we're going to need a bigger shovel

Coal is a natural resource in Kentucky. In eastern Kentucky it is found deep underground in mines. Here in western Kentucky it is found nearer to the surface, hence the coal fields. Muhlenberg County Kentucky in the 1960s and 1970s was the biggest coal producing area in the state and at times in the country.

The best way to get the coal out of the coal fields is to strip the dirt off down to the seam of coal underneath - strip mining. Regular sized dirt movers would do the job, but there was something bigger and better on the way.

1962 saw the arrival of Peabody Coal Company's Bucyrus Erie 3850-B Power Shovel, dubbed "Big Hog,” and it was so big it had to be built on site, piece by piece. It was shipped by rail to the mining area. New roads had to be built and a special rail spur was made, along with special rail cars, to haul in some of the parts. 300 rail cars would bring in 5,000 parts and a 250-foot boom. The assembly took 11 months. Fully constructed, the machine stood 20 stories tall, weighed in at 20 million pounds, and cost some $7 million. Big Hog’s bucket could scoop up 115 cubic yards, more than a football field’s worth, or about 173 tons, uncovering coal seams in a strip mine pit where an army of other smaller shovels and trucks would load and haul the coal to TVA’s nearby Paradise plant.

The Peabody Coal Company proceeded to strip over 50,000 acres of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, leaving in their wake useless land full of pits and swamps. The land exists today in that same state, but has been turned into a wildlife refuge - 70,000 acres make up the Peabody WMA. 

1820 First commercial mine opened in Kentucky near Paradise in Muhlenberg County

1950 Coal companies buy up farms for strip mining in Muhlenberg County

1959 TVA (New Deal to help area) started construction on the Paradise fossil fuel plant and contracted with local coal companies for strip-mined coal to supply power plants

1962 Peabody Coal Company's Big shovel

1963 TVA Paradise Coal plant began making electricity out of coal

1965 TVA black soot covers the town of Paradise and residents start moving out

1967 TVA bought out the last of the buildings in Paradise and bulldozed them down

1994 Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources purchased and/or signed long term lease agreements on approximately 70,000 acres of reclaimed Peabody Coal Company ground to form a wildlife management area called Peabody WMA.