Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics: A Gallery of Amazing Arkansans

William Hope “Coin” Harvey

William Hope “Coin” Harvey While Bill Clinton was the first Arkansan elected president,he was certainly not the only resident of the state nominated for the highest office in the land. In August  William Hope “Coin” Harvey of Benton County was selected as the Liberty Party nominee for president.While his quixotic campaign barely made a blip on the political radar, it was merely one chapter in the life of an amazing individual. Born in  near Buffalo, in what is now West Virginia, Harvey attended local country schools as well as Buffalo Academy.After a brief stint teaching elementary school, he spent a summer at Marshall College in Cabell County, West Virginia, thus ending his formal education . He commenced the study of law by reading in the law office of his older brother, Thomas, and in , at the age of nineteen, he was admitted to the bar in his home state. Harvey practiced law in a number of states,including Ohio,where he met and married Anna Halliday in . A few years later Harvey moved his growing family to southwestern Colorado, where he operated the highly successful Silver Bell silver mine.When silver ore prices declined, he moved his family to Pueblo, Colorado, where he helped develop the Mineral Palace, a large exhibition hall that promoted the state’s mining resources. Later he moved the family to Chicago, then to Ogden, Utah. As was typical of the energetic Harvey, no sooner had he settled in Ogden than he began promoting the town. Given Ogden’s large Mormon population, we have no idea why Harvey spent a great deal of his own money organizing a Mardi Gras celebration, which, of course, was a dismal failure. In  Harvey relocated again to Chicago, where he established the Coin Publishing Company.Since his days in Colorado,Harvey had been studying the national economy, and he came to believe that the nation’s economic ills—especially the contraction of the national  money supply—could be cured by backing paper currency on the relatively abundant silver rather than the much scarcer gold. A gifted writer and promoter, Harvey soon became a national spokesman for “bi-metalism,” which was the name given to the theory that the U.S. currency should be based on both silver and gold. The great silver versus gold debate of the late s was the primary domestic issue of the day. In  Harvey published his first book, Coin’s Financial School, a great financial and popular success that featured a fictional young financier named Coin. He pioneered in the use of cheap paperback books to influence public opinion. Soon thereafter, Harvey became known everywhere by the nickname “Coin.” Harvey’s political influence peaked in the mid-s when his theories were adopted by the wildly popular Democratic politician William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska.Bryan won the Democratic presidential nomination in , after giving his famous “Cross of Gold” speech,in which he stated that America’s economy was being crucified on a cross of gold. Republican William McKinley defeated Bryan in a campaign that saw the rise of the professional manager and the use of huge campaign treasuries. During the  campaign, Harvey worked for Bryan in northwest Arkansas,and he was attracted to the area in part due to its lack of large cities or a wealthy class. In  he settled in the area on a large acreage south of Rogers. He created a luxurious summer resort named Monte Ne.He claimed the name was a mixture of Spanish andAmerican Indian words for “mountain” and “water.” Not long afterward the Harvey home burned, and Anna moved back to Chicago, ending an unhappy marriage. Monte Ne was an amazing undertaking.Developed around a large lagoon that featured an Italian gondola rowed by “gay gondoliers,” Monte Ne was probably Arkansas’s first large tourist attraction. By , the Hotel Monte Ne was complete, and it was later joined by two more hotels, tennis courts, and an indoor swimming pool, said to be the first in Arkansas.Nevertheless,Harvey had overreached once again, and Monte Ne faced growing financial peril. In an attempt to save Monte Ne—as well as promote northwest Arkansas—Harvey organized the Ozark Trails Association in .The association embarked on an effort to improve Benton County roads,  ECCENTRICS, FRAUDS, AND THE INEXPLICABLE mark routes,and erect mile markers.Despite all his efforts,the coming of the automobile signaled the end of...