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Sutro Tunnel Postcards

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:50.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 150.00 USD
Sutro Tunnel Postcards
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A group of six postcards from the Prag collection, including: 1) "Main Tunnel 4 1/2 Miles Long Drains Mines of Comstock lode to 1750 Foot Level."; 2) "5 Miles Long, Lode 1800 ft.; Driving the Sutro Tunnel 1869. 5 Miles Long. Laterals 4 miles. Taps Code at 1800 foot Level. Virginia City, Nevada."; 3) "The Sutro Tunnel Started for the Purpose of Draining the Virginia City Mines of Water. Sutro, Nevada." As mine shafts grew deeper they began to encounter large amounts of water that had to be pumped to the surface at great expense. Adolph Sutro's tunnel solved the problem by blasting a large horizontal tunnel right through the rock of the neighboring Mt. Davidson and straight into the heart of the Comstock mine, allowing mine water to drain through the tunnel without need for a pump. Progress was slowed by resistance from major mining interests, fearing Sutro would use the tunnel to take control of the entire lode. Completed in 1878, it drained some two million gallons of water from the mines per year. As the richer sections of the Comstock Lode had been tapped out by this time, the mine declined in profitability. Sutro sold his tunnel in 1879 and moved to San Francisco where he became a large landowner and the city's mayor from 1894 to 1896 (history.com).

Date:
City: Sutro
State: Nevada
ID: 20963