[Adolph Heinrich Joseph]. American mining engineer, born in Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, on the 29th of April 1830. He removed with his mother to New York in 1850, and immediately started for the California gold-fields, where a technical knowledge received in his native land was of great service to him. In 1860 he visited the famous “Comstock” mine in Nevada, and devised a tunnel which would drain and ventilate all the mines of that region. The next nine years were spent in organizing a company of sufficient capital for the undertaking, and in securing the necessary legislation. Work on the tunnel was begun in October 1869, and finished in the latter part of 1871. Sutro realized a fortune from the venture, and settled in San Francisco, where he spent millions in benefactions, among them the copy of Bartholdi’s statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, erected at the entrance to the harbor. In 1893, he was elected mayor of the city, and did much in introducing municipal reforms. His property, the Cliff House, with the large park and public baths, are well known.
