Wyoming Gemstones Fooled Wealthy Investors

In 1871, two Kentucky conmen named Philip Arnold and John Slack bought $20,000 worth of rough diamonds and rubies from a London merchant, then planted many of them on a remote mesa near Rawlins, Wyoming. In June 1872, they guided investors and mining engineer Henry Janin to the site, where the scattered gemstones convinced the group that it had discovered a massive diamond field. Arnold eventually collected $550,000 from the scheme. Government geologist Clarence King exposed the fraud after finding gemstones only in disturbed ground and unnatural clusters, stopping a planned $10 million stock sale and forcing the company to dissolve.

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