Big Muskie

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Big Muskie was a coal mining Bucyrus-Erie dragline owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company (a division of American Electric Power), and was the world's largest mobile earth-moving machine, weighing nearly 13,000 metric tons and standing nearly 22 stories tall. It operated in the U.S. state of Ohio from 1969 to 1991, and was powered by 13,800 volts of electricity.

Built at a cost of $25,000,000 (1969), Big Muskie removed over 608,000,000 cubic yards (465,000,000 m³) of overburden (twice the earth moved during the construction of the Panama Canal), uncovering over 20,000,000 tons of clean coal. It was 151.5 feet (46 m) wide, 222.5 feet (68 m) in height, and 487.5 feet (149 m) in length with the boom down. Its bucket could carry two Greyhound buses side by side. It took over 200,000 man hours to construct over a period of about two years.

Big Muskie was dismantled in 1999, despite calls that it be preserved as a museum. Its bucket, however, remains at the site for educational purposes, and as a tourist attraction.

10,000 acres (40 km²) of land stripped by Big Muskie were reclaimed and turned into a wildlife park called The Wilds, which opened in 1994. It is home to numerous species of African, Asian, and North American fauna.[1]