The Biggest Digging Machine Ever Built

In nineteen sixty-nine, a walking machine as tall as a twenty-two story building started digging coal country in southeastern Ohio. Its bucket could hold two buses. It moved more than twice the earth dug for the Panama Canal, and then it was sold for scrap. This is the story of Big Muskie and the people who ran it. Sources: WYSO / Ohio public radio: Meet Big Muskie, the mining giant that shaped Ohio's landscape (2025) Ohio Cooperative Living: Big memories (former Big Muskie workers) American Business History Center: The Bucyrus-Erie story Guinness World Records: Largest dragline excavator American-Rails.com: Muskingum Electric Railroad Wikipedia: Big Muskie; Dragline excavator; Bucyrus-Erie Archival film: "[Panama Canal]" (1912), public domain, https://archive.org/details/0385_Pana... "Tractor and Earth Moving Machines" (1926), public domain, https://archive.org/details/fc-fc-2052 "Black Sunlight" (1920), public domain, https://archive.org/details/0972_Blac... Image credits (resized and cropped for video): "Big Muskie Dragline Bucket.jpg" by Toni Leland, CC BY-SA 4.0 "OhioFencePostModel1940.jpg" by Flickr photographer dok1 / Don O'Brien, CC BY 2.0 "1920 Page Dragline" by Eric Friedebach, CC BY 2.0 "1920 Page Dragline" by Eric Friedebach, CC BY 2.0 "1920 Page Dragline" by Eric Friedebach, CC BY 2.0 "ASC Leiden - NSAG - van Dis 5 - 135 - De" by Maarten van Dis, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Bucyrus Erie - geograph.org.uk - 756712." by philld, CC BY-SA 2.0 "Bucyrus-Erie Dragline - geograph.org.uk " by Darren Haddock, CC BY-SA 2.0 "Brutus 2006-07-02 2244.jpg" by Photo by Michael Overton ., CC BY-SA 2.5 "Bucyrus-Erie 1850-B.JPG" by Anry skyhead, CC BY-SA 4.0 "American Electric Power Headquarters Scu" by FunksBrother, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Big Muskie - Side View.jpg" by Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Big Muskie Bucket (Looking South).JPG" by Eric Gunderson, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Big Muskie Bucket (Looking Northeast).JP" by Eric Gunderson, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Big Muskie's Chain (7716922488).jpg" by Charles Barilleaux, CC BY 2.0 "Caitlin in Big Muskie's Bucket (77169207" by Charles Barilleaux, CC BY 2.0 "Big Muskie's Bucket (7716920152).jpg" by Charles Barilleaux, CC BY 2.0 "Big Muskie bucket" by thart2009, CC BY 2.0 "Rebecca & Caitlin in Big Muskie's Bucket" by Charles Barilleaux, CC BY 2.0 "Marion 7400 walking dragline excavator b" by Htm, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Marion 7400 walking dragline excavator b" by Htm, CC BY-SA 4.0 "P&H 4100XPB shovel.jpg" by Sansumaria, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Dragline Walking Mechanism.JPG" by BulldozerD11, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Walking dragline excavator - geograph.or" by Graham Hogg, CC BY-SA 2.0 "Sundew dragline.jpg" by The original uploader was Mrbusy at English Wik, CC BY-SA 3.0 "St Aidan's dragline - cable drums - geog" by Stephen Craven, CC BY-SA 2.0 "Power Cable Reels - geograph.org.uk - 39" by David Wright, CC BY-SA 2.0 "Power line cable.jpg" by Bidgee, CC BY 3.0 "St Aidan's dragline - view from the driv" by Stephen Craven, CC BY-SA 2.0 "1917 Bucyrus Class 24 Dragline (25357005" by dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 "Muskingum Electric Railroad E50C 100 at " by Jim Boyd, CC BY 3.0 "Gavin Power Plant.jpg" by The original uploader was Analogue Kid at Engli, CC BY 2.5 "W. H. Sammis Power Plant 12-2024.jpg" by Percival Kestreltail, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Transmission towers at sunset in East Te" by Matthew T Rader, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Overburden at Opencut Coal Mine.png" by Peabody Energy, Inc., CC BY 3.0 "The wilds safari bus.jpg" by Bikingshaun, CC BY 3.0 "Reclamation Land Ohio.jpg" by Toni Leland, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Bucyrus Erie Class III dragline at Lions" by Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Bucyrus Erie BE 1150 Walking Dragline Ex" by Chris Morgan, CC BY-SA 2.0 "Narva mine dragline.jpg" by Siim Roov, CC BY-SA 4.0 "McConnelsville Ohio downtown.jpg" by Tim Kiser ( w:User:Malepheasant ), CC BY-SA 2.5 "Morgan County Courthouse Ohio.jpg" by Tim Kiser ( w:User:Malepheasant ), CC BY-SA 2.5 "McConnelsville Opera House - panoramio.j" by Art Anderson, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Miners Memorial Park, Drumheller, Albert" by Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Miners' Memorial Park, Elliot Lake - 202" by Amakuha, CC BY 4.0 "Miners Memorial Park, Drumheller, Albert" by Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0 "Miners Memorial Park, Drumheller, Albert" by Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0 "002 - Dragline excavator E-10011.jpg" by Alexander Novikov, CC BY-SA 4.0 "001 - Dragline excavator E-10011.jpg" by Alexander Novikov, CC BY-SA 4.0 64 public-domain / CC0 images (no attribution required). Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). --- Voiceover is produced with AI text-to-speech. Photos are public domain or Creative Commons (credited above); archival film is public domain. #history #engineering #MitchTannerCar