheme being played out at Ralston City.

©2007-2024 Jim & Erica Parson

 

REFERENCES FOR THIS INSTALLMENT

²⁸Smith, Duane A. Mother Lode for the West. California Mining Men and Methods. In: Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard J. Eds. (1999) A Golden State. Mining And Economic Development In Gold Rush California. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Page 165.

²⁹Dempsey, S. and Fell, J. E. (1986) Mining the Summit. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press. In: Smith, Duane A. Ibid.

³⁰Byrne, William S. Historical Sketch Of Grass Valley. In: Bean’s History & Directory Of Nevada County, Cal. 1867. Http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/nevada/1867-3.htm  Accessed on July 17, 2007. Hereafter referred to as Byrne (1867).

³¹Arrastra: From the Spanish “to drag” or “to tow”. An arrastra was a form of simple mill used for crushing gold or silver ores. It consisted of a number of, usually two, large, flat-bottomed stones attached by chains to one end of a cross-arm which was attached to a central pole. The central pole was embedded in a circular pit, itself lined with flat stones. A horse or mule was harnessed to the other end of the cross-arm and pulled it around, crushing the ore between the two layers of rock. Water was essential for washing away the finely crushed material before it was processed further.

³²TucsonWeekly Arizonan. February 12, 1870.

³³ Santa Fe Daily New Mexican. April 12, 1870.