“It’s still in pretty good shape,” Lovell said of the Markley shovel. Big Brutus was added to the register in January. They plan on hosting a special dedication ceremony and hope to have it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. and used the shovel for coal mining in the area for many years.īoccia and Lovell have big plans for the machine. Henson, who said the shovel was nicknamed the “junkyard shovel,” noted Perry Markley had founded Markley Coal Co. John, Betty’s dad, bought it for junk and kept it all of these years. “Perry junked it and got a bigger shovel. “She would’ve liked me to do something with it instead of letting it sit,” Henson said recently. Her husband, Jerry Henson, donated the shovel to Big Brutus Inc. Perry Markley’s niece, Betty, inherited the land that has been in the family since the 1890s. Merle Markley said he’s looking forward to his father’s shovel being moved to the Big Brutus site. … He had several things he was trying to get patents for, but every time, they would just want more money, and he finally gave up on all of them.” Then Bucyrus-Erie sent engineers who took some pictures. “He built it, and it was running before 1929,” Merle Markley said. Unfortunately, Perry Markley never patented the round dipper stick design, which was later used by Bucyrus-Erie to construct Big Brutus, which operated from 1963 to 1974. He described his father as an innovator, noting that shovel was the second one he had devised. Merle Markley, of Pittsburg, said his father, Perry, had built the shovel in 1928.
“He had two Studebaker engines and found out that he had enough power from just one,” Lovell said. The equipment was derived anywhere from an old boiler to railroad car wheels, the article said. The shovel, powered by a Studebaker car engine, was mainly built with recycled parts from Ben’s junkyard in Joplin. Samuel was called an “eccentric man” and a genius with machinery by his neighbors, according to a 1930 article published in Mechanix Illustrated. We’re waiting for the weather to cooperate.”īoccia and Lovell said they’ve heard the story of the Markley family for years.Ĭoal mine operator Perry Markley, of rural McCune, had constructed the shovel with the help of his father, Samuel, and older brother, Ben. “We’ve cleared quite a bit of brush to get back into it,” said Lovell, chairman of the nonprofit board. The antique will be transported to its new location by a specialty mover out of Carthage in the coming days, weather permitting. Retired coal miners Carmen Boccia and Jim Lovell, who both sit on the Big Brutus board, decided to take on the project of moving the Markley shovel and placing it on a gravel plot adjacent to Big Brutus.
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