Archived Feature:
Big Brutus
It's a little off the beaten track, but should you find yourself in southeastern Kansas, go to just outside the town of West Mineral and prepare yourself to be amazed.
On display in this corner of coal-mining country is Big Brutus, a colossal shovel (sixteen stories in height!) which saw duty in this area from 1963 until 1974. The vital statistics are impressive:
- Model: Bucyrus Erie 1850B
- Height: 160 feet (about sixteen stories)
- Weight: 11,000,000 pounds
- Boom length: 150 feet
- Dipper capacity: when heaped, about 150 tons (or 3 railroad cars)
- Maximum speed: 0.22 miles per hour
- Cost: $6.5 million (in 1962)
A variety of special events are held at Big Brutus through the year, including the Miner's Day Reunion each summer, when veteran miners come to celebrate and reminisce.
In the photo at left, note the two highlighted areas: at bottom middle-left is an automobile, and toward the right is what was considered a standard-sized shovel at the time Big Brutus was built in the 1960s. These two items help lend a sense of scale you wouldn't otherwise appeciate.
Not far from Big Brutus on the same parklike grounds is an early-twentieth-century "dragline" shovel (see photo at left).
The Big Brutus visitor center also has on display inside an extensive collection of scale models of various mining equipment, including the example at right.
Big Brutus is located in southeastern Kansas, just outside the community of West Mineral.
return to archive directory