Nevada Day Rock Drilling celebrates 50 years of Pulverizing Granite
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 10/13/2023 - 3:42pm
Event Date:
October 28, 2023 (All day)
This year marks the 50th year of the World Championship Single Jack Rock Drill Competition which takes place every year during the Nevada Day Parade in Carson City.
For those who have never seen the competition firsthand, single jack is a time-honored mining tradition in which the drilling contestant uses a four-pound hammer and a variety of steel rods to drill a hole by hand into granite.
This practice harkens back to the days of the Comstock when miners had to drill blast holes into the hard granite walls of Virginia City to create new sections of their mines.
The practice first began in the early 1600s in Hungary and Germany, when black gunpowder was loaded into the holes chiseled into the rock, sealed with a cork, and set alight.
Later, the messy gunpowder was replaced by sticks of dynamite, before the entire practice was replaced by drifter drills in the mid 1800s. Drifter drills used steam or air to create the blast holes.
Now, single jack is used recreationally, though the practice is anything but leisurely.
Contestants have 10 minutes to drill as far as they can into the large slab of granite provided for the contest.
Contestants must purchase their own tools, which can cost in the thousands, but are checked for regulation standards such as not using diamond tips that could give them an unfair advantage.
“It takes a lot of strength and endurance to drive steel into a rock for 10 minutes,” Ken Brown, who has coordinated the contest for the past 20 years, said.
Since he was “drafted” into the practice, much has changed about the competition.
“It’s a much larger event now than it used to be,” Brown said. “We have stands for people to sit and watch, and the contestants told me we should get a DJ, so now they all have their personal drilling music while they work.”
Another major addition has been the women’s division.
“Women were always welcome to compete, but we’d get one or two, typically daughters of the other contestants, who went against the rest of the men,” Brown said.
This all changed when the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada, Reno created their teams.
“They had a women’s team and a men’s team, and they wanted to come to Nevada Day to participate,” Brown said. “We got some sponsors to help fund some additional prize money, and we’re hoping it gets bigger — but it’s typically not a sport that girls (or boys) get into. Basketball or baseball typically get them more.”
The event has also been moved a few times, from property owned by the Carson City Nugget, to Third Street, and now to the Carson Mall, which Brown hopes is its final home.
“It’s a great location, and we’ve seen more involvement I think because it’s at the end of the parade,” Brown said. “The Mall staff helps us out by letting us set up there, and people really seem to respond to the location.”
The Rock Drilling will be going on throughout the day, with the most experienced contestants taking their turns as the parade ends.
This story is featured in the official Nevada Day Program. For this an other stories, be sure to pick up your free copy on Parade Day all along the Parade route!
