Big Brutus Museum

The MHAers arrive at the Big Brutus Museum.

The star attraction is Big Brutus himself, but there is much more to see both inside and outside the museum building.

The operator demonstrated the controls of this working model of the Big Brutus electric strip-mining shovel.

A model of a walking dragline. These two models illustrate the differences between the two types of excavators. The Shovel works from inside the strip pit digging upward to remove overburden.  The dragline works from the ground surface on top of the highwall digging downward to remove overburden.

A model of the underground Kruger Mine hoisting shaft and tipple. A hoist from this mine is on display outside the museum.

This model shows how the rail cars were loaded at the tipple for shipping the coal to customers.

(Above) The MHAers on a self-guided tour climb the stairs to get into the the belly of the beast. They are dwarfed by the scale of the shovel.

(Above) It normally took only 3 men to operate the shovel.  The MHAers are waiting for a turn at the controls.

From the operator’s cab, there is a good view of the last strip pit, now flooded. Many strip pits throughout the coalfield have reclaimed to the approximate original ground contour. Lakes provide recreational fishing and wildlife habitat.

Big Brutus is 16 stories tall.  Note the human for scale. Brutus operated from 1963 to 1974. He weighs 11 million pounds. His monthly electric bill was $28,000 when operating.

More outside exhibits include a collection of several draglines.

(Above) This hoist came from the Kruger Mine located in Cherokee County, Kansas.