The Dayton, Sutro and Carson Valley Railroad.

O riginally a horse drawn strap iron line, this road was first constructed in 1869 by Fred Birdsall to serve his tailings mill at Dayton. The line tapped the tailings in Gold Canyon. For just over ten years this half mile long line served its purpose with the mill putting out and average of 300 tons daily with and average of 50,000 tons a year. At some point during this period the company took on the name of Lyon Mill & Mining Company.

In 1881, it was decided to build a new two mile line from the mill to a connection with the Carson & Colorado. A couple spurs to serve other areas were added and it was completed between May and June at a cost of around $15,000. Shortly ballasting took place along with the arrival of a couple flat cars and the first locomotive, an 0-4-0T named the "Ernie Birdsall". The very same night of the locomotives arrival, July 11th, saw the first excursion on the line for the Dayton townspeople in celebration of it being completed. The engine house was expanded in October to accomodate a second 0-4-0T "Fred" and the line was in continuous service.

Fred Birdsall soon became interested elswhere with the San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada operation that was to be built from Woodbridge,CA into the foothills. He sent his track boss, Captain P. Daily along with locomotive number 1. Locomotive #2 was sold to the Towle Bros lumber company at Towle Station on the CP's transcontinental mainline in California, becoming their locomotive #4.

April 26, 1882 one J.M. Douglas purchased the remains of the Lyon Mill & Mining Co and soon renamed it, the railroad becoming the Dayton, Sutro and Carson Valley RR. A new 0-4-2 loco soon arrived and was named "Joe Douglas" and construction of a six mile extension to the tailings of the Carson Valley Mill near Sutro was began. The first loads made the trip in mid Jan. of 1883. The line basically followed that of the previous from the connection with the C&C to the mill. It then continued on past the old Reservoir Mill down a 2% grade and across the race to the old Rock Point Mill. Crossing Deadman's Cut it took a slightly northerly curve and a two mile tangent across Sagebrush Flat. The last two miles ran just a few hundred yards south of Sutro along the edge of the hillside to the tailings.

Trains usually consisted of 3 10-ton loads and five or six trips were needed when the mill was running at full capacity. This continued on until some time in 1896 or just thereafter though no records of its demise are found. The final locomotive, the "Joe Douglas" is the only surviving loco from this operation and now resides at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.

Reference Data Available Online:

Photographs

Collected Dayton, Sutro & Carson Valley Railroad Photographs.
Images collected from private collections, libraries and historical societies.