1967 Big Muskie (Bucyrus-Erie 4250-W) Dragline Crane

(Satellite, a bucket has been preserved, 3,237 photos)

I've accumulated enough photos of Big Muskie that it is time for its own set of notes.

Caterpillar

In 1966, an exciting project started at the factories of the Bucyrus Erie Co. – the engineering and building of the components of what would be one of the world’s largest earthmoving machines ever built, “Big Muskie.” Central Ohio Coal Co. had chosen this immense machine because the mine property extended over 110,000 acres of hilly terrain and made the use of a dragline versus a shovel to be more profitable at the levels of earth the coal was located in. It also allowed the coal company to better carryout their reclamation plans.

The machine was so large it was necessary to ship the components to the coal mining customer in Ohio and erect the machine on site. It took 340 rail cars and 260 trucks to ship all of the components and 200,000 man hours to construct, but the machine finally went into production in 1969.

Weighing in at over 27,000,000 pounds, it stood nearly 22 stories high and had a 330-foot twin boom and a 220-cubic yard bucket the size of a 12-car garage.

In 1976, “Big Muskie” removed 8,000 yards of overburden for the coal company per operating hour. In its 22 years of service, it removed twice the amount of earth moved during the original construction of the Panama Canal.

Shut down in 1991, “Big Muskie” was finally dismantled for scrap in 1999. The only component saved was the bucket, which was later incorporated into a display about the machine and surface mining and reclamation in Miners Memorial Park in McConnelsville, Ohio. 

It was electrically powered with 13,800 volts. [tractors]

AmericanMineServices
The electricity cost tens of thousands of dollar an hour and explains why the crew of five usually worked at night when power costs were cheaper.
[The video below says it stopped only for 30-min lunch breaks, maintenance, and Christmas Day.]

Modern Draglines
Giant draglines have long since been made obsolete, but dragline excavators are still very much in use. The largest available dragline on the market today is Joy Global’s P&H 9020XPC. The bucket has a capacity of (110yd³ to 160yd³.) Unlike the hydraulic engines and motors of years past, current draglines use digital AC controls.

10kacresdoc, photo provided by Sgteve hook
[This web page has a lot of photos and info about the Big Muskie.]

 

Stine James posted
This photo appeared on the cover of Coal Age Magazine's Dec. 1969 edition and carried the story of the brand new 4250W Bucyrus- Erie dragline, the "Big Muskie".
The machine had a 310 ft. boom, a 220 cu.yd. bucket and weighed in at 14000 ton. The machine began regular service in May of 1969.
Troy Shane Bratcher: That pit is probably over 100' [30m] deep, just doesn't look it.
Michael Davis: I have a photo, the real photo, from this series on file.
Stine James: This photo was given out for years by B-E if you ask them for one. It also appeared in the 1969 B-E Annual Report. Looking back, they used it everywhere.
Jason Schurtz: I thought I heard that the dig swing dump cycle was approx 60 seconds but of course several variables could throw that figure. I always loved this picture. Big Muskie looked new!
Ian Frakes: The Muskie was a good machine but did have several problems. Hydraulic walking system was very troublesome. The Muskie had 10 swing motors and it was famous for breaking swing shafts regularly. At times, the machine would operate with as few as 6 or 7 "swingers" functioning. As you can imagine this fact drastically handicapped its cycle time.
Stine James: I remember talking to Marvin Gielow, master mechanic on the Marion 6360 and it was not unusual for it to be running on 6 of 8 swingers. There is a tremendous amount of force going on in those swing shafts!
Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park shared
Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park shared
Michael Mallernee: Does anyone have the figures of actual working time verses down time for the Muskie?
Jason Schurtz: One dump sheave early on, and the trail cable dolley.
Big Engine shared

Bastard rails roads air & water posted

moving [the tub of] BIG MUSKIE using 9 earth scrappers in the front
Manufacturer: Bucyrus-Erie
Weight: 27,000,000 pounds
Height: 222 feet 6 inches
Machine length (boom down):487 feet 6 inches
Mobility: Hydraulically driven walker feet

Eamon Ault I googled more, they're scooting the tub out from beneath it.
Mike Hutchins Dave Hickcox They had more than 1 bucket as they needed hardfacing and other repairs on a rotational basis.

The preserved bucket:

Street View, Oct 2007

Senior Big Machine posted three photos with the comment:

The walking excavator "Big Muskie" was once the World's Largest Earth Moving Machine.llll

𝐵𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑡 𝑖𝑛 1969, 𝐵𝑖𝑔 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 39 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟, 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠 100-150 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑂ℎ𝑖𝑜. 𝐵𝑀 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑚 600 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡, 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑠.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 1991, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛."

