Tennessee Ernie Ford and Johnny Cash both crooned:
"You load sixteen tons, what do you get?"
For Big Muskie, it was 325 tons. In one scoop. And, while it didn’t have a soul owned by the company store or otherwise it nonetheless walked the earth!
Considered to be one of the seven engineering wonders of the world, the Big Muskie was one of the biggest digging machines ever built. It stood 222 feet tall and 487 feet long. It was so big, that it could be seen for miles in the distance. Her 220-cubic-yard bucket could remove the equivalent of a 12-car garage in a single scoop.
Commissioned in 1969, the twin-boom machine was known as a Bucyrus-Erie dragline - the only one of its type ever built. According to Caterpillar, Inc., “It took 340 rail cars and 260 trucks to ship all of the components, and 200,000 man-hours to construct.” The project, three years in the making cost $25 million, or the equivalent of over $170 million in today’s dollars.
On the day of its dedication, the entire Morgan High School marching band congregated inside the enormous bucket to celebrate the affair. You can see a photograph of that event at the Miners Memorial Park where the bucket sits today.
Big Muskie was powered by 13,000 volts of electricity supplied by a trailing cable. A complement of eighteen 1,000-horsepower engines and ten 625-horsepower electric motors powered the beast. While working, it drew power equivalent to that used by 27,500 homes.
After an area was cleared, hydraulically-driven walking feet moved her from place to place. Distances were usually less than a mile; and, it was slow going at about 1.76 inches per second. The machine had a crew of five, and it was run around the clock. According to Blake Malkamaki, who tried unsuccessfully to champion Big Muskie preservation efforts in the 1990s, was quoted saying, “In her working lifetime, the Big Muskie removed over 608,000,000 cubic yards of [earth]. Twice the earth moved during the construction of the Panama Canal.”
A vintage postcard view of Big Muskie, circa 1970s. [Photo/Wikimedia Commons]
The 1977 Clean Air Act along with increased public and Federal opposition to strip mining and a huge drop in demand for high sulfur coal eventually made Big Muskie unprofitable. Her operations stopped in 1991.
After Big Muskie was shut down, a large preservation effort attempted to save the giant as a museum and tourist attraction. People worldwide contributed thousands of dollars to the preservation efforts but it was ultimately to little avail. As Blake Malkamaki recounted on his preservation site - on May 20, 1999, “High explosives...cut the 5-inch cables holding Big Muskie's mighty boom up. The boom crashed to the ground in a twisted mess.” After that, the machine was dismantled and sold for $700,000 worth of scrap.
However, the bucket of Big Muskie was saved, moved to an American Electric Power land reclamation park where it can be seen today. Brian Cox, with American Electric Power, in an interview with Ohio Magazine said, “AEP had to request permits from the Ohio Department of Transportation to move the 240-ton bucket to Miners’ Memorial Park, which had been built on reclaimed land,” adding, “We had to close the road down, because it was as wide as the road!”
Sarah Arnold, a writer in Southeast Ohio who publishes Clutchmov.com observed, “It's hard to imagine the full scale of Big Muskie when only the bucket remains.”
The bucket is now the centerpiece of Miners’ Memorial Park located 9 miles from McConnelsville, Ohio. Miners Memorial Park presents the history of Central Ohio Coal Company and serves as a memorial honoring all the miners who lost their lives while on the job. Be sure to take a picture of you and your family inside the Big Muskie bucket. According to Cox, “We’ve had several bucket weddings.”
Appalachian Byway - a new Byway for Ohio takes travelers along the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in through several Southern Ohio counties. Amy Grove with the Morgan County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau said, “The Appalachian Byway was designated just a couple weeks ago, [it includes] Monroe, Noble, Morgan & Athens counties.” The 105-mile route follows State Route 78 for 105 miles from Clarington, Ohio to Nelsonville, Ohio. Ms. Grove said, “The Miner's Memorial Park will be a key spot along the [route].”
Drivers can also take a side trip along SR 83 for approximately 10 mile to The Wilds in nearby Muskingum County, an open-air wildlife park created from 10,000 acres of land once stripped by Big Muskie and later reclaimed. It is home to numerous species of African, Asian, and North American animals free-roaming the acreage.
Twin City Opera House - located in McConnelsville, the historic theater building, constructed in 1892 was one of the first buildings in the county to be lit by electric light. In its early days, it hosted notables like Reverend Billy Sunday and orator William Jennings Bryan. Today, it’s home for first-run movies, live music, and other events.
In the nearby village of Stockport Ohio is the awe-inspiring Stockport Mill, a 1906 grist mill run by hydroelectric power. Today, it has been renovated into a picturesque bed and breakfast inn and restaurant.
If you would like to stay adjacent to the Miners Memorial Park, four areas of camping are provided by American Electric Power on reclamation land. They are Hook Lake, Maple Grove, Sawmill, and Woodgrove. Each offers 5 free primitive sites with bathhouses with water and toilets. A free permit is required at each.
Wolfie's Campground is approximately 22 miles from McConnelsville near Zanesville, Ohio.
It has 46 full-hookup sites with 30 & 50 amp electric and Wi-Fi. The park can accommodate rigs over 35’ in 12 pull-throughs. Amenities include a heated pool, playground, and game room.