Description
Book Synopsis Adolph Sutro was forever seeking challenges. Emigrating from Prussia to the U.S. at age 20, the California gold rush lured him west. At the Comstock Lode in Nevada, he conceived an idea for a tunnel to drain the hot water that made the mines perilous and inefficient. But he would have to overcome both physical obstacles and powerful opposition by the Bank of California to realize his vision.
Back in San Francisco, Sutro bought one twelfth of the city, including the famous Cliff House perched over the Pacific Ocean. When it burned to cinders on Christmas Day, 1894, he built a massive, eight-story Victorian replacement. He used his expertise in tunneling and water solutions to create the world''s largest enclosed swimming structure, the Sutro Baths--six glass-covered heated saltwater pools with capacity of 1,000 swimmers.
Other challenges followed but Sutro was not invincible. After a two-year term as mayor of San Francisco, he succumbed to debilitating strokes wh
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword—Nevada Chapters by Patrick Neylan
Foreword—San Francisco Chapters by Charles A. Fracchia
Preface
Introduction
1. The End
2. Roots and Uprooted
3. Some That Glitters
4. The Country Reacts
5. Go West, Young Man
6. Sutro, the Shop Owner
7. Mr. Sutro Goes to Washoe
8. All the News
9. Mining in Hell
10. From Riches to Rags
11. William Ralston—Boat Captain to Financial Captain
12. Rehabilitation
13. Homework
14. Endorsement
15. Rejection
16. Starting Over
17. Workin' on the Railroad
18. Mines, Mills and Money
19. Start Digging!
20. Mr. Sutro Goes to Washington
21. That Sounds French
22. Sutro Builds Sutro
23. Water, Water
24. The King Is Dead; Long Live the Kings
25. A Hole in the Ground to Pour Money Into
26. The Devil Is in the Details
27. A Family Man?
28. Return to San Francisco
29. Sutro Heights
30. Clara and Leah
31. The Cliff House—Before Sutro
32. The Cliff House—With Sutro
33. Gingerbread Palace
34. Glass Houses
35. The Philobiblist
36. His Honor, the Mayor
37. Decline, Demise, Disputes
38. Epilogue—Nevada
39. Epilogue—San Francisco
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
