Big Muskie was a coal mining Bucyrus-Erie dragline excavator owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company. It was the largest single-bucket digging machine ever created and one of the world’s largest mobile earth-moving machines. During its 22 years of service, Big Muskie removed more than 608,000,000 cubic yards of overburden.
About Big Muskie in brief
Big Muskie was a coal mining Bucyrus-Erie dragline excavator owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company. It was the largest single-bucket digging machine ever created and one of the world’s largest mobile earth-moving machines. During its 22 years of service, Big Muskie removed more than 608,000,000 cubic yards of overburden, twice the amount of earth moved during the construction of the Panama Canal. Increased EPA scrutiny and a rapid drop in demand for high sulfur coal following the passage of the 1977 Clean Air Act, coupled with regular yearly increases in electricity costs and continued public opposition to strip mining operations in Ohio, eventually made it unprofitable to operate.
In 1999 the machine was dismantled for USD 700,000 worth of recycled metal to be moved to an AEPCreation Land Park, formerly named in honor of Ronald V. Reation, General Superintendent of Central Ohio coal Company. The bucket of Big Muskies now showcases the Miners’ Memorial Memorial Park, which includes an information center which shows the history of the miners who lost their lives on the job.
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This page is based on the article Big Muskie published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 24, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
