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Satellite, Ken was west of Rochester Rd. and Homewood was east of the road. Both mines stretched between Western Kentucky Pkwy and the Green River.)
The Ken Mine started before Homewood Mine did, and continued operations after Homewood closed. But one hears about Homewood instead because it had the first dragline with a 100 cu. yd. bucket, a repaired Marion 8800.
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"Homestead Mine The first of the Marion 8800 series of draglines and the first to break the 100 cu-yd barrier. Peabody Coal Company started using this one at their Homestead Mine in Western Kentucky in 1961." Mining Photography Archive postedPeabody Coal Company Marion 8800 (Homestead Mine) From the Eric Orlemann Collection Originally installed at Peabody's Homestead Mine near Echols, Kentucky. The 8800 was, at the time, the largest dragline in the world. Sporting a factory equipped 85CY bucket, it was soon upgraded to a 100CY bucket (the first in the world). A boom failure would lead to prolonged down time shortly after inception at Homestead. She would return to work in short fashion and would eventually end up working the remainder of her service life at neighboring Ken Mine where she was scrapped in the mid-90's. A few stats for your records: Boom Length: 275 feet Overall Weight: 6,040 tons Overall Height: 115 feet Started Work: 1963 A little tidbit of information you may not know, this dragline was installed at the mine the Marion 6360 was originally supposed to go to. |
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Mining #Shorts posted
The Marion 8800 was a record-breaking dragline. Introduced in 1961, the big machine went to work at Peabody's Homestead mine in Kentucky, stripping overburden to expose coal seams. But what made the Marion 8800 so special was its bucket. In 1961, no dragline had ever broken the 100-cubic-yard mark. The 8800 changed that, becoming the first to cross that line after its original 85-yard bucket was upgraded. The Marion 8800 was a monster, weighing 6,300 tons and carrying a 275-ft boom. But in the 1960s, records didn't hold for long. Less than five years after the Marion 8800 entered production, other units such as the 8900 were moving up to 145 cubic yards, crushing old milestones like they never meant anything. Data from "Giant Earth-Moving Equipment" by Eric C. Orlemann. Must read! |
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RockportKY_homestead, Photographer was probably David Hope's father, a career Peabody Miner.
"A Marion 8800 85-yd. shovel was constructed for the operation of the Homestead Strip Mine. This mine operated for several decades and had a variety of shovels, draglines and other equipment. Pictures and information just seems to be almost non-existent. The picture above is the 8800 sitting on an erection pad in Oct. 1963 at Peabody's Homestead Mine, Beaver Dam, Ky. This machine had a boom failure after a few years of operation and the question of what to do with the broken machine, had one of three choices: 1) Repair and continue operation. 2) Shut down and salvage. 3) Recondition the machine and replace the 85 Yard bucket with a 100 yd. bucket. The decision was to shorten the boom a little, and install a 100 Cubic Yard bucket and continue operation. I think that this was the first of the 100 Yard buckets. When Homestead closed, the 8800 was walked to Ken Mine (Peabody), worked a few years at Ken, and when Ken closed, the Marion 8800 dragline was scrapped." |
Both mines had rail tipples. I presume they were on the south ends of the industrial spurs off of the Illinois Central. The Ken Mine later built a loading dock on the Green River. (I have not been able to determine the exact location.) "The first coal was loaded on a barge on June 6, 1956." [
RockportKY_ken]
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| 1957/69 Evansville Quad @ 250,000 |
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ebay
1972 Peabody Coal Co Homestead Mine Rockport Ky 8x10 Photo Green River 7491 |
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