Hello, the organization that tried to save the silver spade is still going strong where the shovel once worked. I became president of this organization and have continued the efforts to save other large pieces of mining equipment and history. Unfortunately our efforts to preserve the silver spade did not go as we had hoped, our mission was not a complete failure, as we do currently have the full operators cabin and breakroom, bucket, dipper door, hoist cables, boom support cables, power cable, crawler pads, house rollers, the enormous signs that said BE Bucyrus eire at the top of the machine, along with countless other artifacts, all on display at our grounds in Harrison county. I would be happy to open the grounds on a weekend give tours of our ever growing collection and promote our continued efforts to preserve the giants that are left!
Hey there ! Thank you for your message. Glad to see that much passion in your comment, haha. Feel free to send me an email anytime (you'll find my email address in the "About section" here on the channel. I'm in VA/WV right now and I wouldn't mind taking a trip to you at some point to admire the wonders you were able to save 🙂 Thank you. Nick
@roberthumberston8803 the machine is scrapped but there are still pieces of it at the Harrison Coal and Reclamation Historical Park in New Athens. The museum is open twice a year to the public during events where other earthmoving equipment is operated and on display.
I have never had anything to do with mining, of any kind, except a short tour of a lignite mine. I have always loved machinery like this, however. I can't help but tear up, a little, when I watch the boom and a frame of The Big Muskie being blown off and dropping, and similar activities of destruction of mechanical world wonders like these.
I remember a quote from Modern Marvels *"Just like the flesh and blood monsters that came before them these dinosaurs were destin to become extinct"* Really makes you think about great machines like them. Nothing lives forever not even great marvels of engineering like these
The #1 reason we most likely won't see machines this large again (at least not anytime soon) is that mining methods have changed. Ad in the fact that the electric power industry is actively switching over to natural gas (less coal being mined), and the smaller equipment makes sense. And that's before you get into the environmental law's that now prohibit that style of mining in the first place. The mining companies still aren't cleaning up the messes they made.
On a Saturday, I think in 1986, I went up inside a 1850B at the River King mine in southern IL. A co worker's Dad worked at the mine and I said I liked heavy equipment. It was amazing. we walked on the coal seam to get to it, went up metal steps haning under it by a chain, then took a tiny eleavator to go see the operator. all they were doing that day was repositioning it. Guys on catwalks underneath coordinating how to move and turn the tracks. A heck of a day.
The organization actually secured enough funds to acquire the Silver Spade at scrap value. After the organization secured enough funds to acquire the Silver Spade at value the owner wanted the organization to pay for the cost of reclamation at the resting spot. That was the nail in the coffin towards the efforts to preserve the shovel.
And to think I was inspired by the size of the '69 BE 30-B I rebuilt/restored a decade ago!! In the days of hydraulics, cable n friction machines are still an awesome look back into past engineering!!!
Big Muskie, Big Brutus, The Captain, The Sillver Spade, The Moutaineer, and The Gem of Egypt. As a side note, there is an excellent highly detailed model of Big Muskie in ho scale brass. The model is more than 5 feet long and weighs 59 lbs.
I know everything comes down to money but big muskie should have been saved and put on display because we will never see anything like it ever again, i was gutted when it was scrapped 😢
The main reason Big Brutus got saved, is that the mining company decided it would cost too much to salvage, and left it sitting in a field. It sat for years before being moved to its present museum location.
My mother told me about a shovel built in Ohio or Pennsylvania, that was so big, it was driven to Western Kentucky. They dropped power lines for it to go through. They stacked hay bales 6 deep under the track when it had to cross the road. Supposedly it is buried on the ground of the Peabody Coal mine where it worked.
I know that the "modern" smaller mining excavators are not intended for excavation of non blasted, hard material (earth with a large amount of rock), but I wonder if the older, giant mining shovels & draglines required hard material to be blasted before the material could be excavated? I've seen videos showing enormous rocks falling from the buckets of these giant shovels & draglines (after a shovel bucket skimmed a mine high wall, or a dragline bucket dragged a mine pit, where the machines had excavated apparently unblasted material), so it would seem that these giant machines could excavate (by design?) unblasted material (although maybe blasting was required for some material conditions).
