author
Asbury Harpending
1839–1923
Drawn to risky schemes and far-flung ventures, this 19th-century American adventurer moved through gold camps, Confederate intrigue, mining speculation, and one of the era’s most famous frauds. His memoir looks back on a life that often reads like a dime novel, but was very real.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Kentucky in 1839, Asbury Harpending became known as an adventurer and financier whose life stretched from the California gold world to Mexico, San Francisco, and New York. As a teenager he tried to join William Walker’s filibustering expedition, and he later spent time in mining and business ventures that helped build his reputation for nerve and opportunism.
During the Civil War era, he was involved in Confederate plotting on the West Coast, and afterward he moved through a series of speculative enterprises. He is especially remembered for his connection to the 1872 Great Diamond Hoax, one of the most notorious swindles of the 19th century.
Late in life, Harpending wrote The Great Diamond Hoax and Other Stirring Episodes in the Life of Asbury Harpending, a memoir that helped preserve his version of these remarkable episodes. He died in 1923, leaving behind a story shaped by ambition, danger, and the rough-and-ready world of American expansion.