Marion, OH: Marion Power Shovel Company

Satellite

Please read OhioHistoryCentral. It started in 1884 and was bought by Bucyrus, its main competitor, in 1997. Alternatively, revolvy is a longer read. It was responsible for the first long-boom revolving stripping shovel to be produced in North America in 1911. [RitchieWiki]

There is more information on this shoved in Horse Creek Mines where the shovel was used.

(Update: photos of a Marion 8700 stripping anthracite coal.)

The following black and white photos are from RoadTripAmerica and are courtesy of Marion Power Shovel Co.

Courtesy of MPS
One of the originals: Steam shovel and wrecking car made by Marion Steam Shovel Company in the 1920's

Courtesy of MPS
Marion at the Isthmus: The rig that dug the Panama Canal

Courtesy of MPS
Everyone was looking at the rocket, but it was a Marion transporter that made launching possible

Courtesy of MPS
Monster shovel: A Marion Walking Dragline— The tiny brown dot to the right of the machine is a full-sized pickup truck,
[This is generally called a dragline, not a shovel. The following is a shovel]

Courtesy of MPS
Crawler Mining Shove

Many more images are available in a Pinterest album.
 

Pinterest

I think of Marion as making stripping shovels and Bucyrus-Erie as making draglines. But I see Marion also made draglines.

tic-inc, Marion 8200 Dragline
TIC was awarded the contract for the erection of an 8050 Marion Dragline including setting of four 1,045 hp hoist motors, four 1,045 hp drag motors, four 640 hp swing motors, two 800 hp propel motors, one 96” diameter hoist drum, one 96” diameter drag drum, a 350” boom with a 120” diameter sheave and all other necessary electrical and mechanical items. Maximum hoisting load was 255,000 lbs and the machine working weight was 6,400,000 lbs.
[This caption was particularly interesting because it gives us insight as to what was inside these monsters.]

In 1965, Marion built The Captain, officially designated Marion 6360, the world's largest shovel. [revolvy]

It worked the Captain mine near Cutler, IL. [CoalAge] Looking at a satellite image, one sees the land scars of several strip mines in the vicinity of Cutler.

There are a lot more photos of  the Captain shovel in the Captain Mine notes.

CoalAge
At 180 yd3, the Captain shovel wielded the biggest dipper ever mounted on a shovel. It had two dipper doors, each weighing 15 tons. (Photo: Keith Haddock)

ccmodels, this page has a lot of interesting facts such as the wire ropes were 3.5"
[Notice the man standing next to a handrail near the lower-right corner.]

Marion engineers custom designed such a big shovel so that two seams of coal could be exposed by one shovel. [StripMine] Michael Davis has photos of several shovels, including The Captain.

Information about the Captain starts here
With a bucket size of 180 cu yd, it was the largest shovel every built. It moved 800 cu yd during its life. It was destroyed by a fire in 1991.

My motivation for this page is a posting in which the Nick Anderson confirmed the location of the plant is at the satellite image at the top of this page. Nick also commented that the newer buildings are occupied but the older buildings have set vacant for 20 years.

Update: It is pretty easy to find photos of the big stuff. And even of the shovels that helped dig the Panama Canal. But this is the first time I have seen some of their early (small) shovels.

Wendell Bennett posted
Old Marion Steam shovel on Rail

Wendell Bennett posted
Another old work horse!!!

James Stine shared
This is a beautiful shot of Marion Power Shovel. What a place, what a great Company. I miss it like and old friend gone!
Growing Up In Marion Ohio posting
Marion Steam / Power Shovel complex looking southwest from Center Street. The original office building is still standing in the lower middle although the neon sign of a large shovel with a moving bucket is gone from the top of the building. This is one of several photos with an information label attached that apparently were released as part of a publicity campaign.

Craig Keirns posted
Marion steam shovel company

Craig Keirns posted

I found this while looking for the office building:

Street View

One of 27 images from an 1888 product catalog

 

CoalCampUSA
This old industrial facility in Marion, OH must have been Marion Power Shovel, which manufactured some of the largest earth moving equipment (shovels and draglines) of all time. Evidently, the company was eventually abosorbed into Bucyrus International. For a while, Marion was still a division of Bucyrus, but since they have been acquired by Caterpillar it seems the Marion brand has been retired. (May 2008 image by author)

Quinn Lickman posted four photos with the comment: "From a friends collection.."

[There are several interesting comments.]

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Quinn Lickman posted six images with the comment: ""

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East Coast Iron posted
A 3,270 ton Marion 8050 dragline uncovering a seam of phosphate 65 yards at a time.
Dylan Wheatley shared
[According to some comments, the dragline in the background is Marion 8200.]

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A Marion 5761 was used in the Midland Electric Coal's Middle Grove Mine.

A Marion 5761 wreck at Peabody coal's Gibraltar Mine   I remember writing about this wreck, but I can't find the notes. :-(

12 images of a 1920s brochure about the Model 21, 3/4 Yard

29 images from a product's brochure

To access this link, you will need to join the HISTORICAL STRIPPING SHOVEL & DRAGLINE ARCHIVE group.

24 images from a 1951 dragline brochure

Daniel also posted in the Historical Surface Strip Mining Archive group.

24 images from a 1951 dragline brochure

11 photos of the never built 350 cu yd 7360 (Unfortunately, you have to join HISTORICAL STRIPPING SHOVEL & DRAGLINE ARCHIVE to access this link.)