English title big brutus a giant strip mining shovel that once roared across the southeast kansas countryside digging bituminous coal in west mineral kansas physical description 1 transparency color 4 x 5 in or smaller notes title date and keywords provided by the photographer digital image produced by carol m highsmith to represent her original film transparency some . Kansas there 52 men constructed over 11 months time the gigantic shovel on site a stand alone crane named clyde helped the workers construct big brutus working for the pittsburg midway coal mining company big brutus worked around the clock removing overburden so the smaller draglines and shovels could remove two separate seams of coal . History of big brutus big brutus finds its way to the american heartland of west mineral kansas as part of coal strip mining operations in the area exposing relatively shallow seams of coal fabrication of the electric shovel is completed in may 1963 the parts are then shipped to the area in 150 railroad cars and assembled once in kansas