We Moved... to the Show Me State

The drive to Joplin was surprisingly dry, only a couple of spots where it sprinkled, and Carol got them. This leg of our trip took us through the rest of Oklahoma, a piece of Kansas, and barely into Missouri.

Carol and I were both surprised at how close Joplin is to the border, only about 5 mile. Our off ramp was exit 4.

We are on the far end of the park, near a pond.

THE REST OF THE PARK

The rain held off for us to get the important parts of setup completed. When it did rain...

This park didn't drain as quick as the last one. Looking at the weather for Joplin, it looks like we are going to see rain a good part of our stay.

Our site is in the south 40.

Besides being near a pond and wooded area, the wildlife is good down here.

The cardinal comes by everyday, and the rabbit just started coming by, he usually stays near the well house near us. There is an abundance of robins and black birds that drop by daily too. The other day the cardinal brought his mate by to say hi; they moved too fast for me to get a picture.

These guys hang around because there is another pond in the campground that is a catch and release pond. They do stroll down our way once in awhile and visit the pond by us. I didn't even take time for pictures of our squirrel.

Unfortunately we have an unwelcome vegetation in our midst...

THE DREADED POISON IVY

This isn't the first time we have seen this site intruder, so we know to leave it alone. I spoke with the camp staff here, and their not even aware that there is poison ivy at several of the sites, oh well.

One day Carol and I decided to take a drive and find a monument indicating the union of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, and here it is...

In 1857 this point was established by an 800 person expedition, and some of them were actually surveyors. Like a government task, it took the expedition six months to decide that this was where the three states touched. I will give them some leeway, the terrain and high water hampered their efforts.

We weren't sure why this was there, other than to provide a graffiti opportunity. This spot is not one of the more celebrated tourist attractions. To get to this place we drove down a partially paved, rutted road for a little over a 1/4 mile, but seemed like 2 miles with the ruts. Ok was had by all. 

With all that excitement, we looked for a place to have lunch. How lucky we were, a casino was just a mile away, with a sports bar too. They had several eateries, a buffet, which was closing 6 minutes after we arrived, a steakhouse with crazy prizes, plus they were closed. So it was the sports bar and brewhouse. Back home we went.

We finally took a trip back into Kansas to visit "Big Brutus".

Can you see Carol... she is between the tracks. Brutus is a monster of a machine, and I will bore you with the numbers:

Machine itself: 9,300,000 lbs.

Ballast: 1,700,000 lbs.

Total: 11,000,000 lbs.

The shovel: over 15-stories tall; 160 feet from ground to top of boom.

The boom: 150 feet long.

The dipper handle: 88 feet long.

Maximum dumping reach: 150 feet.

Maximum dump height: 101 feet.

Maximum digging depth: 69 feet.

Revolving house: 58 feet x 79 feet; body is supported on the base by a 45 foot diameter circle of 90 roller bearings, 16 inches in diameter.

Leveling jacks: hold 3,200 gallons of oil; jack cylinders are 42 inches in diameter.

Erecting Brutus: 1962 to 1963 (11 months); 52 men; 150 railroad cars of parts.

Cost: $6.5M.

Design: operate 24 hours a day for 25 years.

Speed: .22 MPH; not even 1 MPH.

People to operate this monster: 3.

Keep in mind, Big Brutus was not a coal mining shovel.

PITTSBURG-MIDWAY (P&M) MINES

When Big Brutus was first brought in and assembled it started out at Mine 19 (lower left), and worked its way to the upper right, about 11 miles.

That's right, only three people operated this guy during each shift. Those three guys were the operator, the oiler, and the groundsman. 

OPERATOR'S STATION

The operator had three responsibilities: 1) operate the bucket, 2) swing the house (the orange structure), 3) communicate with the groundsman. There are only two air conditioned spaces on Big Brutus, the operator's space, and the breakroom next to it.

The job of the groundsman station was in between the two front trucks of the shovel, where he moved the shovel when directed by the operator. He was also responsible for ensuring the mine pit floor was level for travel and setup.

OILER'S STATION

This guy was usually roaming throughout the Big Brutus ensuring lubrication got to all required areas.

Lets talk about how huge Brutus is...

That bucket was capable of scooping 90 cubic yards of overburden. Overburden is the loose material leftover after they dynamited an area. Big Brutus would come in and start scooping that 90 cu yards, or 135 to 150 tons of overburden. Once the overburden was removed and the coal layer was exposed, another apparatus, the coal "strippers" would come in and break up the coal layer.

For the adventurer, they can climb around in the shovel. The tour path was not the way the men would have entered the monster, that would have been...

THE ELEVATOR

The elevator was the only way in, or out, without jumping. The house rotated around the stationary elevator.

To give you an idea what some spaces were like...

