July 21, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the small town of West Mineral, Kansas, there’s a mining relic so massive it can be seen from miles away. Big Brutus, a 160-foot electric shovel, once played a vital role in America’s coal industry. Today, it’s recognized as one of the official 8 Wonders of Kansas. Joe Manns tells the story of how this engineering marvel came to define a town and earn a place in Kansas history.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, a
story from West Mineral, Kansas about something that can best
be described as a pretty big deal. Here's Joe Mann's
with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What's orange weighs about eleven pounds and is literally the
biggest attraction in Southeast Kansas. Well, if you guessed Big Brutus,
you are exactly right. I'm Joe Manns, the general manager
(00:52):
at Big Brutus. It is the most amazing job I've
ever had. Obviously, I have the biggest boss I think
that anybody has ever had. So let's talk a little
bit about Big Brutus and how it came to be.
But we're going to go back in time just a
little bit. Mining in Southeast Kansas actually dates back to
(01:19):
the eighteen seventies. What was done was below surface mining
and it required a lot of people, so they hired people.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
From all over the world.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
A lot of them were concentrated in the Balkans area
of Southeast Europe. Now the Balkans Area it's Italy, Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, England, Wales, Scotland, France,
and Belgium, just to name a few. So they were
brought here because the mining underground was pretty much a
(01:52):
thankless dirty job, and it gave opportunities for the immigrants
to come to the United States and make money. Below
surface mining peaked in nineteen twenty six, Kansas miners playing
a key role in supplying lead, zinc, and of course
coal that were needed during World War one and two.
(02:13):
Above the surface was much safer, but to get to it,
it was anywhere from twenty to forty feet below surface
to get to the coal. How did they get to it, Well,
they needed bigger machineries, and there was a rather ingenious
fella in West Mineral, Kansas who invented his own machine
(02:37):
in the late nineteen twenties to help that happen. That
little shovel is called the Markley shovel, and it was
an amazing piece of machinery, considering there were no welding machines,
barely any electricity. But the man designed this machine and
of course fabricated it and it went to work. Mister
(02:58):
Markley was a rather amaze man in that he had
a fifth grade education, no formal engineering training, but he
dreamt up the idea of there's got to be a
better way to do this.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
When the machine was completed.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It was actually operated by two Studebaker car engines. Bigger
became better because well, there's got to be a more
efficient way.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
How do you do that? You make a larger machine.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And when they got ready to design Brutus, what came
in mind was the Markley shovel, which was literally operating
about four or five miles northwest of where Brutus currently sits.
And they went and talked to the family and you know,
wanted to know if they could maybe buy the design
and the family.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Said, no, it's it's not for sale.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Literally tried to buy the machine and they said no,
it's not for sale. Literally offered the designer and builder
a job to help design and build Big Brutus, and
he said no, not interested in that either, because you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Really want me.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You want my machine and it's not for sale. The
engineers then went back to South Milwaukee, which was where
Brutus was designed and fabricated, and got to checking in
the design man that designed the Markeley shovel and builder
had not got a patent on his machine.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Unfortunately, that's the way it was.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And in the early nineteen sixties they came back to
West Mineral Kansas and set across the section literally from
the little Markley shovel and sketched it all out, took
it back to South Milwaukee, buse iris Erie basically copied
it and enlarged it, and voila big Brutus was born. Now,
(05:05):
at the time it was born, it was literally the
largest coal shovel of its size that was electric operated,
and of course the ninety cubic yard bucket. Now, Brutus's
job was to take the overburden off of the top
of the coal. The overburden is the dirt and rock
that lie on top of the coal to cycle, which
(05:28):
is to grab a scoop, turn, dump it and come back.
That is one cycle. It could complete a cycle in
less than one minute, which is rather amazing considering you're
picking up one hundred and fifty tons of dirt. By
the way, the equivalent of one hundred and fifty tons
is roughly eighteen full size African elephants. I think that's
(05:55):
kind of an amazing factoid in itself. This itself is
rather an amazing machine. Under peak operating conditions, you're talking
about fifteen thousand horsepower. Fifteen thousand horsepower would power a
normal city of about fifteen thousand people. The primary operating
(06:18):
crew for Big Brutus and eleven million pound machine was
three men. The three men to operate the machine where
the groundmen, the oiler, and the operator. So Brutus in
his career dug about eleven square miles, which doesn't sound
(06:40):
like a lot. But when you're digging forty to sixty
feet deep and piling the dirt beside you, you know
the equivalent of that. So if you could start out
Brutus from where he's at now and say, okay, head east,
Brutus and just dig as far as you can dig,
I want you to dig me a pit forty feet
(07:00):
and just keep going as long as what Brutus actually ran.
