William Chapman Ralston
Books
- Diamonds in the Sand The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872 and the Men Who Fooled America · Liszt Think
In 1872, two Kentucky prospectors convinced San Francisco’s elite that a remote Colorado mesa held untold riches.
- The Kingdom of the BankerThe telegraph began to click at half past nine on a Thursday morning in February 1871, and William Chapman Ralston, standing at the window of his private office on the second floor of the Bank of California, did not turn to look at it. He kept his eyes o…
- The Prospector’s Secret…d prepared, constructing a chain of validation that would eventually reach the men whose endorsement carried decisive weight. He began with William Chapman Ralston, though not directly. The banker was shielded by gatekeepers, men who filtered the flood of mining proposals reaching his office. Arnold re…
- The Gemologist’s Seal…nd. The transaction completed, Arnold and Slack returned to their lodgings. They had what they had come for: a paper that could be shown to William Chapman Ralston in San Francisco, to the other investors whose commitment would transform a salted mesa into a ten-million-dollar corporation. The document…