BIG MUSKIE

has anyone ever watched Big Muskie run? back in the early 80's a bunch of us boys and girlfriends would go to Muskingum county on a sunday, pack a cooler and lunch and spend the day watching the big earth mover run, sometimes we could get right next to it. was best to be across from where it was digging then you could see the two d-9 cats pushin the dirt out from underneath it.the things we used to do as kids, we all had fun.

Never got the chance but we visited the park where one of her buckets is parked. WOW

buzzinduzzin, bucket is near McConniville we also have pictures of my wife and I in the bucket

Sure did, saw it running several times. At times you could see it running fron I-70. It sure was an awsome sight to see.

I thought you meant the fish. They run here on Black Lake NY to spawn and the old timers would go with a spear and a feed bag. Not now, DEC man is there watching and if you get caught you best get your wallet out!

never got to see the MUSKEY , the "CHIEF",.. hugh dragline was in coshocton county about 3 miles from me, it had a 75 yard and a 100 yard bucket and was all electric. seemed strange to be close and could barely here it, just chains rattling and dirt falling. d9's would run under it also

I am like you I saw the Chief in operation. It was impressive! I am from the flat northern part of the state. 1964 I think. We were not married yet. D-7 cats to drag the cranes extension cord around. I used to have some slides of it.

Yes, I was Lucky enough to have actually ride in it one evening back in the 80's for 4 hours,,what an awesome experience that was,, my neighbor,Bud Dollings, was an oilier on the Musky, and he got me and a friend of mine on it,, It is hard to explain how "Big" it was.

So sad they cut stuff like that up. No museum wanted it. Kinda got fried.

Several times when we were in the area I wanted to see it. Finally one time wife and I were near, (Cumberland Ohio if I remember right) I got out and walked (not supposed to do that) among the piles of dirt and watched it from a distance (at least a quarter mile). I have a few pictures. It was impressive how quiet it was. My dream would have been to be next to the bucket when it was scooping up a load. How wasteful and sad it was- scrapped because the coal didn't meet govn't standards.

i live about three miles the way a crow would fly from where it was built.when i was around fifteen years old we could see the top of the boom and at night you could hear it drop its load of overburden.
RICK

Yes, got to see all of the Big Rigs back then. Let's see the Muskie,Gem of Egypt, Mountaineer, Silver Spade. Thought there were five of them . Might of been the Chief ,can't quite remember.

Yep, i have seen it up close and running . along with the other big ones . Hauled coal back in those days . I even worked in a strip mine for a short time running a 992 Cat loader . Started the coal hauling sorta part time with just loading a couple trucks on a Saturday' for a buddy that had seven trucks and sometimes the regular drivers were not up to go load on a Saturday . I was usually off since i was the boss at my day job . Started driving full time when i had enough of the day job . We hauled from the big mines down to the Ma and Pa mines . One little deep mine was run by a father and his two sons . They had a rickity old tipple that we could just get under and had to load from the back to the ft. so the weight would settle the truck down enough so we could get a decent load . When ya went to load you had to go back into the mine and find one of them to come out and load ya. So it was put on your coveralls put your rubber boots on and your hard hat with a Wheat lite and play hunch back for a mile and a half then try and figure out where they were down what shaft . About the same at the Copper head mine if ya had a problem ya had to go find someone and they were all back in the mine , There was a reason why they called it the copper head mine . That one was not as high as the father and son mine as they were in a four foot seam that went for miles . So if the loader did not start you did all you could to get it up and running before you did the hands and knees thing and found something blocking your way in or out.