Where would run you out is on the other side
of the Mississippi River. Now understand, Brutus is about thirty
miles from the Kansas Missouri state line, and imagine it
going well past that all the way.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Over to the Mississippi River.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
The Big Brutus Museum, which of course is where Brutus
is located. He actually sits just behind the last pit
that he dug. When they backed him up there, they
knew that Brutus was going to get shut down. Brutus
(07:47):
is a significant part of mining history in Southeast Kansas,
a part of history which is all too easily forgotten
because people a don't realize that it was here and
actually a part of what went on and be it's
such a behemoth machine that people need to know. It's
(08:08):
literally an engineering marvel in itself. We're very fortunate that
we have a lot of the miners around that are
still around that come out and share with people. And
when we have visitors, they're just totally in awe of
how big the machine is and just try to wrap
their mind around what it took to operate the machine.
(08:30):
And when you tell them it literally only took three
people to operate the machine, they're just totally awestruck. You
cannot believe it with the machine this big. So it's
very important for us to keep the mining history of
Brutus alive because of what he did. But also we
celebrate at the Big Brutist Museum the mining history for
(08:53):
the men who toiled underground as well, the guys that
had really really dangerous jobs because they're digging underneath, they
would have collapses and such as that, and that's one
of the primary reasons why above a surface coal mining
(09:13):
became so important, So Brutus played an important part in
preserving those faults as well.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And a special thanks to Faith Buchanan for the pre production,
Joe Manns for telling the story, Katrina Hine for collecting
the audio, and Monte Montgomery for the post production. And
what a story we just heard about a massive machine
that cranks out fifteen thousand horsepower, It's eleven million pounds
(09:43):
in weight, and yet only three men are needed to
operate it. And by the way, Big Brute has dug
eleven square miles of territory and that's at forty to
sixty foot depths. It's staggering to think that one machine
could do that much work. And by the way, what
it did was help power the industrialization of modern America,
(10:05):
no small task. The story of Big Brutus here on
our American Stories
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, a
story from West Mineral, Kansas about something that can best
be described as a pretty big deal. Here's Joe Mann's
with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What's orange weighs about eleven pounds and is literally the
biggest attraction in Southeast Kansas. Well, if you guessed Big Brutus,
you are exactly right. I'm Joe Manns, the general manager
(00:52):
at Big Brutus. It is the most amazing job I've
ever had. Obviously, I have the biggest boss I think
that anybody has ever had. So let's talk a little
bit about Big Brutus and how it came to be.
But we're going to go back in time just a
little bit. Mining in Southeast Kansas actually dates back to
(01:19):
the eighteen seventies. What was done was below surface mining
and it required a lot of people, so they hired people.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
From all over the world.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
A lot of them were concentrated in the Balkans area
of Southeast Europe. Now the Balkans Area it's Italy, Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, England, Wales, Scotland, France,
and Belgium, just to name a few. So they were
brought here because the mining underground was pretty much a
(01:52):
thankless dirty job, and it gave opportunities for the immigrants
to come to the United States and make money. Below
surface mining peaked in nineteen twenty six, Kansas miners playing
a key role in supplying lead, zinc, and of course
coal that were needed during World War one and two.
(02:13):
Above the surface was much safer, but to get to it,
it was anywhere from twenty to forty feet below surface
to get to the coal. How did they get to it, Well,
they needed bigger machineries, and there was a rather ingenious
fella in West Mineral, Kansas who invented his own machine
(02:37):
in the late nineteen twenties to help that happen. That
little shovel is called the Markley shovel, and it was
an amazing piece of machinery, considering there were no welding machines,
barely any electricity. But the man designed this machine and
of course fabricated it and it went to work. Mister
(02:58):
Markley was a rather amaze man in that he had
a fifth grade education, no formal engineering training, but he
dreamt up the idea of there's got to be a
better way to do this.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
When the machine was completed.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It was actually operated by two Studebaker car engines. Bigger
became better because well, there's got to be a more
efficient way.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
How do you do that? You make a larger machine.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And when they got ready to design Brutus, what came
in mind was the Markley shovel, which was literally operating
about four or five miles northwest of where Brutus currently sits.
