Dragline Operator Shorts
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Description: Big Muskie was one of the largest machines ever built, a massive walking dragline constructed in 1969 by Bucyrus-Erie for the Central Ohio Coal Company. Standing over 20 stories tall and weighing nearly 27 million pounds, it used a record 220-cubic-yard bucket to remove overburden in strip mining operations. Powered by multiple electric motors, Big Muskie moved more than 608 million cubic yards of earth in Ohio over two decades. Declining demand for high-sulfur coal after the 1977 Clean Air Act and rising operating costs led to its shutdown in 1991. With no buyers, it was eventually scrapped, though its enormous bucket remains on display.
