World's Largest Electric Shovel (Big Brutus)

West Mineral, Kansas, United States

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Big Brutus is a Bucyrus-Erie model 1850-B electric mining shovel, about 160 feet tall to the boom tip and weighing roughly 11 million pounds, with a 90-cubic-yard bucket. Bought from Bucyrus-Erie in 1962 and completed on site in June 1963, it cost $6.5 million and worked a Kansas coal field until 1974. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers calls it the largest remaining electric shovel. It is the centrepiece of a mining museum in West Mineral, Kansas, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

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World's Largest Electric Shovel (Big Brutus)

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Site-level location · 37.4517° N, 94.8925° W

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The story

Big Brutus is a coal-mining shovel about 160 feet tall, now the centerpiece of a mining museum in southeast Kansas.

The Kansas Historical Society says it was bought in 1962 from the Bucyrus-Erie Company in Wisconsin and needed 150 railroad cars to deliver; it took a year to build, finishing in June 1963. ASME says it was built for the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co., cost $6.5 million to manufacture, and has a 90-cubic-yard bucket, a 150-foot boom and a weight of 11 million pounds. NPR reported that it reaches 160 feet at the very top, "like a 16-story building."

It worked a strip mine, removing the dirt and rock above the coal, until 1974. The Kansas Historical Society says the area's coal had been depleted and the shovel was obsolete by 1973; ASME says it was shut down in 1974 when the mine lost its economic advantage. ASME says the coal company donated it in 1985, while the Kansas Sampler Foundation says it was deeded for museum use in 1984. ASME says it was named a landmark in 1987 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

ASME calls it the largest remaining electric shovel, noting that a larger machine, "The Captain", with a 180-cubic-yard bucket, was scrapped. The Kansas Sampler Foundation says the 1850-B is the only one of its kind ever built.

The museum stands on a 20-acre site beside the Mined Land Wildlife Area, a 14,500-acre reclaimed park with more than 1,000 strip-mine lakes. ASME reported about 22,000 visitors in 2023 and said visitors can sit at the controls, though the motor and generator were removed. The owner's website gives the address as 6509 NW 60th St, West Mineral, and describes a visitors center and museum and an annual Big Brutus Festival.

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