Steve Robinson, of Stagecoach, playing the part of Abner Blackburn, the first man in Nevada to discover gold in Dayton in 1849, explains some of the Sutro mine's history Saturday.
About 500 people took advantage of the rare chance to see the Sutro town site and tunnel east of Dayton on Saturday. At a cost of $20 each, folks were driven in on a trolley, shown around by guides in period dress and saw a slide show.
"That was an excellent tour," said Carey Dyke of Fair Oaks, Calif. He and two friends from Reno were in a tour lead by volunteer Mike Maloney.
"A lot of this stuff depends on your guide and this guy was great," Dyke said.
Guides described how Prussian immigrant Adolf Sutro dug a 3.88-mile long tunnel from the site near Dayton under the mountains where it intersected with the Savage Shaft below Virginia City to drain water from the Comstock mines.
Sutro dreamed of building a town named after himself on the site with a 200-foot wide, tree-lined main street.
"(The tunnel) was an absolute engineering masterpiece," said Maloney, wearing a long black wool overcoat.
He described how the tunnel, started in 1869, took almost nine years to complete. Once it was finished shoppers from the town of Sutro, which had a peak population of about 500, rode through the tunnel on carts pulled by mules then up elevators to the streets of Virginia City. This was especially important in winter when several feet of snow covered the ground outside.
"The tunnel was a real boon in that regard," Maloney said.
Sutro Tunnel took too long to finish, however, and never recovered the cost of its construction. The wily Sutro sold his shares in the project and left for the coast, where he became the mayor of San Francisco before his death in 1898.
Saturday's tour was a fund-raiser for the historic Fourth Ward School in Virginia City. It was the third tour of the site, which is now on private property, in the last five years.
Volunteers say there's been no drop in attendance.
Groups milled about the Sutro town site -- where some folks still live -- sipping mint juleps, watching a slide presentation and gazing at the 400-foot long, 15-foot deep pond Sutro created to farm frogs.
"He liked the good life," Maloney said. "And one of his affinities was frog legs."
Visitors also stood on the stone foundation of Sutro's once splendid mansion, which, complete with hot, running water, was tethered to the hill against gusty "Washoe Zephyr" winds. It burned under suspicious circumstances in 1941, Maloney said.
The Sutro town site is today scattered with rusted pieces of mining equipment such as a pump made by Ramsey & Co. in Seneca Falls, N.Y., several bathtubs, wood-burning stoves and a cart with an electric motor made by Elwell Parker Electric Co.
The owner of the land, Pete Leonard, is a member of the Fourth Ward School's board of director.
As the tour groups approached his land in trolleys owned by Virginia City Tours, guides reminded folks not to litter, take anything home or smoke cigarettes.
"We are trying to be good guests so we'll be invited back," said volunteer Barbara White.
Items for sale at a table-top gift store Saturday are now offered at the Fourth Ward School including Fourth Ward drinking glasses and Adolf Sutro T-shirts.
INFORMATION
For information, call the Fourth Ward School at 847-0975.
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