Bucyrus Erie moved it's headquarters from Ohio to South Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1893 and I believe that's where the parts for Big Muskie were fabricated and then shipped by rail to the Muskingham Ohio mine sight. 1:26
I have fished many strip pits in S IL and my father hauled coal out of a lot of them, he worked for ICRR for 43 yrs starting in 1959, from Freeburg, New Athens, Smithton, Marissa, Sparta, Pinckneyville and many more, on a day off which wasn't often, he'd drive me down to some of the mines, it was cool, like a 1 kid field trip, I got to see the Captain operate at the mine of its namesake, anyway at the Freeburg maintenance shed one day these guy were playing craps on these huge pieces of plywood probably an inch thick, I noticed this one guy and he was in a 3 piece suit dark blue, jacket off, still got vest on rollin the dice, I barely know more about craps now at 57 than I did at 6-7, any way this guy was way out of place like the sesame street thing about one of these things doesn't belong, yeah a guy in a fancy suit on his knees playing craps in a greasy repair shed, anyway after dad and I left he said it didn't matter to the guy if he won or lost, if he won he'd just give back for the guys to split, he was the mine manager for the area mines.
Those great machines represent an America that USED to exist and a legacy that's been erased. It isn't that we don't need these machines. It's that we CAN'T make anything like them, even if we wanted to. Those machines represent a vast matrix of industry, logistics, skilled labor, engineering, and capital which take massive amounts of political will and organization to bring into being. Once they are gone, that's it. To destroy great feats of engineering that were still working and can never be built again ought to be a felony of the highest order. Big Muskie should have been converted into a museum. It's legacy and historical value far exceed its salvage value. BUT... of course..., we have more lofty goals now. Dontcha know? LGBTQ, BLM, pride parades, how to make it possible for men to give birth, and carrying out ADL directives to destroy monuments to Dead White Men. THAT is the real America on the ground today.
When I was 10 years old I went up in the captain got to even go up on the boom there wasn’t osha back then my dad worked beside it for 20 years it was the biggest shovel ever made the epa wouldn’t let it cross a state road because of environmental issues back then so I think that led to a fire and it was buried in its own hole
Ive seen big brutus a few times. I can only imagine the capitain. Everyone always talks about russias big ass machines and their mines. Good to see american engineering in the highlight for once.
Thank you for your comment. I’m in the process of making a video about Silver Spade (same style as Big Muskie video recently released). Do you have any exclusive footage by any chance? 😉
@trainjack16 The Captain was the heaviest of the two giants. Big Muskie was equipped with a bigger bucket than the Captain. Muskie had a bucket rated @ 220 cubic yards. The Captain had a bucket rated @ 180 cubic yards.Big Muskie weighed in @ 13,500 short tons. The Captain had an operating weight of 14,000 short tons.
Hello, the organization that tried to save the silver spade is still going strong where the shovel once worked. I became president of this organization and have continued the efforts to save other large pieces of mining equipment and history. Unfortunately our efforts to preserve the silver spade did not go as we had hoped, our mission was not a complete failure, as we do currently have the full operators cabin and breakroom, bucket, dipper door, hoist cables, boom support cables, power cable, crawler pads, house rollers, the enormous signs that said BE Bucyrus eire at the top of the machine, along with countless other artifacts, all on display at our grounds in Harrison county. I would be happy to open the grounds on a weekend give tours of our ever growing collection and promote our continued efforts to preserve the giants that are left!
Hey there ! Thank you for your message. Glad to see that much passion in your comment, haha.
Feel free to send me an email anytime (you'll find my email address in the "About section" here on the channel. I'm in VA/WV right now and I wouldn't mind taking a trip to you at some point to admire the wonders you were able to save 🙂
Thank you.
