We arrived in West Mineral, Kansas the home of "Big Brutus" and spent an hour wandering around the big coal shovel used for strip mining from 1963 through 1974.  The shovel cost $6.5 Million and was run by electricity.  The final monthly electric bill was $27,000.

Our hosts, Betty (left) and Janet, showed us around the museum and listened to our banter till they decided that even Big Brutus couldn't handle what we were spreading and shoved us out the door to see the big machine.

While it looks big from a distance ... you should see it up close and personal.  It is truly huge.

Chief Brown (inside red circle) is dwarfed by the size of Big Brutus. We all climbed to the top of the boom 160 feet (16 stories) above ground level.   It was a long climb but the view was worth it.

Chief Packard sits at the controls, long since silenced ... try as he might he could not get the 11 million pound monster started.

Chiefs Packard, Hayworth, Moore and Brown show by comparison the size of the tractor treads.  Big Brutus could move at a speed of less than a quarter of a mile per hour on these big treads.

Chiefs Brown, Hayworth, Moore and Kohl can easily fit in the huge shovel scoop which can hold 150 tons ... enough to fill three railroad cars.