Used to deliver equip to their warehouse back in the 80's in Cumberland Ohio.They had a model of it there and always commented about it.The foreman there one nite said it wasn't working far way and asked If I'd like to see it.It was idling that night humming away,all electric.It had broken a tooth on the bucket and there were 2 D-9s trying to push a new tooth into place.He took me inside it was like climbing into a huge battleship.It was pressurized to try and keep dust out and you had to fall into the hatch way to get inside.Full of drums,huge electric motors and cables.Had it's own machine shop inside,and a huge travelling bridge crane for internal repairs.We climbed stairways up to the operators cupola,and he introduced me to the fellow that was the original operator,first guy that ever ran it.There was a regular house refridgerator in there with a car AM radio taped to the top of the fridge.He let me sit in the operators seat,the workers down below,trying to put the tooth on looked like ants.The machine ran 364 days a year,only stopped for Christmas.Took 59 seconds to make a round IIRC.Dig,rotate,dump,rotate,return to dig.
In over 45 years of hauling equipment around North America,that rates at the top of things I've seen.

Did you ever hual out of a mine down close to New Athens. Hanna Coal Company way back , now it is ConSol. They have a deep shaft there. That is on my grandfathers original farm.

I remember that fridge,, the Musky was working the nite I was on it ,, I was in the operaters cab with 4 other guys ,, what a thrill that was watch it dig from that view point...

Ah yep i did , hauled a lot of Lump and Nut coal out of there some egg . Now that was some really good coal . There and the coal out of WB coal W B coal , now that place was not for the faint of heart . That hill coming up and out of there claimed atleast a truck a week. My truck and my buddy's were the only two that could come up and out on our own power . Slow Poke and i had 1977 I H 4300 with small cam 350's , Well that is what they were set at at the factory I was putting over 478 Hp to the drives at 65 MPH . That was more power to the ground then a KTA 600 was putting to the ground . we really never knew for sure how much HP i really had due to the fact that while on the dyno the gauges were still going up and the engine was not slowing down when the big chain holding it to the dyno broke and Chucky Echman went out the door at 65 MPH or better and trying to get it stopped before he hit the cement retaining wall . slow pke's truck had everything done to his the same as mine but he did not have the other housing on the turbo like mine did and we had trucks that were the same all the way down to the S/N as there was only one number different and our paint scheme was a tad different . Both of us had East tandem 30 ft. dumps mine was all alum. and his had the steel frame we could get 40-45 ton on of good coal per load and flat up and run with it . that hill out of W B uinonport ohio was Steep and it took every horse we had to come up and out it was second gear power divider locked in and pray . There was no fancy gear jamming as you could not shift fast enough and if your choice of gear was wrong and you stalled out or spun out you were in deep trouble , even if your brakes were set up and in good condition they would not hold you going backwards . I learned that when i ran out of power tryen to do the lets make a run for it and grab gears , it was seventh fourth and first and i spun out . Fast thinking is the only thing that saved my donkey as i stuffed it into rev. and used the jake to back down off the hill in somewhat a controlled decent and fancy backing around the curves . So i learned fast that you have to much power in first and not enough in forth but second did work . Old Bill the loader operator would load a half dozen to a dozen trucks and then fill the bucket on a 988 Cat and he would go out and help each truck up and over . Slow Poke and i were always the last ones to load at night and Old bill would come out with the loader and wait till we had topped the hill just incase we did not make it . Old Bill < Doc and a couple other guys that worked there were great guys and we called them friends . Friday evenings were great to load down there. as it was PIZZA and Barley pop night Couple pieces of Pizza and a couple cold ones and a good B/S session were great. wha was no great was when ya had more then a couple and then head home . That hill on a dark night with a couple more then ya should have had will wake you up. Then ya had the county road up to 646 then west to Rt. 9 and to the house . Now for you Flat landers those old roads would make you a believer and if you had been along for the ride you may never want to ride in a big truck ever again . and oh i also know a short cut from that old deep mine that not many know about that if ya take it off old 151 as it is not marked and the road going up to the old Hanna haul road will take you on up past Germano and if you do it correctly it will dump you out on Rt. 9 Lets put it this way if you were the last truck out of the deep mine and everybody was going to the same place as you , when you got to where you were going you would be dumped and setting waiting on them to arrive and they would never see you pass them. while they were playing with the hills and turns on 151 and then on 9 if you ran the old haul road you were up on the flat with no curves and no hills and don't worry about the bridges you cross if they could handle them 150-200 ton Darts it will hold 117000-125000 with no problem and you can plum get with the program . You will be 6-10 miles ahead of the rest , did this many times it would plum freek them out on how i got around them and them not see me do it.

