Correspondence

The papers consist primarily of correspondence. Letters to Adolph Sutro in the 1860s and 1870s document his attempts to build the Sutro Tunnel with assistance from federal legislation and foreign capital. Letters from the 1880s are personal, covering such topics as trees for Sutro's estate and requests for charity. A few of the letters in the 1890s concern his political career.

There are also letters dating from 1886 to 1895 from, Edward Lynch, Sutro's agent in Washington, D.C., who monitored the passage of bills affecting real estate in the San Francisco area. The collection contains an 1866 power of attorney authorizing Sutro to act for the Sutro Tunnel Company.