Miner’s Memorial Park in McConnelsville, Ohio houses the largest single-bucket digging machine ever made. The bucket, called the “Big Muskie Bucket,” weighs 230 tons, and according to Only In Your State, was once attached to a machine that stood 22 stories high. It was used to strip away layers of soil and rock from the earth, uncovering high-sulfur coal.
According to the article, the Central Ohio Coal Co. purchased the machine in 1966 to help meet the high demand for coal in America. Big Muskie was built onsite, and took two years to assemble. When loaded, the bucket weighed more than one million pounds, and was powered with more electricity than used by 27,000 homes.
The machine was used until the 1990s, and was disassembled when the coal mining rapidly declined in 1999.
Source: Only In Your State
