Site of Giant Powder Company (Point Pinole)

The bronze's isolated location was the whole point. After blasts at its San Francisco and Albany Hill works, the last killing nine men in July 1892, Giant Powder moved out here, planted eucalyptus groves as blast buffers and laid rail lines, some with wooden rails to cut the risk of sparks. About two billion pounds of dynamite and nitroglycerine left by pier and railroad before cheaper ammonium nitrate explosives ended it in 1960. Before any of it, the Huchiun Ohlone camped on the point to gather shellfish. The register spells the Croatian village Sobrente; the bronze gets Sobrante right.

What the plaque says

Site of Giant Powder Company Pt. Pinole is the last site of the Giant Powder Company, the first company in America to produce dynamite. Following devastating explosions at their San Francisco and Berkeley sites, the business moved to this isolated location in 1892. Incorporating the established Croatian community of Sobrante, the company town of Giant quickly grew into one of the north bay's industrial centers. Explosives were produced here until 1960 and were essential to mining, dam and other construction projects throughout the western hemisphere. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1002-1 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the East Bay Regional Park District, November 18, 1992.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Woods National Monument — 14 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
• Muir Beach Overlook — 15 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
• Earthquake Trail — 24 mi
  A short loop along the San Andreas, where a broken fence shows how far Point Reyes moved in under a minute in 1906.
• Kule Loklo — 25 mi
  A Coast Miwok village built in the 1970s to honour a people its builders were told had died out. They had not.

More markers nearby

• Alvarado Adobe — 2.4 mi
• East Brother Light Station — 4.6 mi
• Richmond Shipyards District — 5.4 mi
• China Camp — 5.8 mi