Yea and do you know how many people lost there jobs over this and also along with the steel industry also shutting down all about the same time . at one time my area was knowen as the owner operator capital of the world . If you were not a coal hauler ya hauled steel and if ya did not do those two ya were a refer hauler . If you owned a coal bucket you did not have a problem finding work , and for us a long haul was from the east side of the state to Toledo , yep that was super trucking , Billy big riggen . In 77 my buddy and i bought the first two conventional with a sleeper that was hauling coal or stuff for the steel mills . we got them for the main reason of the winter salt hauling as i was tired or the sleeping over the steering wheel or on a board across both seats. when the coal went away and the mills went down that BOX on the back came in handy as there was no more working local and coming home at night it was leave Sunday night and come home maybe late Friday or Saturday morning and those nights when you could go nomore that box was a welcome place to bed down even if you had to fall in at night and fall out in the morning and the fight of putting your pants on while layen in the bunk . Yep it was only one wide BUT IT COULD BE TWO DEEP.
International Motel No reservations needed. it was warm in the winter month and ice cold in the hot summer night.s

Just another thing. That machine was a walker. They couldn't make tracks that would take the weight and turns. Just too much cost as where the feet could do all of what was needed and far cheaper. Looked like a giant duck trying to waddle.

I fished in Black lake when I was a kid with my Grandfather during the summers I was up there helping him at his dairy farm in Weedsport NY. Still have family up there, Mostly growing apples and strawberries in Mexico and Adams NY. Good times for sure.

My 77 Eagle 4300,bought it new,also 350 SC Cummins.

