ADOLPH H. SUTRO - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED CHECK 08/16/1897 - HFSID 250740

ADOLPH SUTRO
Comstock mining engineer Adolph Sutro signed this check from his account at the Nevada Bank of San Francisco for $175.70 in 1897. It was made out to William C. Little, Captain of the San Francisco City Guard and Sutro's agent when he was Mayor of San San Francisco.
Partly Printed Check signed: "Adolph Sutro", 6½x2¾. San Francisco, 1897 August 16. Drawn on The Nevada Bank San Francisco, payable to "Wm. C. Little, Agent" for $175.70. ADOLPH SUTRO (1830-1898, born in Aachen, Prussia, now part of Germany) was a mining engineer who moved to the United States when he was 20, arriving in California in 1851 when he was 21 and moving on to Nevada in 1860. He planned the Sutro Tunnel (over 20,000 feet long) to reach the rich Comstock lode of silver and gold near Virginia City, Nevada and superintended its construction from 1869 to 1878. In 1867, Sutro went to Europe, the first of several such trips, and visited a dozen countries and their mines, tunnels and engineers to help his own plan at home. He also obtained subscribers to underwrite his tunnel. The tunnel cost approximately $6.5 million. In 1879, he sold his interest and returned to California, invested in San Francisco real estate (at one time, he owned a twelfth of the city's acreage) and served as Mayor of San Francisco from 1894 to 1896 on the Populist ticket, which opposed the politics of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He had four daughters and two sons. Colonel WILLIAM C. LITTLE was the Captain of the San Francisco City Guard and had served as Mayor Sutro's agent. Handwriting, but not signature, is lightly smeared in places but legible. Pinhead-size holes and cut bank cancellation at left portion. Fine condition.