One day in 1871 two miners, Philip Arnold and John Slack, walked into a bank in San Francisco and asked that their bags laden with large rocks be placed in a safe deposit box. One blurted out that the rocks were uncut diamonds. The stage was set for the "Great Diamond Hoax" and the locale of the purported find was the two-year-old Wyoming Territory.

The two miners initially refused to give details about the diamonds but after some coaxing, several prominent California financiers got them to tell their story. The two weather-beaten miners finally agreed to take two investigators to the site where diamonds, rubies and sapphires were lying right on top of the ground. The investigators chosen by the financiers had to agree to be blindfolded, however, for the last crucial miles to the site.

After a long train ride to somewhere in Wyoming the investigators, with their eyes covered, were led on a zig-zag course where they found exactly what the miners had said. Diamonds were so plentiful that a man could kick them loose with his boot. When the party returned to San Francisco, one financier sent samples to a famous New York jeweler. The gems were authentic and of good quality, the report said.

Excitement grew. The financiers formed a corporation and hired the foremost mining expert in the world to check out the site. The expert, Henry Janin, a Californian who had studies mining in Europe, accompanied Arnold, Slack and three others to the "diamond field." They got off the train at a small station near Rawlins and after four more days of travel by horse, they came to the site. It seemed too good to be true but after two days of investigating, Janin was convinced. (He had been given a significant share of company stock before the trip.)

When word got out that a huge diamond field had been found, speculation fever mounted. The richest men in New York and California (and even Baron Rothschild in Europe) purchased stock. Horace Greeley and Gen. George McClellan eagerly bought in, too, while the two miners sold their interests for $300,000 apiece. Arizona and New Mexico were said to be the sites of the yet-undisclosed mine location but company insiders knew it was in Wyoming. A map in company headquarters in New York showed the features of the site already named Ruby Gulch, Diamond Flat and Sapphire Hollow.

By October 1872, newspapers around the country including the "Laramie Independent" were printing articles on "Lessons in Diamond Mining."

Clarence King, a government survey employee, became interested in the curious circumstances. He decided an investigation was in order and after gathering clues from a chance meeting with company officials, King concluded that Wyoming was the location of the diamond find.

Even though winter was approaching and travel would be treacherous, King knew the story had to be substantiated before wild speculation sent the markets out of control. From his experience as a survey leader in the West, he pinpointed the areas as southeast of Rock Springs in what is now Sweetwater County. His guess proved correct when he and two associates, after a shore search, found a water claim notice signed by Henry Janin tacked to a tree. Excavations were barely necessary because they, too, saw diamonds lying on the ground. King was puzzled by the fact that for each diamond found, a dozen rubies were also found. When he spotted one diamond perched on a knob of a rock, it was enough to convince him that the area had been "salted."

Diamond hysteria was mounting nationwide and King took the first train back to San Francisco to tell company officials of his findings before word leaked out and short sales of company stock caused even more problems. The company officials were convinced that they had been duped. Other evidence of a hoax had been accumulating. An investigation revealed that Arnold had visited Amsterdam the previous year and had purchased cast-off diamonds from South Africa for about $35,000.

The truth was finally out. Press reports not only condemned Arnold and Slack, the perpetrators of the hoax, but also the men who had been duped. While no Wyoming citizen was implicated in the scheme, the press reports tainted the young territory's image.

Philip Arnold returned to his native Kentucky where he purchased a bank with part of the $300,000 he had received from the scheme. Although he successfully fought attachment by law officers, he died the next year after suffering a wound in a fight not related to his diamond hoax adventures. His partner, John Slack, disappeared when the hoax was uncovered and was never heard from again.

Clarence King the hoax discoverer became the first director of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879. He died Christmas Eve, 1901, after a distinguished career.

More than 100 years ago the first "new penitentiary" in Wyoming was completed and prisoners were moved to the new facility from the old prison. The "new" building was the prison at Rawlins constructed in the 1890s. It replaced the territorial penitentiary, now a registered historic landmark and the newest Wyoming State Park, west of Laramie. The Territorial Prison was built in 1872.

After political maneuvering, a penitentiary building commission was authorized by the 1888 legislature to purchase land north of Rawlins for the building site. A Salt Lake City architect, W.E. Ware, was hired to draw the plans and specifications for the buildings. His drawings are in the collections of the Wyoming State Archives.

Although the plans were completed by the next year, appropriations for the construction were not made until the 1893 legislative session. Evidently, problems with bonding had caused some delay in the process.

After a series of contractors had completed various segments of the new structure, it was ready for occupancy in 1901 -- nearly 13 years after it was first authorized and 12 years after the plans were completed.

The Rawlins press throughout 1901 claimed that "unnecessary" delays were keeping the prisoners in Laramie. Apparently, such economic considerations as the use of prisoners by contractors doing tasks like furniture construction and broom-making were responsible for the delay, the Rawlins newspaper claimed. By December, 1901, when the move was about to begin the "Carbon County Journal" wrote: "The convicts could have been moved last spring and the building could have been put into good condition in a few weeks, but it is evident that delay was desired, not haste, and to cause as much delay as possible, trivial excuses were constantly trumped up."

One of the fiercest blizzards to strike southern Wyoming in many years was reported in Cheyenne and Laramie newspapers during the week of the proposed move. According to the "Boomerang:" "N. K. Boswell returned yesterday. He reports the penitentiary there in bad condition to receive the men, as the facilities for heating are very poor and the men must suffer during this severe weather."

Reports from Rawlins indicated that the storm was less severe and sheepmen commented that they expected no losses from the couple of inches of blowing snow in the Carbon County area.

Authorities decided to make the move despite the weather because the legislature had stipulated removal before the end of 1901.

The move, long anticipated by one Laramie newspaper, went smoothly despite rumors of an attempted prison break. "After many promises, excuses, discussions and an abundance of newspaper talk, the prisoners have got started on their way to Rawlins...Fifty of them were loaded into the (railroad) car that was got ready for them months ago and the car was attached to Train No. 3 which was about two hours late yesterday morning. Those taken in the first installment were the 'long-timers.' They were brought to the depot in a hay wagon shacked together two by two..."

Security was tight, according to the newspaper. "Guards armed with rifles accompanied the two wagonloads of prisoners in Lovejoy's dray wagon and they stood about the cars while the men were transferred, keeping an eye on all sides." The rumored prison break to be engineered by prisoners' friends did not materialize. Neither did the rumor that the train would be stopped along the route in an escape try.

Another group of about 40 prisoners were sent the next day and a few trustees were kept in Laramie to assist with the closing. Also remaining behind were "three sick and insane" prisoners who would later be transferred to the State Hospital in Evanston.

"Mr. Boswell says the men have made but one complaint at Rawlins. They do not like the bread they get there and have asked that their supply be baked here (Laramie) and sent to them for the present, which will be done," the Laramie newspaper reported.

Additions to the "new prison" at Rawlins were added from time to time but it wasn't until 1981 that another prison was ready for occupancy. This latest move, however, did not have to rely on hay wagons and railroad cars and the blasts of a Wyoming winter storm.

(Photo: Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins ca. 1902. Wyoming State Archives photo)

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