Replacement Marker Dedication: April 2015
Any story dealing with Marker 85 yields a rough and rocky one. In 2009, our conquering of Lyon County was felled quickly upon discovering that this marker had gone missing, or rather had been missing for approximately ten years! Days later we dove deep into investigating this case and received an email a few days later from fellow marker hunter "Air Force Dave S," who had shot down my hunch of the marker being relocated to the privately-owned Sutro Tunnel. The Storey County Historical Society arranges a tour only once a year to the Tunnel during the month of June and if the marker was removed from US 50 we had hopes that officials might have moved it up here in a haste. Dave replied to the owner of the Sutro Tunnel Co. and the owner solidly stated that the marker was not at the Sutro Property and continued with some valuable information. In Dave's email interview, the owner states:

"... Several years ago, the Boy Scout Troop in Dayton restored the marker and the sign at that same turnout.
The Troop took it down the same time NDOT started working on that section of 50 and nothing has been seen since."

In a final statement, the owner barked:

"We don't want anyone to know where Sutro is. I'm glad because that marker really doesn't matter if people can't see the tunnel."

Unfortunately, some people fail to understand that history belongs to everybody. Even though an historic site may reside on private property, an historic marker (and all of its content) solidly belongs to the public. Thanks to the loss of [85] the many thousands of people who whizzed on by US 50 would never know the fascinating chapter of Adolph Sutro and his Tunnel. [85] was a prime example of the endless loop of research I, and many dedicated marker hunters were doing to find the whereabouts of our unfortunate MIAs.

Update 2015:
Let's fast forward, nearly fifteen years in fact that the SHPO has since replaced this long-lost marker at the very same location it had once stood so long ago. Luckily our cries were heard and [85] was resurrected - one of thirty markers that was re-vamped in 2015 in celebration of "Battle Born, 150th: A State Sesquicentennial" (as evident by the campaign's logo on the plaque). It may have taken twenty years, but representation of the Sutro Tunnel can finally be seen along the once sleepy two-lane, now bustling four-lane expressway of US 50. (Oh how the times have changed!) We invite you to visit, stand, then stare beyond the marker toward the hills in the background and reflect what's been preserved.