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Big Brutus attraction adds another coal mining shovel

Big Brutus attraction adds another coal mining shovel | iNFOnews.ca
FILE--In this Oct. 16, 2018 file photo, Jim Lovell, left, and Carmen Boccia look over the Markley shovel where it has been for 70 years in nearby Cherokee, Kan. The historic coal mining shovel that was hidden under bramble for more than 70 years has gone on display in southeast Kansas alongside its more well-known successor, an 11 million pound orange giant known as Big Brutus. The Joplin Globe reports that a ceremony to dedicate the Markley shovel is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Big Brutus Visitors Center, a nonprofit museum in West Mineral. Coal mine operator Perry Markley designed and built the shovel in the early 1900s using junkyard parts. The machine was one of the first mining shovels to be equipped with a round dipper stick that allowed the bucket to swivel. (Roger Nomer/The Joplin Globe via AP, File)

WEST MINERAL, Kan. – A historic coal mining shovel that was hidden under bramble for more than 70 years has gone on display in southeast Kansas alongside its more well-known successor, an 11-million pound (5 million kilogram) orange giant known as Big Brutus.

The Joplin Globe reports that a ceremony to dedicate the Markley shovel is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Big Brutus Visitors Center, a non-profit museum in West Mineral.

Coal mine operator Perry Markley designed and built the shovel in the early 1900s using junkyard parts. The machine was one of the first mining shovels to be equipped with a round dipper stick that allowed the bucket to swivel.

It later was used as a prototype to construct other machines like the 160-foot (49-meter) tall Big Brutus.

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Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com

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