The Silver Spade - The Forever Behemoth

Mining #Shorts
Mining #Shorts
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Published 2023-08-31
The Silver Spade was a giant power shovel used for strip mining in southeastern Ohio. Manufactured by Bucyrus-Erie, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the model 1950-B was one of two of this model built, the other being the GEM of Egypt. Its sole function was to remove the earth and rock overburden from the coal seam. Attempts to purchase and preserve the shovel from Consol to make it the centerpiece of a mining museum exhibit for $2.6 million fell short, and the shovel was dismantled in February 2007.

#mining #silverspade #shovel #ohio
All Comments (16)
  • @dixienormous2704
    I saw it with my own two eyes as a child. It was a September evening during the annual Stumptown Steam tractor show. Many of the folks who were members of Stumptown were also members of the coal park next door. Anyhow we were told to not go up on the hill since that was mine property. We were kids so whatever. We could see the light moving over the hillside, so we climbed up to see the Spade about a mile away. It was working, and even though it was so far away you could hear it and see it clearly. It was lit up like a city, and looked like some sort of mechanical monster eating away at the earth. It was an amazing machine.
  • @haroldvigoffi1676
    I am fortunate to be one of a few folks in the area to have been on all three machines that consol owned.the gem the spade and the mountaineer....my family worked on and around these machines for their living.truely amazing and as a young boy when i got to go on board i was scared yes but i wish i could turn back time
  • @annacalise8336
    I love these videos on the history of these truly amazing machines! Please keep them coming, and thank you for the time and effort you put into your content, its greatly appreciated!!
  • @boom-rl7me
    A truly amazing machine! Such a shame it's not still around to be admired today.
  • @epistte
    I saw the Spade the first time when it was parked, just before it moved across the road and then twice again on the far side of the road in the new pits. Seeing it working at night was something that I will never forget. Its ironic to know that all of the reclaimed pits where the Spade once worked have been drilled and frac'd for natural gas. Seeing it up close was amazing because I didn't even come half the height of the tracks.
  • @sevenin1
    I saw it run in 1999 right before they scraped it.Awesome machine.👏👏👏
  • @hydroaxop73
    Im involved with Harrison coal and reclamation Park and luckily they have the cab and part of the bucket
  • @tomrogers9467
    As I understand from other videos, the final failure was in the slew bearings; the huge roller bearings that allow the upper part of the machine to rotate on the track frames.
  • @WhiteyRavensTH
    the music on your channel is amazing. wwhere can i buy it?
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