This is the story of Harris Hays Hammond (1881-1969), a financier, and his father, John Hays Hammond (1855-1936), a skilled mining engineer that obtained an incredible fortune before he reached the age of 40. Both were born in San Francisco, California, a city conceived in the lust for gold, where fortunes were made and lost by the wielding of a pick axe and a gun.
In 1876, John Hays Hammond was halfway across the globe continuing his education at the Royal School of Mines in Freiberg, Germany. Once in a while, he would visit the quaint old town of Dresden, a well-known destination for Americans learning to study in the fields of art and music. It was there where he unexpectedly met Natalie Harris (1859-1931), a native of a small Mississippi town that bore her family’s last name. Outgoing and captivating, she was in the process of completing her formal education in music.
John, a recent graduate of Yale University with a bachelor of philosophy degree, enjoyed their conversations and navigated strolls through a storied terrain that was unfamiliar to them. Over time, their companionship blossomed into romance.
By the end of 1879, John returned to America with a prospective job offer and his wife-to-be at his side. He was employed by the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, and the happy couple were married in Hancock, Maryland on New Year’s Day in 1881. This was followed by a lucrative offer to work for George Hearst (1820-1891), a shrewd mining magnate from San Francisco and father of future publisher William Randolph Hearst.
Again, the couple packed their belongings and traveled west to California. That November, their first child, Harris, was born. Eventually, they would have four sons and one daughter.
Life was great until John was assigned to Mexico to serve as superintendent of Minas Nueva. Violence against the government was common. Riots flared as easily as the heat. Fear was always present as the couple clashed with unruly mobs from desecrating their home. It was a stark premonition on what awaited them on the horizon.
From 1884-1893, John and his family resettled in San Francisco, where he worked as a consulting engineer for the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railways. Ironically, he found himself at odds with his former employer, as Sen. George Hearst fought to reduce the monopolizing power of the railroads.
In 1893, John was hired to investigate the gold mines of South Africa. A year later, he joined the British South Africa Company and the 7th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhoades, in extracting precious minerals. His reported salary was $100,000 a year and a share in the profits. Eventually the cohesion with this controversial figure incited a failed insurgency by British and American workers to revolt against the South African government in 1896. John was arrested for high treason and placed on trial. If convicted, his sentence was punishable by hanging. Luckily, the President of South Africa, Paul Kruger, after hearing arguments, intervened and commuted all of the sentences of the conspirators in just paying fines upon their release. John was ordered to pay $125,000. For the second time in his life, John had escaped death.
With their troubles behind, the family sailed to England in 1898. It was in this country that John and his younger son, John Hays Hammond, Jr. (1888-1965), were awestruck by the grandeur of ancient castles and their architecture. After less than two years, the family journeyed to the United States and built a magnificent estate above the rocky crags of Gloucester Harbor. in Massachusetts.
Identified as the foremost authority on mining engineering in the country, he owed his success not just to skill but in pushing through the fear that hinders success. From 1902-1909, he served as a professor at Yale University while retaining employment with the Guggenheim Exploration Company for a five-year contract worth $250,000 a year. When William Howard Taft ran for the presidency in 1908, he requested that his former Yale classmate move to Washington to become acquainted with other prominent politicians. As such, John announced his candidacy for vice president, but received only a handful of delegates at the national convention.
His disappointment turned to jubilation as he was selected to serve as chairman of the U.S. Coal Commission in 1922 and 1923. Better yet, his association with the Burnham Exploration Company reaped rewards when the company struck oil at the Dominguez Oil Field near Carson, California in 1923. As with his exploits in South Africa, he was now blessed with the status of being a millionaire twice. By the time that this extraordinary man passed away while sleeping in his rocking chair in 1936, each of his four surviving children stood to inherit an estate worth $2.5 million ($54 million today).
Like their father, the Hammond brothers graduated from Yale University. Upon entering the work force, Harris started an oil recovery business called the Oil Development and Mining Company. As a financier, he was also successful in brokering real estate transactions in Florida as train lines were constructed along the coast. His deep admiration for the scenery of waterways prompted him to purchase boats as well. One of these boats was acquired in Bordentown from the Rice Gas Engine Company in 1910. With an engine that produced 250 horse power, the boat maximized speed at 40 miles per hour. Sleek in design, this was the dawn of power boating in America. Harris bought the company from John V. Rice and became its president.
