A Hole in the Ground with a Liar at the Top
Fraud and Deceit in the Golden Age of American Mining
$26.95
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Dan Plazak
6 x 9, 374 pp.
22 illustrations
Cloth $26.95
978-0-87480-840-7
Western History
Coal, silver, gold. . .there is something about the allure of finding hidden treasure that puts a glint in people’s eyes—a glint that is sometimes blinding. An American saying, often attributed to Mark Twain, defines a mine as “a hole in the ground with a liar at the top.” Delve into the curious mind of the con-artist with author Dan Plazak as he investigates the history of mining frauds in the United States from the Civil War to World War I.
Take, for example, the case of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s literary son Julian, who turned his artistic impulses into creativity of a more nefarious sort after concluding that “I want more money than the sort of literature I have produced can provide.” At the prompting of a Harvard friend, Hawthorne soon turned from writing novels and journalism to writing letters intended to encourage investment in Canadian mining ventures—ventures of little or no value except to the letter writer.
By gathering such familiar stories as that of Nevada’s infamous Comstock Lode with a succession of lesser-known scandals, Plazak provides a well-written volume that’s a treat for anyone who believes there really is a sucker born every minute.
Dan Plazak is a graduate of Michigan Tech and the Colorado School of Mines. He has explored for oil, uranium, precious metals, and industrial minerals, and has walked the hills with rock hammer, Brunton, and field notebook.
Praises and Reviews
“A significant contribution to western history and mining history. Some of the fraud cases have been previously described in books and journals but this encyclopedic collection brings them all together. This book will be of interest to western historians, mining historians, geologists, engineers, and anyone who likes a good story.”
- William Parry, author of All Veins, Lodes, and Ledges Throughout Their Entire Depth: Geology and the Apex Law in Utah Mines
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