Christmas comes once a year, and so does the chance to see Big Kate, a massive walking dragline in Warrick County. After the surface mining relic’s first public tour in 2025, the Museum of the Coal Industry in Lynnville, Indiana, offered “A Second Date with Big Kate” on July 25. I was one of about 200 people who accepted the invitation.
About Big Kate
The Bucyrus-Erie 2570 has a 310-foot boom, a 100-cubic-yard bucket, and a 4.5-ton lifting capacity. Old Ben Coal Company bought the excavator in 1970 for $37 million and had the parts shipped by train from Wisconsin to Gibson County for assembly.
Operators used the 5,500-ton machine to remove soil, rock, and vegetation at the Somerville Mine in Gibson County. Black Beauty Coal purchased the excavator in 2001, and then Peabody Energy bought the company in 2003. Because of market changes and costly repairs, Big Kate retired in 2023 and rests a few miles from the museum at an inactive mining site.
The Tour
My date with Big Kate started at the museum, where I boarded a bus with about 10 people. On the way, tour guide Pauletta Mason Allasi shared the excavator’s history, including Old Ben’s president, DeWitt Buchanan Jr., naming the machine after his wife, Katherine. Before we knew it, the dragline came into view. “And there she is, ladies and gentlemen. There’s Big Kate!” says Mason Allasi.
At the site, our group gathered in the bucket for a photo, then we were free to explore for 20 minutes. Walking under the boom and around the excavator is humbling. Despite the rust, peeling paint, and grass growing on one of the “walking shoes,” the enormous power of this modern marvel is palpable.
With a blast from the bullhorn, we returned to the bus to head back to the museum, where our “miner’s meals” awaited: bologna sandwiches, chips, cans of RC Cola, and MoonPies. Tourists also were welcome to roam the grounds and check out the museum’s artifacts.
‘Our Heritage’
Boonville, Indiana, resident Bobby Alexander, whose uncle was a United Mine Worker for nearly 50 years, toured Big Kate with his grandson, Hayden Bird, who was visiting from Ohio. “It’s important for a little guy like him, because I remember all this, but he’ll never see it in action,” Alexander says. “This is all part of our heritage.”
Steve Page of Evansville worked at Bucyrus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when the machine was being manufactured. His “Second Date with Big Kate” was better than his first. “We came out last year, but unfortunately, it was slippery going down the hill, so we couldn’t go,” Page says. “It’s neat. It’s interesting.”
David Bush of Boonville has two cousins who retired from Peabody, and his grandfathers were miners. Big Kate left a patriotic impression on him. “It’s just another example of America’s ability to design and build anything, from machines that can move massive amounts of overburden to spacecraft going to the moon. We can do it all,” Bush says.
As for Big Kate’s fate, dragging the excavator out of retirement is a possibility for Peabody. Mason Allasi envisions the company donating the machine to the museum someday. “Dreams are free,” she says, “and we would love to have her. We have a nice pretty spot out there where she can live the rest of her days.”
Future Dates
Tickets booked via email for “A Second Date with Big Kate” cost $25. Tours ran every half hour from 8 a.m. to early afternoon. For details on next year’s event, visit the museum’s website and Facebook page in 2027.
