Big Brutus

The largest electric shovel still in existence is a 16-story Bucyrus-Erie 1850-B in West Mineral, Kansas. Put to work in 1963, it ran around the clock for 11 years until mining there ended in 1974. At over 11 million pounds it was too expensive to dismantle, so the mining company donated it and it was dedicated as a museum in 1985. It is one of the few giants here you can climb: visitors can go up to a perch on top of the shovel and look out over the old strip pits. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2018.