Russell Hall: It’s not an excavator, it’s a drag line.

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;;;

Byloe Selhye commented on the above post

Michael Davis commented on a post
Michael Davis Muskie brand new
Matt Booe Looks like at least 6 swingers

Troy Shane Bratcher posted
Inside the house BE4250w
Notice the man in the middle of the picture.

Bastard rails roads air & water posted

moving the parts of BIG MUSKIE took a violent amount of brutal pulling and pushing power

David Lane In dragline terms, that is the 'tub', the base that the dragline sat and rotated on. The Muskie was the largest dragline ever built(if I remember correctly) Saw these pics many years ago on the old STRIPMINE.ORG. I grew up just northeast of her.

Scott Simcok shared
James Peeler Them 41-B Allis Chalmers were a brute of a machine!!
Eric S Manners I read when they rebuilt the tub, they used 30,000 lbs of welding rods!
Joseph Bonola 2 weeks work just greasing the roller path.

Art Hale posted four photos with the comment: "BE 4250W tub replacement."

Jim Freyensee My shop in Pocatello made that tub.

Brett Clem The size of that machine was nearly mind boggling ! I grew up around BE 2550, 2570 , 3270, 1150 and 1250 and the first time I saw Muskie was amazing.

Caston Haggard Men built that tub welding it all with stick I cant imagine welding all that with stick 7 not because I hate stick it’s just way too slow in that environment they want it done yesterday.

Jim Freyensee Caston Haggard At that time we were using wire.

Caston Haggard There is a video somewhere about how many pounds of rod went into that tub.

Karyl May Anybody know in what year that tub change occurred on Big Muskie?

Art HaleAuthor Karyl May 1982

Mike Colegrove Diameter of tub ?

Jason Schurtz Mike Colegrove 105ft

Art HaleAuthor We had three buckets

Dave Rage Art Hale did they move to the different dump rope fixing because the original arch and central dump rope wasn’t strong enough?

Matt Weyand Dave Rage the original bucket had one dump cable. They eventually went with dual dump cables to reduce stress on the arch..

Art HaleAuthor Dave Rage
That’s correct, it was a job just to change dump ropes. Crane and boom was a must! We knocked the wedges loose with the D9H ground dozers.

Robert Colombo The ingenuity of man. That machine was the King- a monster for sure. I wonder if folks realize that the boom is constructed with two (2) 2570 booms that don't meet until the point sheave assembly and weldment.

  

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Chris Knoxhill commented on a post
M U S K I E
Big Machine posted
Big Muskie dragline excavator, Ohio December 1970

J.d. Rogers: Back in the day i saw all the big shovels working as i was a coal hauler . We hauled out of a lot of mines back then . Hauled coal from 1970 on up into the 80's . But from 1977 i was not hauling as much and went more specialized dump work over the road , but there were days i would haul a load . even worked in a strip mine for a few months running a Cat 992 loader and a D 9 G .

April Nicholl: Off-roaded on Gov't land to see it. When we got to it, we were told to leave. They let us take pics of it because it had broken one of the cables.

Tony Sorritelli: I’m skeptical about it being a 1970 photo. The vehicles are pretty beat for being a year or 2 old, same with the dragline, being made in 1969.

Floyd Michael: Tony Sorritelli I thought I spied a 72-73 mustang in the pic.

Tim Wwichell posted seven photos with the comment: "I haven't seen these images here. Big Muskie during a tub change and a couple others."

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Jim Seese posted
Visited this last spring in Ohio. Bucket from Big Musky.
Jim Seese  McConnelsville , Ohio
James Butch Rainey Hard to imagine 220 cubic yards! Amazing every time I see it.
Mike Mccarley James Butch Rainey. I look back at my pictures of the Marion 8200's that I worked on in the 80's. And i thought an 85 yard bucket was big. Damn!

Ray Little commented on Jim's post
Here’s our car next to the bucket on Christmas Day of ‘98.

Troy Shane Bratcher posted
Finally found this size comparison picture of the BE4250w/ Marion 6360.
Charles Jones: When you look at the comparison in the illustration, Big Muskie isn't tremendously larger than the 6360. There was about what, 40 cubic yards difference between the buckets? I've not been around a lot of shovels other than the 5900 at Lynnville. But I have been on a similar size dragline to the 5900. I'll bet it would be a good race to see which machine would make the most advance in one shift. Big Muskie, or The Captain?
Dave Roberts: Yes, only 40 cubic yards difference. Muskie was 220 and The Captain was 180

 

Jadon Cramer commented on Troy's post
Size comparison

Paul Martin posted
Here is a photo of the 4250-W Big Muskie during erection.