Harris was no stranger to the state of New Jersey, since his parents bought a winter home in the lavish resort community of Lakewood in 1900. This is where his sister, Natalie (1904-1985), was born. In 1911, a golden opportunity was presented to Harris to stake his claim with a sprawling summer estate. The 242-acre former Joseph Bonaparte property in Bordentown was for sale. With financial assistance from John V. Rice, the transaction for $55,000 favorably benefited their adjoining parcels.
Harris made numerous improvements to the grounds. Abandoned carriage paths were manicured as bridle paths. A croquet and tennis court complimented the surrounding greenery and two greenhouses that raised a variety of flowers and vegetation. Outbuildings consisted of two barns, a six-car garage, a cottage built by the Sears Company, and a lodge that stood as the last surviving structure from Bonaparte’s day. There was a dog kennel and a pool for keeping canines refreshed from the heat.
Another pool was next to a wrought iron pavilion with a walnut tree growing from its brick-patterned floor. This cost $16,000. But nothing was in comparison to the Chinese Rock Garden that was actually a swimming pool comprised of honey-combed gneiss obtained from the family quarry in Sussex. Skilled craftsmen created steps and crevices for water to flow from strategically placed spigots into a trough that separated impurities from clean water. A cave was also built for tubers to explore its chamber on a concentrated flow path. The filtration system was considered so demanding that it depleting the city’s water supply for a month! All and all, the construction for the pool totaled $150,000. An expansion was planned for $300,000, but never materialized.
Instead of utilizing landscapers, artisans like Philadelphia’s Modernist painter, Everett Shinn (1876-1953) were hired for the grounds and interior design. Thanks to excellent soil conditions, a half-mile of boxwood hedges (the longest in the United States) was planted. One specimen known as the “Rockefeller Boxwood” was dug up from a farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania and transported to the property in 1925. Its dimensions were reportedly 10 feet in circumference with a height of 12 feet. Some boxwoods were imported from England.
After the Bonaparte mansion was demolished, its Italianate-style replacement was constructed in 1850. Since New York City was the primary location of his residency, Harris met and married Elise Steele (1883-1971) there in 1918 with his brother and famous composer, Richard Hammond (1896-1980) at his side as best man. No longer a single man, a joint decision was made between husband and wife to redesign the mansion. That meant encasing the home with scaffolding, removing towers and embellishments, and changing the architectural style from Italianate to French Provincial with Georgian motif. Rooms on the first floor were connected by a rotunda with iron railings and Italian marble walls and flooring.
John Hays Hammond visited Harris on occasion, as did his brother, John Hays Hammond, Jr., who built a spectacular English-style castle in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1925. Credited with over 400 patented inventions, John Jr. was the originator of radio control. Everything that we know today including TV remotes, garage door openers, and car alarms was derived from his experiments. There is also the probability that he dabbled with the controls of model boats in his brother’s swimming pool when he came to visit.
Life was exceptionally good for most people in the country until the Great Depression hit. Fear swept the land. All financial gains vanished. Harris was one of them. Forced to sell to the bank, he lost his home, his furnishings, and even his Rockefeller boxwood, which had to be dug up and sold. By the end of 1932, the windows and doors were boarded up as ivy grew on the sides of the mansion. The pools were drained of water and replaced with leaves. Furniture was sold at auction until the interior resembles an empty tomb. It took almost a decade to sell the property. In the end, it sold for the same price as it was in 1911. Harris and his wife moved to Glendale, California. Although he did receive a nice inheritance after his father’s passing, he never moved back to the East Coast. Instead, he took over as president of the Dominguez Oil Company and the Laughlin Filter Corporation which made centrifuges. He also served on the executive board of the Zenith Corporation.
For years his fortune seemed to be lost only to be found once again. Through his father’s last act of generosity, his return to the seat of privilege was restored. After all, John Hays Hammond was considered “the Man with the Midas Touch.”
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