And they went and talked to the family and you know,
wanted to know if they could maybe buy the design
and the family.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Said, no, it's it's not for sale.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Literally tried to buy the machine and they said no,
it's not for sale. Literally offered the designer and builder
a job to help design and build Big Brutus, and
he said no, not interested in that either, because you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Really want me.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You want my machine and it's not for sale. The
engineers then went back to South Milwaukee, which was where
Brutus was designed and fabricated, and got to checking in
the design man that designed the Markeley shovel and builder
had not got a patent on his machine.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Unfortunately, that's the way it was.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And in the early nineteen sixties they came back to
West Mineral Kansas and set across the section literally from
the little Markley shovel and sketched it all out, took
it back to South Milwaukee, buse iris Erie basically copied
it and enlarged it, and voila big Brutus was born. Now,
(05:05):
at the time it was born, it was literally the
largest coal shovel of its size that was electric operated,
and of course the ninety cubic yard bucket. Now, Brutus's
job was to take the overburden off of the top
of the coal. The overburden is the dirt and rock
that lie on top of the coal to cycle, which
(05:28):
is to grab a scoop, turn, dump it and come back.
That is one cycle. It could complete a cycle in
less than one minute, which is rather amazing considering you're
picking up one hundred and fifty tons of dirt. By
the way, the equivalent of one hundred and fifty tons
is roughly eighteen full size African elephants. I think that's
(05:55):
kind of an amazing factoid in itself. This itself is
rather an amazing machine. Under peak operating conditions, you're talking
about fifteen thousand horsepower. Fifteen thousand horsepower would power a
normal city of about fifteen thousand people. The primary operating
(06:18):
crew for Big Brutus and eleven million pound machine was
three men. The three men to operate the machine where
the groundmen, the oiler, and the operator. So Brutus in
his career dug about eleven square miles, which doesn't sound
(06:40):
like a lot. But when you're digging forty to sixty
feet deep and piling the dirt beside you, you know
the equivalent of that. So if you could start out
Brutus from where he's at now and say, okay, head east,
Brutus and just dig as far as you can dig,
I want you to dig me a pit forty feet
(07:00):
and just keep going as long as what Brutus actually ran.
Where would run you out is on the other side
of the Mississippi River. Now understand, Brutus is about thirty
miles from the Kansas Missouri state line, and imagine it
going well past that all the way.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Over to the Mississippi River.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
The Big Brutus Museum, which of course is where Brutus
is located. He actually sits just behind the last pit
that he dug. When they backed him up there, they
knew that Brutus was going to get shut down. Brutus
(07:47):
is a significant part of mining history in Southeast Kansas,
a part of history which is all too easily forgotten
because people a don't realize that it was here and
actually a part of what went on and be it's
such a behemoth machine that people need to know. It's
(08:08):
literally an engineering marvel in itself. We're very fortunate that
we have a lot of the miners around that are
still around that come out and share with people. And
when we have visitors, they're just totally in awe of
how big the machine is and just try to wrap
their mind around what it took to operate the machine.
(08:30):
And when you tell them it literally only took three
people to operate the machine, they're just totally awestruck. You
cannot believe it with the machine this big. So it's
very important for us to keep the mining history of
Brutus alive because of what he did. But also we
celebrate at the Big Brutist Museum the mining history for
(08:53):
the men who toiled underground as well, the guys that
had really really dangerous jobs because they're digging underneath, they
would have collapses and such as that, and that's one
of the primary reasons why above a surface coal mining
(09:13):
became so important, So Brutus played an important part in
preserving those faults as well.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And a special thanks to Faith Buchanan for the pre production,
Joe Manns for telling the story, Katrina Hine for collecting
the audio, and Monte Montgomery for the post production. And
what a story we just heard about a massive machine
that cranks out fifteen thousand horsepower, It's eleven million pounds
(09:43):
in weight, and yet only three men are needed to
operate it. And by the way, Big Brute has dug
eleven square miles of territory and that's at forty to
sixty foot depths. It's staggering to think that one machine
could do that much work. And by the way, what
it did was help power the industrialization of modern America,
(10:05):
no small task. The story of Big Brutus here on
our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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