The Glory Hole was created in 1922 when a large underground stope caved in. It happened in the evening while the mine was working only one shift at a time, and no one was hurt. The size of the stope can be judged by the size of the hole. Many more large stopes lie underground, most beneath the town of Tonopah where the ore bodies dipped under the cap rock. From time to time, a crack opens in the town's main street from underground movement. A large section on the east edge of the Glory Hole is cracking off and will double the size of the hole. Some of the original stopes that came to the surface can be seen on the west edge of the cave-in.