The Comstock Lode, one of the wealthiest deposits of silver in the United States, had a fundamental issue; Mt Davidson was seismically active, and the silver was mixed in thick mud. As the silver mines worked its way kilometers into the mountain, it became more and more difficult to extract the ore through the water-clogged, steamy environment. Into this came
Adolph Sutro. An engineer from Aachen, Adolph Sutro arrived in the United States with a plan to remove the water and gas pockets that plagued the mines of the Comstock Lode in Nevada by digging a long tunnel through the bottom of the mountain, and letting the steam and water drain out, allowing the mines on top to work their claims easier and improving ventilation, a major factor after the
Yellow Jacket Mine Disaster. After years of effort Sutro gathered some $3.75 million for the project by selling stock for the company and began the much-delayed project in 1869.
Creating the Sutro Tunnel was one of the most monumental engineering efforts in the United States at the time. The tunnel would go 6.24km into Mt Davidson, up a 1.5% grade, calibrated by reflected sunlight and was large enough for mule trains to pass through. The project took 9 years and $2 million to complete, reaching the Savage Mine within 46 cm of target. When it connected, a small gale formed as the pressures equalized between the mine and tunnel. Unfortunately it was also too late; by 1878 the Comstock mines had descended below the Sutro Tunnel and to make matters worse, the mines themselves were declining by that point. The Sutro Tunnel never did make back its investments, not that it mattered for Adolph Sutro; foreseeing the end, he had cashed his shares and left for San Francisco with his fortune.
Visible here from the Dayton Cemetery is the City of Dayton, which has since the 1990s expanded from its old core at the bottom right. At the bottom left and extending to the middle is the old Gold Canyon, where gold was first discovered and Dayton founded; the old Chinatown of 1857 was located at the site of the Sinclair Gas station. The cottonwood trees in the middle left was the site of the Dayton Lime Works.
In the middle distance is the old town of Sutro, now part of Dayton. It was a company town founded by Adolph Sutro to work on his Sutro Tunnel, which is hidden by the low set of hills in the middle left. Though the lower ends of the mines are now flooded the Sutro Tunnel is still there and still passively draining Virginia City but the property remains under a (supposedly gun-happy) private owner and is rarely open or visible.
Highway 50, winds its way from the bottom middle to the top right. This section starting from Carson City, is claimed to be "the Loneliest Road in America", due to its desolation as it works its way through Great Basin.
Dayton, Nevada
