Category: Mining scams
-
The Harpending Papers contd.
Group II Letters These consist of three letters written from Ralston City by M. L. Power who was Roberts’ and Harpending’s Superintendent of Mines. Of all the letters discussed here, these are the most valuable. These three letters alone, independent of any other information, provide more than enough proof…
-
Chapter 21 – The Harpending Papers
Group I Letters James McCallen to “Friend Harpending”, Ralston City, April 2, 1870 This is the earliest communication from Ralston City. In this letter James McCallen, Recorder for the Virginia Mining District, informs Harpending that he and an unstated number of unnamed men were camped “at the mines some…
-
CHAPTER 20 – Stalling Tactics
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…
-
Chapter 19 – contd. Leitendorf’s or Ralston? Kobbé’s Report
Leitendorf’s Or Ralston? Still another illustration [of camps with a large number of synonyms] is the Lordsburg District of Hidalgo County, which embraces two camps: Pyramid at the south end, and Shakespeare or Virginia at the north end. In some reports these are regarded as separate districts. In Pyramid camp,…
-
CHAPTER 19 contd. Pima County & Dubious Claims
Pima County Mining Records, Volume II Although reference to the Pima County Mining Records has been made on several earlier occasions in this work, we return to them here because of their relevance to underscoring the relationship between the main players in the scam to be perpetrated at the…
-
PART IV – Ralston City
Preface With some variations, mining stock float scams in the 19th century – Ralston was by no means the first or the last – were akin to what today would be called “pump and dump” stock frauds. These are defined as investment schemes which: “attempt to boost the price of…