George Cabrillo

“BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS” is perhaps the most accurate way to describe the death of George Cabrillo, which occurred around 2:00 a.m. on August 12, 1909.

Cabrillo was thirty years old, a native of Montenegro, and was working at the 1,100-foot level of the Tonopah Belmont Mine when the blast went off prematurely. He was loading a hole when the shot exploded, killing him instantly. Though he had been employed at the Belmont for only a few weeks, Cabrillo was a longtime resident of Tonopah and was considered an experienced miner.

The man working the night shift with him, Dan Zarcovich, was seriously injured but survived. He was knocked unconscious by the explosion. When he regained his senses, he spread the alarm, and assistance was quickly summoned. What remained of Cabrillo’s body was brought to the surface.

He had been, quite literally, torn to pieces by the force of the blast.

Miner J. G. McKenzie testified before the coroner’s jury that Cabrillo appeared to have been loading a lifter on the right side of the drift when the explosion occurred. Whether the hole had already been loaded or was still being prepared could not be determined. Other fuses were found lying nearby, within easy reach. The lifter on the right side was the one that detonated. As McKenzie stated, “I don’t suppose anybody will know now what happened.”

The coroner’s jury returned a verdict that George Cabrillo came to his death by an explosion from unknown causes.

Cabrillo was buried four days later, after his brother arrived from Oakland, California, under the auspices of the Miners’ Union. One newspaper reported, “A long line of carriages followed the remains to their last resting place. The Tonopah band was in the line of march.” Unmarried and described as a man “of considerable means,” it was expected that his brother would settle his estate.

George Cabrillo survived migration, labor, and the long road to Nevada, only to be erased in an instant underground. In the Old Tonopah Cemetery, his grave marks the place where an experienced miner met the one thing experience could not protect him from—an explosion that left no explanation, only fragments.