The home of Edward Doheny, Jr. UPI
Three generations of Dohenys. UPI
The tempest of the Teapot Dome Scandal swept the Secretary of the Interior and two oil magnates into a bribery and conspiracy trial that stormed all the way to the Supreme Court.
Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall (left) and tycoon Edward Doheny (second from left) with attorneys. Culver Pictures
Edward Doheny (seated third from right) testifying before the Senate investigating committee. He was the only man involved in the scandal who did not serve a prison sentence, proving that “Californians are luckier than other mortals.” Culver Pictures
The Teapot Dome Scandal as viewed by political cartoonists Culver Pictures
Oil operator Harry Sinclair (second from left) accompanied by his lawyers. Culver Pictures
For the colorful Spreckels family of San Francisco, the road to riches began in a poker game with the King of Hawaii. With their fortunes they built mansions and museums—and much of San Diego.
Map of the port of San Diego dated 1782. Library of Congress
The San Diego skyline. San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau
John D. Spreckels. Culver Pictures
John Spreckels’ mansion in Coronado. San Diego Historical Society
Claus August Spreckels. Culver Pictures
The three Spreckels children were married a grand total of twelve times, and had eleven divorces. Pictured here is Adolph with one of his six wives, the former Lois Quantain Clarke DeRuyter. UPI
Adolph’s most famous wife was Kay Williams, who later married Clark Gable. UPI
Of the third generation of California Spreckelses, “Little Alma,” an expert horsewoman, is shown astride the champion horse at the Los Angeles Fifth Annual Horse Show. UPI
The original California Governor’s Mansion, built in 1878, which Mrs. Ronald Reagan refused to occupy. “The house was on a corner facing two gas stations and a motel, and it backed up on the American Legion Hall, where I swear there were wild orgies every night.” Wide World Photos
The Reagans settled for a state-rented home in the suburbs and construction began on this modern one-story mansion, which Governor Jerry Brown spurned as “too luxurious.” Wide World Photos
The Irvine Ranch was established in 1864 when James Irvine and two partners bought 120,000 acres of land during a drought at 35 cents per acre.
James Irvine II. The Irvine Company
James Irvine I. The Irvine Company
James Irvine III. The Irvine Company
The Irvine mansion—a thirty-room ranch house in Orange County—was a setting for family strife and tragedy for nearly three-quarters of a century. The Irvine Company
Joan Irvine Smith, a twentieth-century heiress to the Irvine land legacy, waged—and won—a court battle with the private foundation that controlled her family’s landholdings. Wide World Photos
The great-granddaughter of James Irvine then turned 77,000 acres of the original ranch into the largest and most elaborately planned housing development in the nation. Pictured here is one section of that profitable piece of real estate. David Strick/The New York Times
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Austin. The Man John D. Spreckels. San Diego: Frye & Smith, 1924.
Altrocchi, Julia. The Spectacular San Franciscans. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1949.
Amory, Cleveland. Who Killed Society? New York: Harper & Bros., 1960.
Berkman, Leslie. “The Winning of Irvine Co.—and What Lies Ahead,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 1977.
Chambliss, William H. Society as It Really Is. New York: Chambliss & Co., 1895.
Cleland, Robert Glass. The Irvine Ranch. San Marino: Huntington Library Press, 1962.
Dillon, Richard. Fool’s Gold. New York: Coward, McCann, Inc., 1967.
——. Humbugs and Heroes: A Gallery of California Pioneers. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1970.
Eliot, Elizabeth. Heiresses and Coronets. New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1959.
Freedgood, Seymour. “88,000 Golden Acres Waiting for the Dust to Settle,” Fortune (Nov. 1963).
Harris, Leon. Merchant Princes. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.
Lewis, Oscar. Big Four. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1938.
——. Silver Kings. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947.
Lyman, George D. Ralston’s Ring: California Plunders the Comstock Lode. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1937.
Moffat, Frances. Dancing on the Brink of the World: The Rise and Fall of San Francisco Society. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977.
Myers, Gustavus. History of the Great American Fortunes. New York: Modern Library, 1936.
Peterson, Larry. “Jumping Joan Is All Alone,” Orange County Illustrated (Sept. 1976).
Purtell, Joseph. The Tiffany Touch. New York: Random House, 1971.
Reid, Ed. The Grim Reapers: The Anatomy of Organized Crime in America. Chicago: Regnery, 1969.