Paul Martin commented on his post
front view 4250W

William Oldani commented on Paul's post

Paul Martin commented on his post
great bucket pic

Mike Brady posted two photos with the comment:

My Dad standing at Big Muskie bucket, it was idle at this time before it was scrapped, at least the bucket was saved. Note the size of the chain link and pin. Best I can remember the wire rope was 5” diameter, Thanks

Nelson Kletzli Jr. My uncle made the chains for the Big Muskie, and many other large draglines.
Thunder Manufacturing in McKees Rocks Pa.I got to help with the last chain built, they were forged, not cast.
Paul E Singer Nelson Kletzli Jr. Some of the chains were built in Glassport PA also
Mike Brady Nelson Kletzli Jr. they have to be the largest chains ever made. I never have seen another chain this size on anything including ship anchor chains. Wonder what just one link weighs ?
Nelson Kletzli Jr. Mike Brady if I remember correctly just over a ton each.
Dave Geis I hauled three of the chain links to the HCEA in Bowling Green Ohio. each link weighed 1000 pounds.

Matt Weyand You are correct. (4) 5” diameter hoist ropes and (4) 5” diameter drag ropes!!
Paul E Singer Matt Weyand 6 inch drag I thought I have a bunch of pictures of me being inside and outside of big musky I was evaluating 260 ton rock trucks and the operator let me walk through it with him pretty cool.
Jay Wilson Paul E Singer No, the drag rope was 5 inch. Some machines today use 5.5 inch rope.
Gene Shepherd Matt Weyand Exactly 5” cables i have a 2’ chunk of the 5” drag cable.

Scooter Redrow Mike your dad looks to be a big man. How big was he for size reference ?
Mike Brady Scooter Redrow 5-10”

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Claude Janes commented on Mike's post
Dug a lot of the electric cable up that ran the Muskie putting a well pad in near the bucket

Art Hale posted two images with the comment: "Big Muskie    Central Ohio Coal Company   Early 80’s"

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This Facebook info is near the end of the notes so that hopefully the sidebar is empty and the "Original Size" images are readable.
Daniel Foged posted eight images with the comment: "Here some facts about big muskie."

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[B-E's South Milwaukee Plant]

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Daniel Foged posted
6x D9 is pulling the bucket for big muskie.
Dennis Bertoncelj The bottom of that bucket gets hot.Matty Carey Dennis Bertoncelj try dragging it through rock with 12,000 horsepower 3 or 4 hundred thousand times.
They get a lot hotter. [The video below says it had up to 52,500hp.]Dennis Bertoncelj Matty Carey yeah ive burnsd my hand on a tooth or two.Dennis Bertoncelj Matty Carey the tub gets pretty hot on a long deadhead too

Matt Weyand posted
Question for the group:
Does anyone know if they ever did any roundhousing with Big Muskie? I can’t imagine the forces and stresses that would have been applied if they did. Was just curious if it was ever done.
[Some comments think not. Muskie normally dug at 90 degrees and roundhousing ("360 degrees swinging and dumping on the fly.") makes sense only if digging at 180 degrees. Plus it puts extra strain on the boom, sheaves, etc.]

 

Wendell Bennett posted
[According to some comments, this was the final resting place for Big Muskie.]

Gibson Smith posted
Big Muskie and a Marion 7800
Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park shared
[Reading Anthracite is still running a 7800.]

 

PAmining posted

Here’s an oldie from the Mr. Bennett Collection of the Big Muskie receiving some maintenance!

For those that don’t know, the Big Muskie, a Bucyrus Erie 4250-W was the largest waking dragline ever produced. The specifications of this machine were just staggering!

The Big Muskie weighed approximately 15,000 tons, and swung a 220 cubic yard bucket on 310 feet of boom. A full bucket of material weighed 550 ton!! In order to move this much weight consistently, the Big Muskie had 28 electric motors (10 hoists, 8 drags, and 10 swing motors), totaling 48,500 horsepower!! The unique hydraulic walking system wasn’t small either, it took 20,000 gallon of hydraulic fluid, and 95 hydraulic pumps to move Big Muskie!

Fred Emmett: I was around this monster often. There was a "fact" statement" about it in their office, framed on a wall. It stated that "when Big Muskie was first entered into service, it used more electricity than Las Vegas". It was amazing! Lots of maintenance.

Paul Jucknath: The crane beside the dragline is a B-E 110T with Trigon boom. The rotating base is similar to a B-E 61B Super crawler crane but with different machinery. The 61B could also use the Trigon boom.

Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park shared

Fred Derwacter posted two photos with the comment: "Building the Big Muskie and the stiff leg crane used to build it."

Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park shared

Devery Patterson: Anther name for it is a Derrick crane. Helped set up several of those!

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David Bailey posted
Harrison Coal & Reclamation Historical Park shared
William Oldani: I don't know James, it's SOOOOO Far Away!
James Stine: William Oldani , it’s the amount of work that she done. I love these “Over-all” photos.

I agree, the overall shots are interesting because it shows how much dirt they "rearange.".

Mining Photography Archive posted
Central Ohio Coal Company Bucyrus Erie 4250W (Muskingum Mine)
Robert Friday shared
Jay Wilson: Look at that picture. All you see are spoil piles. Something we can only tell the younger ones about.

 

Kay Wortman commented on the above post
This picture appeared in Reader's Digest in January 1980. That's the Morgan HS band inside the bucket. My Dad is standing with light colored jacket on.

Lost In The States posted two photos with the comment:

At one time, a giant monster roamed the hilly forests of southeastern Ohio. It was not Bigfoot or any other living creature but a massive mechanical one. It was built in 1967 to strip mine coal from the region. The largest dragline ever built, it was like an enormous crane that had a massive scooping bucket. Named the Big Muskie, it took more than 300 railcars and 250 trucks to haul the components to build it on site. It stood 240 feet tall, and the massive bucket could hold 325 tons of earth in one scoop.

The dragline worked twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. By the early 1990s, it cost more to operate than the coal it produced, and Big Muskie finally retired. There were efforts to save it for a tourist attraction, but ultimately they failed and it was dismantled for scrap. The only thing that remains, and it is a really large thing, is the bucket it once used. It now stands at a roadside park on Ohio State Route 78 near Jesse Owens State Park. Visitors can climb inside the enormous bucket to see and feel how large it is.

If you thought this post was interesting I hope you will take a look at my Lost In Ohio book available on Amazon here https://amzn.to/3NcVHjR

Robert Friday shared

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Michael Bish commented on the above post
We were able to see it before it was dismantled. Absolutely incredible to see!

Bob Kovar commented on the above post
The bucket is quite the site to see. Would've liked to see the behemoth in action.

Quinn Lickman posted five photos with the comment: "Sorry to post this, but it cannot be forgotten. The demise of Big Muskie. Photos by Michael Hubert."

Quinn Lickman also posted

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safe_image for 4:35 video of still images
Greg Shaner: Maintenance day boom down lot of welding
[Actually, I think the boom was down for scrapping.]

(new window)  Big Muskie (and the captain): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcmGKsHZXZ8
   implosion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKcKn-cQSRM
Troy Bratcher posted: in action video 5:00,  three photos (photo of pulling out the tub with six earth movers in a comment),  video of inside the house (William Law If I remember right ten swing motors, ten drag motors and eight hoist motors, 1,200 hp each., Jay Wilson Six inch floor under the drag drum, was wrinkled from the power. Stout machine.)

The information about Big Muske starts here
''Between 1969 and 1991, Big Muske moved about 600 million cubic yards of earth." The bucket held 220 cu yd and it was the biggest dragline ever built.

safe_image for 7:20 video of the interior and exterior

A "Big Muskie - 4250-W Bucyru-Erie" Album with 22 photos and the comment:

The Big Muskie was a model 4250-W Bucyrus-Erie dragline (the only one ever built). With a 220 cubic yards (170 m3) bucket, it was the largest single-bucket digging machine ever created and one of the world's largest mobile earth-moving machines alongside the Illinois-based Marion 6360 stripping shovel called The Captain and the German bucket wheel excavators of the Bagger 288 and Bagger 293 family.[1] It cost $25 million in 1969, the equivalent of $157 million today adjusted for inflation.[2] Its bucket could hold two Greyhound buses side by side. It took over 200,000 man hours to construct over a period of about two years

A share of the Muskie album has some interesting comments including:
Robert Bann Machine was too big, too much down time, to much maintenance. COCC realized that 2 machines designed in the 120 yard range would have out preformed the Big Muskie.
David Kam Hudder Amazing engineering
Robert Bann David Kam Hudder 6 years planning.

Ten pages from an employees photo album

9 exterior and interior photos

15:36 video of it operating with a nice variety of different views including how it is operated in the cab. At 3:57 they show it walking. It is the only dragline that uses hydraulics for walking, and it takes a 12' step. The Dec 1982 tub replacement is at 5:02. Starting at 6:40, the video provides a lot of stats. E.g., 52,500hp and 14-18mw. At 11:44 is boom maintenance.