Nick
Good job sir, preserve industrial patrimoine …
this still in Cadiz?? we had picnics watching the spade get put together. got to ride the elavater.an sit in seat.
@roberthumberston8803 the machine is scrapped but there are still pieces of it at the Harrison Coal and Reclamation Historical Park in New Athens. The museum is open twice a year to the public during events where other earthmoving equipment is operated and on display.
I have never had anything to do with mining, of any kind, except a short tour of a lignite mine. I have always loved machinery like this, however. I can't help but tear up, a little, when I watch the boom and a frame of The Big Muskie being blown off and dropping, and similar activities of destruction of mechanical world wonders like these.
I remember a quote from Modern Marvels
*"Just like the flesh and blood monsters that came before them these dinosaurs were destin to become extinct"*
Really makes you think about great machines like them. Nothing lives forever not even great marvels of engineering like these
100% agree 🙂
I just moved nextdoor to the daughter of one of the Captain's engineers. He was just showing me pictures of it today. Just amazing
Awesome 😍😁
Just visited the big Brutus museum its a must see awesome !!!
I grew up out side of west mineral and could see the boom from my bedroom window. I now live about 5 miles from it.
i wish there was more videos of the captain
The #1 reason we most likely won't see machines this large again (at least not anytime soon) is that mining methods have changed. Ad in the fact that the electric power industry is actively switching over to natural gas (less coal being mined), and the smaller equipment makes sense. And that's before you get into the environmental law's that now prohibit that style of mining in the first place. The mining companies still aren't cleaning up the messes they made.
On a Saturday, I think in 1986, I went up inside a 1850B at the River King mine in southern IL. A co worker's Dad worked at the mine and I said I liked heavy equipment. It was amazing.
we walked on the coal seam to get to it, went up metal steps haning under it by a chain, then took a tiny eleavator to go see the operator. all they were doing that day was repositioning it. Guys on catwalks underneath coordinating how to move and turn the tracks. A heck of a day.
Amazing 😀😀🥰
My bad, it was a 3850B
The organization actually secured enough funds to acquire the Silver Spade at scrap value. After the organization secured enough funds to acquire the Silver Spade at value the owner wanted the organization to pay for the cost of reclamation at the resting spot. That was the nail in the coffin towards the efforts to preserve the shovel.
i wish there was more videos of the captain! love the historic content
And to think I was inspired by the size of the '69 BE 30-B I rebuilt/restored a decade ago!!
In the days of hydraulics, cable n friction machines are still an awesome look back into past engineering!!!
Big Muskie, Big Brutus, The Captain, The Sillver Spade, The Moutaineer, and The Gem of Egypt. As a side note, there is an excellent highly detailed model of Big Muskie in ho scale brass. The model is more than 5 feet long and weighs 59 lbs.
I know everything comes down to money but big muskie should have been saved and put on display because we will never see anything like it ever again, i was gutted when it was scrapped 😢
The silver spade was only 6400 tonne not 14000 . It was 14000000 pounds about
It's sad that they could not keep the Big Muskie, like they did the Big Brutus.😢😢
So true !
The main reason Big Brutus got saved, is that the mining company decided it would cost too much to salvage, and left it sitting in a field. It sat for years before being moved to its present museum location.
My mother told me about a shovel built in Ohio or Pennsylvania, that was so big, it was driven to Western Kentucky. They dropped power lines for it to go through. They stacked hay bales 6 deep under the track when it had to cross the road. Supposedly it is buried on the ground of the Peabody Coal mine where it worked.
I know that the "modern" smaller mining excavators are not intended for excavation of non blasted, hard material (earth with a large amount of rock), but I wonder if the older, giant mining shovels & draglines required hard material to be blasted before the material could be excavated?
I've seen videos showing enormous rocks falling from the buckets of these giant shovels & draglines (after a shovel bucket skimmed a mine high wall, or a dragline bucket dragged a mine pit, where the machines had excavated apparently unblasted material), so it would seem that these giant machines could excavate (by design?) unblasted material (although maybe blasting was required for some material conditions).
