 Adolph Sutro constantly pursued funding for his project. He was always after private money, but was not able to collect enough. Seeing that other projects were able to garner public funds he went to Washington. There he asked for a cool $2 Million to help build the tunnel he said would bring safety to the mining operations in the Comstock. He convinced Congress to create a Committee charged with investigating the need for the tunnel and the practicality of his plan.
 When they came to investigate, Sutro purposefully steered them to what he wanted them to see, and away from any problems. Then before Congress he continued his manipulation of the system grilling Committee members about things they had missed. He won approval for the money. Before Congress could act upon it, President Andrew Johnson was impeached. The issue of funding the tunnel was lost in the fray and never revisited. Instead the funding for the Sutro Tunnel came completely from private donors.
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