July 22, 2024
I’m telling you Gastrofreaks — Big Brutus, Inc is so dang big. I guess that’s why it is the largest electric shovel in the whole stinkin’ world. It’s located in West Mineral, Kansas.
Big Brutus existed for the purpose of mining coal in southeast Kansas. It operated from 1963-1974 and dug more dirt than you can imagine. It’s why there are so many bodies of water in the area in Cherokee and Crawford counties. It’s actually nuts.
When you stand under the beast it’s incredible. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places – NPS and is very well known.
I was able to check it out with Chris Wilson with Explore Crawford County, including checking out the museum that is next to Big Brutus. Climbing the beast and checking out the room where the driver drove the thingamajig was maybe the best part. What a beautiful area of the state.
I want to thank Chris for taking time out of his day to show me around. And no — this ain’t sponsored. I’m a dude that traveled and wanted to see cool ish and asked Chris if he’d be willing to show me around. Glad I did. By the way there is a photo of Chris standing by the track (is that the right word). He is 6 ft. 1 in. so you can see how massive this thing is.
— TKG
P.S. I stopped at a couple spots in Pittsburgh, Kansas when I was in that neck of the woods and will post about that at a different time.