Robbins, Mildred Brown. Tales of Love and Hate in San Francisco. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1971.
Robertson, Wyndham. “The Greening of the Irvine Co.,” Fortune (Dec. 1976).
Taylor, Frank J., and Earl M. Welty. Black Bonanza. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1950.
Treadwell, Edward F. Cattle King. New York: Macmillan Co., 1931.
Werner, M. R., and John Starr. Teapot Dome. New York: Viking Press, Inc., 1959.
INDEX
Adams, Austin, 68
Agua Caliente, 304
Alexandra, Czarina of Russia, 84
Alexandra, Princess of Wales, 124
al-Fassi, Muhammad, 296
Alioto family, 102, 251
Allen, Charles, 223
American Sugar Refining Co., 60
Anchorage Daily News, 258fn.
Annenberg, Walter, 302
Armour family, 262
Ashburton, Lord, 139
Associated Oil Co., 117, 120
Astor, Caroline Schermerhorn, 100, 124, 126, 138
Astor, Elizabeth, 139
Astor, John Jacob, 139
Atherton, Gertrude, 186
Awl, Elmer, 151–52
Awl, Ula, 152
Bachelors, 241
Bachelors’ Cotillion, 127, 130, 138, 237
Bakersfield, 46, 250, 251
Baldocchi family, 102, 251
Baldwin, George S., 72–73
Bandini, Doña Arcadia, 37
Bank of America, 102–3
Bank of California, 132–35, 142
Bank of Italy, 102
Baring, Alexander, 139
Beaumont, Lord, 97
Beebe, Lucius, 96
Bee chain, 258
Belmont, August, 67
Belmont (mansion), 142–44
Benny, Jack, 303
Bernhardt, Sarah, 73, 82
Berylline (yacht), 152–53
Beverly Hills, 295–99
Bible Institute of Los Angeles, 113, 114
Bidwell, John, 256
Bierce, Ambrose, 90–91
Big Four, The (Lewis), 130
Bingham, Anna Louise, 139
Bingham, Maria, 139
Bishop, Richard E., 303
Bixby, Llewellyn, 117–18
Black, Jeremiah S., 39
Black Bonanza (Taylor/Welty), 115fn.
Blue Skies Village, 303
Bohemian Club, 246, 258
Bolton, James R., 39–40
Bonynge, Mr., 100–101
Bourbon, Philippe de, 140
Bowles, Henry Miller, 49
Bowles family, 48–49, 74
Breckinridge, Flora Louise, 144–45
Breckinridge, Mrs. Witherspoon, 144
Breckinridge family, 131
Bren, Donald L., 223
Brobeck, George, 69
Bronfman family, 223
Brown, Alex, 47
Brown, Jerry, 249
Bryce, Angelica Schuyler, 264, 268
Bryce, Peter Cooper, 268
Buena
Vista Hills oil reserve, 162
Burlingame, 276
Burns, William J., 191
Burr & Co., 114, 115
Burt, Richard, 213
Cadillac-Fairview, Ltd., 223
Caen, Herb, 248
Cahill, Arthur, 68–70
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 85–86, 80–90, 146, 149, 154, 156, 231
and museum war, 90, 234–35
Phelan’s attack on, 185–89, 195
Cameron, George, 237
Cameron, Helen de Young, 77, 231, 235, 236–37, 242
Cameron, Sir Roderick, 139
Carillo family, 278
Casiana (yacht), 157
Castaic Junction, 110
Castellane, Count Paul Ernest Boniface de, 139
Cambuston, Henry, 39
Carlos III, King of Spain, 22
Cella family, 251
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, 264–65
Central Pacific Railroad, 52–55, 56–57
Central Valley, 31–33, 43–49, 199, 245–49
water projects, 44–49, 252, 256, 259
Chambliss, William, 127–28, 142
Chandler, Mrs. Norman, 299–300
Chase, Harold, 268
Chase, Pearl, 268
Château Montelena winery, 277
Chavez, Cesar, 254
Chester Place, 157–59, 174, 183
Chico, Calif., 46, 255–56
Chinese labor, 53, 54, 259
Chowchilla, 275
Chronicle, see San Francisco Chronicle
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 139
Clarke, Thurmond, 214, 222, 287
Cleveland, Grover, 159
Cogan, Charles, 203
Colbert, Claudette, 303
Coleman, James V., 152, 155
College of the Desert, 305
Colusa, 46, 248, 256
Commercial Cable Co., 100
Comstock Lode, 72, 95–96, 97
Congress of Charros, 279
Conrad, Barnaby, 266
Cook, Peter, 47
Coolidge, Calvin, 168
Corday, Charlotte, 83
Coronado, 65, 66, 67, 71
Crocker, Charles, 51–52, 53–55, 56–57, 103, 259
Crocker, Mrs. Charles, 140
Crocker, William, 76
Crocker Bank, 113, 189
Crocker family, 136, 241, 275
Crosby, Bing, 303
Cummings, M. Earl, 186
Cunard, Sir Bache, 141, 142
Cunard, Emerald, Lady (nee Maud Burke), 141–42
Cunningham, Mrs., 261
Dancing on the Brink of the World (Moffat), 127, 192fn.
