Building The Muskie (Image from "One Hundred Booming Years", by George B. Anderson. Used without permission. As you can see, Big Muskie was no "little machine", look at the size of the man in the foreground and you get an idea of Muskie's size. (Photo courtesy of: Art Catino) Building Big Muskie was a "BIG" project. Look at the amount of land it took for the assembly and parts storage. Muskie was so big, that the stiff leg crane couldn't reach across the machine to place components on the far side. Once the revolving upper structure was complete, the machine would be turned periodically, to bring the remote corners of the house into the servicable area of the crane.   Muskie is really starting to take shape now! The housing is complete, the Masts (Gantry Fairlead towers) appear to be off the ground, and lift cylinders and shoes are in place.  Looks like they're getting ready to start construction of the boom. muskie's starting to look good !!!!! (Photo courtesy of: Art Catino) Just about done. Muskie's now wearing that familiar red and white paint scheme. The boom is done and looks to be completely rigged for raising. You can see the "pump houses" are in place on the shoes ( forward of each lift cylinder, these housings contained hydraulic equipment and the Push cylinders which moved Muskie forward after the tub was raised). The Finished Product.... "BIG MUSKIE"..... shown shortly after completion. Note the two tracked "cord carriers" sitting in the foreground. These two units came with Big Muskie, to help manage the massive "extension cord" that supplied power to Muskie. ( anyone who has seen an electric stripping shovel, will have seen similar reels in place on the rear of the machine. Some machines, such as "The Captain" had reels mounted both front and rear, this allowed them to change direction it the pit, without "turning around") I've heard that these tracked carriers proved to be troublesome, and were soon scrapped, and replaced by a more traditional "trailing cable"   GO BACK