Big Brutus

Big Brutus lives up to its name. The massive Bucyrus-Erie model 1850-B electric shovel is so large it was abandoned at the location of its final use. Indeed, it was the second largest of its kind in the 1960s and 1970s and the largest shovel still in existence—16 stories tall with a 150-foot long boom and weighing in at 11 million pounds. The dipper can fill three railroad cars with its 90-cubic-yard capacity. It is less of a surprise that the shovel was abandoned, despite the $6.2 million price tag back in 1962, when one learns that it can only move at .22 MPH.

History of Big Brutus

Big Brutus finds its way to the American heartland of West Mineral, Kansas as part of coal strip mining operations in the area – exposing relatively shallow seams of coal. Fabrication of the electric shovel is completed in May 1963. The parts are then shipped to the area in 150 railroad cars and assembled once in Kansas. Big Brutus remains in operation until 1974 when coal mining becomes uneconomical.

Visiting Big Brutus

Today, Big Brutus is a tourist attraction in the middle of sprawling Kansas farm land. In 1984, Big Brutus is donated by the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company to become a museum. A year later, in 1985, the mining museum opens to the public. Along with the record breaking electric shovel, admission to Big Brutus includes a visitor center with a working replica of an early electric mining shovel dubbed the “Little Giant” and other educational displays.