Daniels, Josephus, 162, 163
Dannenberg, Dora and Josephine, 138
Davies, Marion, 81, 91–93
Davis, Meyer, 243
Denby, Edward, 163–65, 174
de Salba, Eugene, 114–15
de Young, Charles, 74–75
de Young, Michael, 73, 74–79, 82–83, 127, 128, 237, 273
de Young, Mrs. Michael, 236
de Young family, 136, 187, 241
de Young Museum, 78–79, 90–91, 93, 231, 234–35
Diaghilev, Constantin, 87
Didion, Joan, 256–57
Dinkelspiel family, 101
Doak, Lois, 287
Doheny, Edward L., 23–26, 28, 112, 116, 156–57, 159–84
Doheny, Edward L., Jr., 161
death of, 173, 181
and Teapot Dome, 166, 170, 176, 177, 182
Doheny, Estelle, 157–58, 172, 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 302
Doheny family, 211
Donahue, Anna, 140
Donahue, Mary Ellen, 140
Donahue, Peter, 126
Downtown Operators’ Assoc., 241
Drake, Maud Lord, 128
Driven from Sea to Sea (Post), 58fn.
Duchin, Peter, 243
Dupuy, Jean, 153
Durant, John and Alice, 164fn.
Duveen, Joseph, Lord, 86
earthquakes, 30, 47, 63, 84, 96, 190–191, 260–61
Edward VII, King (as Prince of Wales), 100, 124
Edward VIII, King (Duke of Windsor), 141, 233
Ehrlich, Jacob and Rose, 250
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 301–2
Elizabeth I, Queen, 15
Elizabeth, Queen Consort of George VI, 141–42
Elk Hills oil deal, 161, 173, 174–75, 179, 181, 183–84
Epstein, Jacob, 188
Everybody’s Magazine, 43
Examiner, see San Francisco Examiner
Fadiman, Clifton, 266
Fair, Charles, 98
Fair, James Gordon, 95–98, 101
Fair, James Gordon, Jr., 98
Fair, Theresa Rooney, 97–98
Fall, Albert Bacon, 159–61, 163–73, 175–78 passim, 180–82, 183, 184
Fall, Mrs. Albert, 167, 178, 180, 181, 182
Fallai, Pietro and Margo, 297–98
Fat City (Gardner), 248
Fay family, 136
Federal Land Commission, 36, 38
Ferris, A. C., 23
Figueroa family, 34
Fillmore, Calif., 110
Fireball Ranch, 283
First National Bank, 189, 195
Fisher, Eddie, 301
Fleischhacker, Herbert, 186
Fleischhacker family, 101
Fleischmann family, 262
Flint, Benjamin and Thomas, 117–18
Flood, James C., 95–97, 99, 101, 135, 249, 270, 277
Flood, James L., 99, 240
Flood, Jennie, 97, 126
Flood, Mrs. James C., 96
Flood family, 241, 275
Flotill Products, Inc., 250
Flynn, Errol, 256
Folger, Abigail, 274–75
Folger family, 136, 241
Folsom Dam, 45
Fonda, Jane, 242
Ford, Gerald R., 302
Ford, Henry, 88
Ford, Henry II, 223
Forster, Don Juan, 37–38
Forster, Ysidora Pico, 38
Francisca Club, 246, 250
Frederick IX, King of Denmark, 89
Frémont, John C., 22
Fresno, 46, 251
Fuentes (land claimant), 39
Fuller, Loië, 85
Gable, Clark, 150
Gable, Kay Williams Spreckels, 150–151, 155, 231, 276
Gaede, Linda Irvine, 225–26, 281–82, 299
Galatro-Colonna, Prince Fernando, 140–41, 142
Gallagher, James, 193–94
Gallo, Ernest and Julio, 46, 251–52, 272, 277
Gardner, Leonard, 248
Garrigues, John H., 115–16
General Motors, 265
General Petroleum Co., 114
George VI, King, 141–42
