Sutro Tunnel

The Sutro Tunnel is a drainage tunnel (adit) connected to the Comstock Lode in Northern Nevada. It begins near Dayton, Nevada and ends approximately 3.88 miles northwest, connecting to the Savage Mine in Virginia City, Nevada.

Sutro Tunnel
The entrance to the Sutro Tunnel in the late 1800s
Reference no.85[1]
The Sutro Tunnel Façade after the 1888 design

The tunnel was proposed by Adolph Sutro, a Prussian Jewish mining entrepreneur, in 1860.[2] He promoted the drainage tunnel to allow access to deeper mineral exploration in the Comstock. Flooding and inadequate pumps had inhibited some exploration until that time.

By 1865, Sutro's idea had gained the approval of state and federal legislation. The mining interests of the Comstock initially supported the project, but later opposed the idea. They feared that an alternate access point to the Comstock minerals would threaten their monopoly on the mining and milling of gold and silver in the Comstock.

Nonetheless, Sutro formed the Sutro Tunnel Company, selling stock certificates to raise funds for its construction, which began in 1869. Financing also came from local miners motivated by the prospect of improved mine safety. This motivation was further advocated (perhaps exploited) by Sutro after the Yellowjacket mine disaster where dozens of miners were burned to death because they could not escape.

Arthur De Wint Foote worked on the tunnel in 1873, but was fired in 1874, having struck a flood of water in Shaft No. 2.[3]

The State of Nevada complimenting Adolph Sutro on the Success of the Sutro tunnel 15 years after his death [4]

The tunnel was successfully connected to the Savage Mine on July 8, 1878 and continued to the other mines both north and south.[5] The full dimensions of the Adit were 10 feet high x 12 feet wide at 3.88 miles to the Savage mine and the north and south branches totaling 3,600 feet making the combined length a total of 4.56 miles. By June 30, 1879 contracts had been completed with all connecting mines. In late 1879 Adolph Sutro moved to San Francisco and likely still controlled the company, his brother Theodore Sutro took leadership of the Sutro Tunnel Company. The tunnel stayed operational until the 1940s and was closed due to order L-208 WWII. Many of the items in the mines and mills across the country were scrapped for the war effort. People began moving to the tunnel site in the 1960s, there are many stories of their exploits.

Adolph Sutro moved to San Francisco, later becoming mayor, building the Sutro Baths and a small Sutro Tunnel to them.

The Sutro Tunnel pioneered the excavation of large drainage and access tunnels in the US. Later US mine drainage tunnels included the Argo Tunnel at Idaho Springs, Colorado, the Leadville and Yak tunnels at Leadville, Colorado, and the Roosevelt tunnel in the Cripple Creek district, Colorado.

Sutro Tunnel portal in October of 2021

The "Friends of Sutro Tunnel" are working to preserve this significant part of Nevada's mining history by restoring the Sutro Tunnel Site.  The goal of the project is to not only preserve the site's historical integrity, but to also make it safe and accessible for visitors.  Phase One of the project is currently underway with the focus being on ongoing site cleanup and protecting remaining structures from further deterioration.[6]

Sutro Tunnel Through the ages

1879: Adolph Sutro sells the majority of his shares, his brother Theodore Sutro takes control of the company

1890: Less than one year after Adolph Sutro dies, Theodore Sutro sells the company to Franklin Leonard, sr. Franklin Leonard reorganizes the company to the Comstock Tunnel and Drainage Company. Franklin Leonard, sr. purchases many mines in Virginia City and consolidates them. New pumps and pipes were installed. The mule transportation system was replaced by a steam engine, and eventually electricity would be installed. You can see the battery powered electric mule at the site today. The tunnel kept pumping water and removing waste (at 40 cents a ton in the 1890’s).

1935: Jack Greenhalgh, takes a leave of absence from the State of Nevada and goes to work for the Sutro Tunnel Coalition. They rebuilt the 100 ton-per-day cyanide mill to process both underground and surface mined ore in 1935. The mill upgrades and crown point mine development was accomplished with a $160,000 loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which was paid back in under 3 years of operation. The Crown Point Mill operated profitably, treating primarily ores from the Crown Point and Yellow Jacket claims.

1940: Albert West is hired as site caretaker, his stories can be read here https://thesutrotunnel.org/your-stories/f/sutro-site-in-the-40s

1941: The War Production Board on Order L-208 shut down the mines of Nevada, Sutro stays operational until 1943 but much of the equipment was used to support the war effort.

Mark Twain references the tunnel in Roughing It.[7]

References
  1. "Nevada Historical Markers". Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  2. Smith, Grant Horace; Tingley, Joseph V. (July 21, 1998). The History of the Comstock Lode, 1850-1997. University of Nevada Press. pp. 107–115. ISBN 9781888035049.
  3. Rickard, Thomas Arthur (1992). Interviews with Mining Engineers. San Francisco: Mining and Scientific Press. p. 172. OCLC 2664362. Arthur De Wint Foote.
  4. "1913 Statutes of Nevada, Pages 581-591". www.leg.state.nv.us. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  5. "Daylight through the Sutro Tunnel". The Daily Examiner. San Francisco. July 9, 1878. p. 2. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  6. Buckley, Chris (October 24, 2019). "Restoration Efforts Underway at Sutro Tunnel Site in Dayton". KTVN. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
  7. Twain, Mark (1994). Roughing It. Pleasantville: The reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 255. ISBN 0895776286.

Further reading

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