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Yea that's what i am talking about , but you had a BIG eagle , YOU HAD DUAL stacks BIG trucks had dual stacks , Mine only had one . Wish i could post pictures of mine . Mine was done in four different shades of blue with gold white and black stripping . I had polsished alum wheels on both tractor and trailer. Plum loved that truck , all but the bunk . engine was turned up by cummins as far as our one friend at Cummins would go , Myself and my buddy wanted more and back then money was not a problem . That is when he discovered Bruce Mulison (sp) over in Chesswick P a. as it was called back then Diesel Injection , now Pittsburg POWER . My buddy did his and for a week had a ball messen with me as he and i were hauling together hauling about the same weight give or take 500 lbs. and he could just flat up and leave me . Then i went over and We did more to mine , now it was my turn, the battle raged back and forth till neither one of us could get anymore out of them . till i went with a bigger turbo and a lot higher boost pressure . On a good pull i could get 68lbs of boost 18 more then my buddy . EGT was kept down to 1150 1200 on the hot side and 950 on the cold side. with the six shooter injectors the V12 pump with purple spring and a drilled throttle shaft a slight cam timing change and no aniroid it was as snappy as a 318 and pulled like a locomotive . They did what we wanted and that was to fool the portable scales into thinking we were LIGHT and that it did , each week on ususally Thursday we would see the portable scales setting at the county line in the center of I 77 just north of Ohio 212 and just north of the permits south of 212 . We were hauling Shale out of Zoar mining up to a pipe plant just east of Akron off I76 . we never had less then 45 ton on and sometimes a WEEEE bit more . Mr. Smokey E bear and the scale wagon would set there watching the truck going up the hill and if you came on 77 at 212 and driven a Coal bucket and got passed going UP the hill by a freight box by the time you topped the hill you would be making new friends and seeing if you needed to be put on a diet MONEY wise . For two years Smokey E bear watched Slow poke and myself run that hill and never batted and eye since we were the ones doing the passing going up that hill at a extream rate of speed. And since we only had LITTLE trucks we had to be legal. Since no coal bucket could pass freight boxes like that and be heavy . did i ever get caught , --------- YEA i did the Same Smoke E bear got me and he plum hated trucks and truck driver and would tell you that to your face got me , was i heavy lets just say the scales on the south side south of 212 BROKE and stayed broke for several weeks , did i get fined yep i did , what i did next made no brownee points with Mr. bear as i showed up in court and got the case throwen out of court because what Mr. Bear wote down on the ticket was a lie in the eye's of the Court and this judge as Mr. Bear wrote down that i was grossen 109000lbs and with the certified weigh ticket i got from where i delievered the load to as he let me go after he gave me the ticket plainly stated that no i did not have 109000 lbs gross i had 138900 lbs gross so there for the state was in error and the officer was wroung in issueing the two tickets to the two of us . Case dismissed. Got nailed in Ronoke Va with a 129 and change and they could not get out of there fast enough once they knew what i had on and my fine was 56 dollars and 65. cents The 56 dollars was for the gross over load and the 65 cents was for highway missuse. so i guess you can say we were outlaws , we ran fast , we ran heavy and we ran hard . Looking back there are only two things i would have changed or done over , (1) i would have made a gear change in the rears for more topend (2) i would have went a longer wheel base then the 210 inch and ihad a double eagel sleeper installed maybe like a 60 or a72 inch stand up . But when i bought it i had not intened to run the roads , but when the mines went down and the steel mills went down it was either get ride of the truck or go on the road and since there were not a lot of jobs to be had it was ON THE ROAD and find new homes to work for . I was doing all of Truck Way's CFC salt hauling to the midwest but that was only a one way deal , and yes it was paying me 2 bucks a mile on the one way dead heading home form Eatern IOWA or Mo. even Il. it was only a buck a mile and at a buck a mile i was loosen 13.9 cents a mile , Neede something to come back with . found that while at the union 76 truck stop in bloomington il. when a Coal bucket came in with a S/ C base plate and he saw me setting and he and i started talking as he was headed to pick up a load of Scrap to take to the Windy and load something out of there for home . Told him that i sure could use a load home , he told me to give this lady a call and i did . She asked if i minded hauling scrap , well what does it pay , 2.10 a mile to the truck for 40000 and if you canload more and be leagel it makes it better. Well that started my time with Chem haulers and they had no problem with my salt haulen , the only thing was with them was once a month you had to take your truck to Bamai land for truck inspection and go talk with everyone in the main office , The dump divison was all owner oerators . There was no freight rate under 2 bucks a mile and no matter where you went in the system there was a return load waitng for you . I was the only ohio based truck in the system and my home terminal was the chicago terminal and was #1 truck If Bev or Joe at truck way did not have something for me then Dee out in Chicago did or the Doves would find something . Then out of the blue i get a call from Shilley Motor line aand asked to haul sand rock from here in ohio to Lagro in. and how much a ton to do it so for a one way deal i figued 42 bucks a ton was good and payment at the end of delivery , Dang i could have married that Sherry from shilley What a FOX I would get a call from her usually around noon to one in the afternoon to get a load and take it out and dump it and call her and we would meet at the truck stop in Remington have supper together and she would pay me . stayed in it till the next down turn and sold out and went to fixen tractors and jocking equipment and tractors . stayed with that till the economy went down and farm income dropped around here with low milk prices . Like any business if people don't have money they tighten up and don't spend and start doing them selfs . and not buying so i have to eat so back on the road and back to a bucket for six months of no money then i was asked to come haul oversized stuff , ok why not Yep the money was there and it was enjoyable and a chalenge . and back in a Binder with a turned up Cat that was somewhat close to the old 4300 . You know yourself you run over the same roads enough with the same truck you know what gear and how fast you will top that hill or mountain . The 9400 with the cat and a Pittsburg power box was about five MPH slower up the same humps and bumps with clost to the same weight. Now semi retired but back to fixen tractors for a half dozen old friends and customers. Do carb rebuilding for people , the one auto parts store i deal with is always sending me someone with a carb problem with kit in hand . Hey it helps with my bad habbits gun powder Crown Royal and diesel fuel.

Good read Vet,I'm semi-retired too,sold my truck and trailer last year,after 42 years with my own.Just working in my shop now,at my own pace on local tractors,my own toys and whatnot.