Gerdes, Robert, 207
Getty, Gordon, 276
Getty, J. Paul, 276, 296
Ghirardelli family, 101–2, 251
Giannini, Amadeo Peter, 102–3, 113
Giannini family, 251
Giffen, Russell, 46, 251
Giffen family, 251
Gilbert, George S., 22–23
Gilbert and Sullivan, 73
Goetz, William, 303
gold rush, 16, 21, 28–29, 33, 35, 42, 60, 95
Goldwyn, Samuel, 14
GOO (Get Oil Out), 267
Goodkin, Sandy, 228
Gould, Anna, 139
Gould, Jay, 21, 51, 100, 139
Granard, Earl of, 142
Grand Central Canal, 256
Grant, Ulysses S., Jr., 97
Great Drought (1860s), 36–37, 38, 118, 227, 279, 280
Great Drought (1888), 201
Green, Will S., 256
Greenway, Ned, 125–27, 136, 138, 237, 238
Grim Reapers, The (Reid), 287
Gump, Solomon, 86
Haas, Eleanor, 138
Haas family, 101
Hallgarten & Co., 113, 116
Hamilton, Alexander, 139, 277
Hammel, Charles, 152–53
Hammond family, 262
Harding, Florence, 168
Harding, Warren G., 160–61, 163–165, 166–68, 170, 175, 177
Harkey, Mrs. William, 254
Harriman, E. H., 21, 66
Harris, Leon, 86
Harris, Phil, 303
Hatzfeld-Wildenberg, Prince von, 140, 142
Havemeyer, Henry O., 60–63 passim
Hawaii, 61–62
Hearst, George, 81–82
Hearst, Millicent Willson, 81, 93
Hearst, Mrs. George, 274
Hearst, Patricia Campbell, 273–74
Hearst, William Randolph, 274
and Marion Davies, 81, 91–93
and de Young, 81–83, 127, 273
and museum war, 86, 90–91
Hearst family, 136
Hellis, William Bradford, 207–8, 209, 215–16, 291
Hellman family, 101
Henderson family, 136
Heney, Francis J., 191, 193, 194
Henshaw, Frederick, 194
Heple, Laurena, 300
Hesketh, Flora Sharon, Lady, 140, 143–44, 145, 49, 228
Hesketh, Sir Thomas Fermor-, 140, 142, 143–44, 145, 149
Hibernia Bank, 273
Hillsborough, 276
Hitz, William, 181–82
Hoehling, Adolph A., 175–76
Hogan, Frank J., 174–77, 180–83
Hollywood, 107–8
Hope ranch, 268
Hopkins, Mark, 51–56, 96, 103
Hopkins, Mary, 56
Hopkins, Timothy, 56
Hoover, Herbert, 302
House Committee on Claims, 40
House Committee on the Judiciary, 58
Howe, Primrose, 232
Howe, Thomas Carr, 87, 149, 231–34
Hudson, W. H., 188
Humboldt, Alexander von, 16
Humboldt, S.S., 117
Humphrey, William F., 186, 188
Huntington, Arabella Worsham, 137, 138, 186, 228
Huntington, Clara Prentice, 137–38, 140–41
Huntington, Collis P., 51–55, 56–58, 86, 117, 118–19, 137
Stanford feud, 103, 105, 129–30
Huntington, Elizabeth Stoddard, 137
Huntington, Henry E., 137–38, 186
Huntington, Mary Alice Prentice, 137–38
Huntington, Solon, 137
Huntington, U.S.S., 161
Huntington collection, 186, 187
Huntington family, 136–38
Hurok, Sol, 87
Hutchins, Robert, 264–65
Hutten, Philipp von, 15
Imperial Valley, 68, 214, 215, 283
Ince, Thomas, 91
Ingrid, Queen of Danmark, 89
Irvine, Calif., 221
Irvine, Athalie Anita, see Irvine, Joan
Irvine, Athalie Richardson (2nd wife of James III), 205, 206, 207, 209, 214, 222, 225
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