The beam is just about eye level, and just enough to knock someone out; it wasn't me this trip. This was the first room visitors enter after climbing the ladders. In this little room they exhibit coal balls.

Apparently they are quite common during strip mining. The mineral makeup of the balls determines if they are of research value to archeologists. They preserved fossilized fauna. Apparently in the area around southeast Kansas produced a lot of quality coal balls in the day.

How did Brutus accomplish his job...

Two 3,500 HP synchronous AC motors and 13 DC generators located on these mounts.

So how did the operator get that bucket to do its thing... cable, lots of cable. 

This cable brings back memories of the days when I was stationed on ships, and had to pull shore power cables (cables that connected the ship to shore electricity). There was 800 feet of steel wire (cable) on each spooler. That cable weighed in around 25 pounds per foot, just like that shore power cable we pulled on the ship. The difference between the shore power cable and the wire cable, the wire cable was only good for about six months before it needed to be replaced. These winches were powered by eight 500 HP DC motors. Oh yea, the main barrel and associated gears weighed a mere 93.5 tons... no problem.

Stuff broke once an awhile, so how did they get the repair parts to the house... an overhead crane silly. There was a maintenance hoist for the simple stuff, like oil drums, or other easy to lift items.

I'm going to head outside for a minute, then back in.

As my lovely assistant is pointing out, there are two "trucks" to each crawler, and two crawlers on each side of the shovel. A truck is made up of two tracks. Each one of those track plates weighs 2,008 pounds. Remember the groundman, his job required him to turn these. The top right photo is the "steering arm" that turned that particular truck.

ROLLER CIRCLE

Lets go back inside and see what moves that big orange house, and dipper (bucket).

CROWD GEARS

This mechanism was used to operate the dipper. The dipper stick (the long shaft) is 88 feet long, allowing dumping of material 150 feet away, and up to 101 feet up.

SWING GEAR

There are three of these assemblies to swing the house, and each one is powered by 750 HP DC electric motor.

You may have guessed by now that Big Brutus is not gas powered, but electricity. How do we know this, there are two areas that give it away. 

TRANSFORMER ROOM AND SWITCHBOARD

This is where it all happens to make it happen... ain't no power, ain't no work. We will now leave the inner workings of Big Brutus, and head to other exhibits on the property.

MARKLEY SHOVEL ca. 1930

This is a junk yard find. What I really mean to say is that all the parts were picked up from junk yards. This shovel is no ordinary shovel. Other shovels of the day were either powered by steam, or electricity. Markley's shovel was powered with an automobile engine; he originally mounted two engines, and found out he really only needed one. The roof on his shovel is made from an old boiler, the caterpillar tracks run around railroad car wheels. Any parts he could not make in his shop, he had made at a foundry. his dipper could move roughly 1 cu. yard of earth.

PAGE DRAGLINE, MODEL 222 ca. 1920

This shovel originally worked in Louisiana on the the Red River, dredging sandbars. Later in the 1930's it was dismantled by a group laborers, paid $ .10 and hour. Once dismantled, it was shipped by rail to southeast Kansas, re-assembled, and used in the Weir City area to remove overburden in the mines. Unlike Big Brutus, this guy only worked 2 to 10 hour shifts, and only stripped coal between 15 and 35 feet. Another difference between the two shovels was the fact that the Dragline could only move left or right. The dipper on this shovel could move 3 1/3 cu. yards of product. The boom is 100 feet long, and operated with a caterpillar diesel engine; the original engine was a Page 2-cylinder. 

The Wilkinsons used the "Page" until the 1950's, then shut him down, and left him next to the last pit he dug. In 1991 a group of Big Brutus volunteers took on the task of dismantling the Dragline. The volunteers took 5 years dismantling, moving, and restoring it to its current state.

Other items on the grounds:

VEHICLES USED DURING OPERATIONS

40 CU. YARD DIPPER

WEIGHT: 60 TONS EMPTY

PROSPECT DRILL or CHURN DRILL

DETERMINE IF THERE WAS COAL & HOW DEEP

SHORTWALL SAW

UNDERCUT COAL BEFORE CHARGES WERE SET TO COLLAPSE COAL SEAM

I told you in the beginning that Big Brutus was designed to operate for 25 years, but because of environmental activists, the way that Big Brutus did business was no longer cost effective, and he was "laid off" for good in 1974. Big Brutus rested at the edge of the last pit it dug. The P&M company donated Big Brutus. The strip-pits were reclaimed and filled with water, and are now excellent fishing holes. P&M also donated 10,000 acres to the Kansas Department of Wildlife.

Back inside the building is an exhibit showing the history of strip mining in the region. There is also a video presentation on the assembling of Big Brutus. This was a fun excursion for the cost.

We'll see you at the next post, and I'm not going to tell you where it is. Bye.