Bank of California
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 Banker…n 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 on the bay. The wire had brought him news before—news of silver strikes in Nevada, of railhea…
- The Prospector’s Secret…disclose until they had secured their rights. Ralston’s hunger completed the connection. The banker who had built the Palace Hotel and the Bank of California, who had financed the Comstock and envisioned San Francisco as capital of a Pacific empire, was not immune to the pressure driving his cont…
- The Gemologist’s Seal…the networks of American finance. In San Francisco, William Chapman Ralston received word that the eastern validation had been secured. The Bank of California, which had already advanced funds on the strength of preliminary reports, now had its judgment confirmed by the highest authority in the la…