And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Big Brutus, the worlds (second) largest electric shovel with two admittedly immature humans for scale
That would be in Kansas. If you notice there is a staircase on the vertical framework. Its around 20 stories high if memory serves. Climbed it a couple of times, nice view.
About 7 miles from where I live. Used to watch it work down in the coal pit when I was a kid back in the 60's. We fish for bass and blue gill in those water filled pits now
Back in the 70's Ohio discovered that it did not own the land under I-70 in eastern Ohio. A coal company did. Ohio only had an easement. Part of the easement agreement allowed the coal company to shut down I-70 for over a day, to bury it under several feet of earth, and to move their copy of Big Brutus from one side of the highway to the other.
PS. I always thought Big Brutus was a reference to the Ohio State mascot. Ohio once had two companies specializing in the manufacture of such machines. Bucyrus-Erie built Big Brutus and Big Muskie. I don't remember the name of the second company.
P&M owned Brutus. Parent company was Gulf Oil (Chevron now). Kansas coal was high sulfur coal and among other things, the big acid rain scare in the 70's finished killing it. The mine pits were mostly given to the state of Kansas to avoid reclamation work. It all became public hunting and fishing which actually turned out pretty well for us folks that like that stuff.
Yep, down in West Mineral, Kansas. One big sucker! Took a crew of three to run it. You can walk around inside of it now. Seems like I was walking around inside a battleship in that thing. It got too expensive to run it, so they shut it down in 1973, I believe. Pretty awesome.
On January 16, 2010, Mark Mosley, a 49-year-old dentist from Lowell, Arkansas, died attempting to base-jump from the top of the boom. Climbing the boom had been prohibited years earlier; after the accident, the attraction's board of directors considered additional restrictions on climbing. During the accident's investigation, examiner Tom Dolphin determined that Mosley had accidentally fallen off the boom while preparing to jump.
That would be in Kansas. If you notice there is a staircase on the vertical framework. Its around 20 stories high if memory serves. Climbed it a couple of times, nice view.
ReplyDeleteNeeds googly eyes on that cross-beam just over the bucket.
ReplyDeleteAbout 7 miles from where I live. Used to watch it work down in the coal pit when I was a kid back in the 60's. We fish for bass and blue gill in those water filled pits now
ReplyDeleteBack in the 70's Ohio discovered that it did not own the land under I-70 in eastern Ohio. A coal company did. Ohio only had an easement. Part of the easement agreement allowed the coal company to shut down I-70 for over a day, to bury it under several feet of earth, and to move their copy of Big Brutus from one side of the highway to the other.
ReplyDeletePS. I always thought Big Brutus was a reference to the Ohio State mascot. Ohio once had two companies specializing in the manufacture of such machines. Bucyrus-Erie built Big Brutus and Big Muskie. I don't remember the name of the second company.
The other company was Marion Power Shovel. They are almost neighbors in Ohio. They competed on almost every big excavator project.
DeleteMarion is defunct. I think Caterpillar owns Bucyrus now.
I remember seeing that move on the television.
ReplyDeleteP&M owned Brutus. Parent company was Gulf Oil (Chevron now). Kansas coal was high sulfur coal and among other things, the big acid rain scare in the 70's finished killing it. The mine pits were mostly given to the state of Kansas to avoid reclamation work. It all became public hunting and fishing which actually turned out pretty well for us folks that like that stuff.
ReplyDeleteYep, down in West Mineral, Kansas. One big sucker! Took a crew of three to run it. You can walk around inside of it now. Seems like I was walking around inside a battleship in that thing. It got too expensive to run it, so they shut it down in 1973, I believe. Pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteOne to manipulate the shovel, one to move it and an oiler. The guy who moved it had one station forward and another one "aft".
DeleteIs this the one some Darwin Award candidate died climbing?
ReplyDeleteThey do not allow you to go out to the top anymore. You know, lawyers and insurance companies.
ReplyDeleteOn January 16, 2010, Mark Mosley, a 49-year-old dentist from Lowell, Arkansas, died attempting to base-jump from the top of the boom. Climbing the boom had been prohibited years earlier; after the accident, the attraction's board of directors considered additional restrictions on climbing. During the accident's investigation, examiner Tom Dolphin determined that Mosley had accidentally fallen off the boom while preparing to jump.
ReplyDeleteBig Muskie was of the "drag line" variety. Much larger bucket. The bucket is on display near McConnelsville Ohio.
ReplyDelete