Until you’ve stood in the massive bucket, you just can’t imagine.
Thats cool 👌
Thank you :D
Whats the benefit of these duty cycle machines over a continuous operating bucket wheel or bucket chain excavator?
Bucyrus Erie moved it's headquarters from Ohio to South Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1893 and I believe that's where the parts for Big Muskie were fabricated and then shipped by rail to the Muskingham Ohio mine sight. 1:26
American finest❤
I have fished many strip pits in S IL and my father hauled coal out of a lot of them, he worked for ICRR for 43 yrs starting in 1959, from Freeburg, New Athens, Smithton, Marissa, Sparta, Pinckneyville and many more, on a day off which wasn't often, he'd drive me down to some of the mines, it was cool, like a 1 kid field trip, I got to see the Captain operate at the mine of its namesake, anyway at the Freeburg maintenance shed one day these guy were playing craps on these huge pieces of plywood probably an inch thick, I noticed this one guy and he was in a 3 piece suit dark blue, jacket off, still got vest on rollin the dice, I barely know more about craps now at 57 than I did at 6-7, any way this guy was way out of place like the sesame street thing about one of these things doesn't belong, yeah a guy in a fancy suit on his knees playing craps in a greasy repair shed, anyway after dad and I left he said it didn't matter to the guy if he won or lost, if he won he'd just give back for the guys to split, he was the mine manager for the area mines.
Bruts is my favourite.
0:20 does that include cars?
the last second of your show realy said it america is shot
Those great machines represent an America that USED to exist and a legacy that's been erased. It isn't that we don't need these machines. It's that we CAN'T make anything like them, even if we wanted to. Those machines represent a vast matrix of industry, logistics, skilled labor, engineering, and capital which take massive amounts of political will and organization to bring into being. Once they are gone, that's it. To destroy great feats of engineering that were still working and can never be built again ought to be a felony of the highest order. Big Muskie should have been converted into a museum. It's legacy and historical value far exceed its salvage value.
BUT... of course..., we have more lofty goals now. Dontcha know? LGBTQ, BLM, pride parades, how to make it possible for men to give birth, and carrying out ADL directives to destroy monuments to Dead White Men. THAT is the real America on the ground today.
When I was 10 years old I went up in the captain got to even go up on the boom there wasn’t osha back then my dad worked beside it for 20 years it was the biggest shovel ever made the epa wouldn’t let it cross a state road because of environmental issues back then so I think that led to a fire and it was buried in its own hole
Ive seen big brutus a few times. I can only imagine the capitain. Everyone always talks about russias big ass machines and their mines. Good to see american engineering in the highlight for once.
Come in Europe we have bigger equipment that last longer and are even cost effective
The Silver Spade was named for Hanna Coal Company's 25th anniversary of surface mining in Ohio.
Thank you for your comment. I’m in the process of making a video about Silver Spade (same style as Big Muskie video recently released). Do you have any exclusive footage by any chance? 😉
The Captain 🥲
poor old girls
Edit: phenomenal video, really shows the golden age of America, now we’re just a shell of that, with outsourced parts and cheap shit.
Along with crybaby young people who don't want to work
I thought the captain was damaged by traveling down a steep incline and tipping ?
Silver Spade did
Its sad that the firefighters cant save the captain soo sad😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
So sad
Really sad indeed
Big Muskie was larger than the Captain.
It was but also was a different machine. Dragline vs stripping shovel
@trainjack16 The Captain was the heaviest of the two giants. Big Muskie was equipped with a bigger bucket than the Captain. Muskie had a bucket rated @ 220 cubic yards. The Captain had a bucket rated @ 180 cubic yards.Big Muskie weighed in @ 13,500 short tons. The Captain had an operating weight of 14,000 short tons.
This is what the environmentalists movement has done to this country. Guys today play video games and think they've done something.
What a moronic and useless comment. Coal is not the future.
hello minors💀