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All the United States Kansas West Mineral Big Brutus

Big Brutus

The Bucyrus-Erie model 1850B electric shovel, or "Big Brutus," the largest existing electric shovel in the world.

West Mineral, Kansas

Added By
michaelmecseri
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  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brutus
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brutus
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Big Brutus’ Treads 08.20.2022   Raven Traveler / Atlas Obscura User
The operator’s seat   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-28-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the beast   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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The elevator   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
BRUTUS!   shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
Motor/Generator Platforms 2 3,500 HP AC Motors, and 13 DC Generators were on these platorms.   shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
View from the Operator’s Cab   shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
Note the car on the left.   shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
  shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
Viewing the underside from the bucket   jusTodd / Atlas Obscura User
Inside Big Brutus   jusTodd / Atlas Obscura User
Inside big brutus   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Big Brutus plaque   jusTodd / Atlas Obscura User
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Makes you feel kinda small.   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Strip-mining was changed forever the day that Big Brutus and its giant counterparts powered up. At 160 feet high and weighing in at a jaw-dropping 11 million pounds, this gargantuan electric shovel that operated on 15,000 horsepower is the largest electric shovel in the world.

Big Brutus wasn't always the biggest shovel—its mightier “sister” Big Bertha was dismantled, and the largest electric shovel on earth, the 22 million pound “Captain”, was scrapped in 1992, leaving Brutus to hold the lonely title. In the 60's and 70's, when the mining giants were in their heyday, Big Brutus' bucket could lift 150 tons of coal, and worked at a speed of 0.22 MPH, 24 hours a day, using as much electricity as a town of 15,000 people.

Therein lies the demise of the massive machinery, its complete lack of practicality. While it sure made things easier, bigger was not better, since Brutus cost twice as much to operate as the coal it recovered was worth. Still, Big Brutus was a major advancement in engineering, and was preserved and memorialized as a symbol of the revitalized mining industry of the 60s.

Today Big Brutus calls Big Brutus Inc. its home, a mining museum in West Mineral, Kansas that doubles as a campground. As long as the wind is low, you can climb on the 16-story boom, step inside the massive shovel, or poke around the stairs that climb the sleeping colossus that once roared with power across the Kansas plains.

Related Tags

Electrical Oddities Retro Tech

Know Before You Go

Open all year seven days a week 9 am-4 pm, w/exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Cost: $10/adults, $9/senior-military, $5.50/children (6-12), & free (5 & under). 

Community Contributors

Added By

michaelmecseri

Edited By

Raven Traveler, Lil Devil, Rachel, johnkoch39...

  • Raven Traveler
  • Lil Devil
  • Rachel
  • johnkoch39
  • shaw95
  • jusTodd
  • hphilandbecca
  • Darrell Powers
  • SemiruralYeti
  • mry4567
  • The Retired Travelers
  • ladytecate

Published

May 2, 2012

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Sources
  • http://www.worldslargestthings.com/kansas/bigbrutus.htm
  • http://www.bigbrutus.org/about.html
Big Brutus
6509 NW 60th
West Mineral, Kansas, 66782
United States
37.282626, -94.92276
Visit Website
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