- Big Muskie
Big Muskie was a
coal mining Bucyrus-Eriedragline owned by theCentral Ohio Coal Company (a division ofAmerican Electric Power ), weighing nearly convert|13000|MT and standing nearly 22 stories tall. It operated in the U.S. state ofOhio from1969 to1991 . Big Muskie was the worlds largest Dragline and was the world's second largest mobile earth-moving machine after theMarion built 6360 stripping shovel calledThe Captain at the Captain mine inIllinois .Big Muskie cost $25 million in 1969, which is $Formatprice|Inflation|US|25000000|1969|r=2 today adjusted for inflation.Inflation-fn|US Big Muskie removed over convert|608000000|cuyd of
overburden , which is twice as much earth as was moved during the construction of thePanama Canal , uncovering over convert|20000000|t|kg of coal. It was convert|151.5|ft wide, convert|222.5|ft in height, and convert|487.5|ft in length with the boom down. Its bucket could carry twoGreyhound bus es side by side. It took over 200,000man hour s to construct over a period of about two years.Big Muskie was powered by an
electricity supplied at 13,800volt s via a trailing cable, which had its own transporter/coiling units to move it. The electric power was used to drive Eighteen convert|1000|hp DCelectric motor s and ten convert|625|hp ones, instead of using aDiesel engine andhydraulic drive system that is more common today ( some systemes were electro hydraulic, but the main drives were all electric motor driven). [Exteme Mining Machines, by Keith Haddock, pub by MBI, ISBN 0-7603-0918-3] Big Muskie used the equivalent of the power for 27,500 homes. The machine took a crew of 5 to operate it (drive), and worked round the clock. .Big Muskie was dismantled in 1999, despite calls that it be preserved as a museum. Its bucket, however, remains at the site for educational purposes, and as a
tourist attraction at 39.70 N, -81.73 W.convert|10000|acre|sqmi km2 of the land stripped by Big Muskie were reclaimed and turned into a
wildlife park calledThe Wilds , which opened in 1994. It is home to numerous species of African, Asian, and North American fauna. [http://www.thewilds.org/]References
* [http://www.little-mountain.com/bigmuskie/ Little Mountain]
* [http://www.stripmine.org/muskie1.htm Strip Mine]ee also
*
Dragline
*Guernsey County, Ohio External links
* [http://www.little-mountain.com/bigmuskie/ Tribute page] , with [http://www.little-mountain.com/bigmuskie/pics.html pictures]
* [http://www.noblecountyohio.com/muskie.html Miner's Memorial Park] (Noble county website)
* [http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/OHCUMmuskie.html Attraction listing] at Roadsideamerica.com
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