Ironic as it sounds — the deadly Yellow Jacket Fire of 1869 became a turning point in the construction of the Sutro Tunnel. The Yellow Jacket Fire claimed dozens of lives and burned underground for months, but it brought the plight of safety for the workers to a head on the Comstock.

Angered by the roadblocks put in his way by the “bank crowd”, Sutro seized upon the Yellow Jacket disaster as a new argument for the value of the tunnel. He called a meeting of miners at the Opera House in Virginia City on September 20th in 1869 and rallied them on the issue of safety. Where before he had mostly described the tunnel as a business enterprise, he now portrayed it as a moral issue.

For three hours, he spoke directly to the laboring miners, characterizing the ‘Bank of California’ as a ‘hydra headed monster’ that threatened their very lives. This monster could be slayed only with the realization of his tunnel. He incited them by calling upon them to rise up and break up their arch enemy, the California Bank, and he guaranteed them that the completion of his vision, the Sutro Tunnel, would ensure their safety.

After his speech the miners milled in the streets simmering in anger. Even while violence had been something he had spoken against, violence was in the air. In trying to help calm the crowd, Sutro walked amongst the miners quieting the situation. The miners union, which had contributed $50,000 to the tunnel project, became recognized as financial and moral supporters. Eastern financiers, who expected Sutro to come back with money from western financiers, instead found him returning with money from a labor union!

The Yellow Jacket fire changed the complexion of the battle over the tunnel and painted Adolph Sutro as an advocate for the working miner and a threat to mine owners.

What’s surprising is that the miners needed the disaster of the Yellow Jacket Fire to take up the cause of the tunnel. With time, the deeper the mines went, the more dangerous the work became. With streams of water reaching 170 degrees, tools had to be wrapped in cloth or used only with gloves.

With the support of the miners, Sutro decided not to wait on action from Congress or New York and the actual construction began on October 19, 1869.