Moving the earth in Muskingum, one busload at a time...

Ohio's abundance of coal has created many economic opportunities, including in ways to excavate the ore.  Muskingum County has a paradoxical monument dedicated to coal mining that is simultaneously large and small.  Strip mining requires large amounts of earth to be moved and a tiny park just outside McConnellsville pays tribute to the gargantuan machines that did it.

The park sits atop a hill looking over once-stripped hills where one particular drag-line machine known as the Big Muskie excavated more than 600 million cubic yards of earth. In its heyday, the Big Muskie was the largest mobile land machine ever built.  First put into operation in 1969, the Big Muskie rumbled, albeit slowly with hydraulic "feet", across the landscape until 1999 when it was dismantled.

While the coal excavated far out-weighed the operating cost, the Big Muskie needed the electrical equivalent of 27,000 homes to operate.  From the tip of the crane's boom to the ground was a staggering 32 stories. The 27 million pound machine weighed the equivalent of 13,000 cars.

The Big Muskie's career ended after legislation was passed on surface mining that forced owner American Electric Power (AEP) to "scrap" efforts to save the excavator as a historic treasure.  One of the three buckets, each which could hold two Greyhound Busses, was managed to be saved and relocated at the current park.  Pictures of the bucket being moved to its final destination are staggering to think of the sheer size of the entire mechanized monster.

The current park is little more than a roadside pull off, but offers static displays, memorialized markers and the centerpiece of the Big Muskie bucket.  AEP maintains the site, calling it the Miner's Memorial, and has an educational display of how mining provides power to the area.  One stunning photograph shows an entire area High School Marching Band snuggly fit inside the bucket.

Big Muskie draws visitors, including less desirable ones, who use the bucket as a source of graffiti.  While vehicle traffic is restricted from November to April, the views from the hilltop toward the horizon offer a moment of reflection on what was and what has become.  The entire area is a 60,000 acre reclaimed space that AEP had once stripped bare for coal.  Today the growth of the planted trees can offer a fall delight of colors.

Nearby McConnelsville, the country seat of Morgan County, is much older than the modern strip-mining economy.  Between railroad and steamboat traffic, McConnelsville was once a thriving community of 30,000 in its heyday in 1850.  Still today the Opera House from the turn of the 20th Century still stands and the feel of a Civil War town is evident as you pass through downtown.

Ohio, as America, has moved from the Industrial Age into the Information Age, the economy has struggled to transition.  While the money could never be raised to preserve the whole of Big Muskie, and what an attraction that would have been, history has been saved and is on display in the rolling hills that powered the transition of a state and nation from agricultural to industrial.

- J.

Garfield's Short Term and Long Term Memory

Ohio's history with presidents is unique in many ways.  We claim, along with Virginia, eight presidents as our own.  Few doubt Virginia's importance in the early years of our nation, but many wonder why so many from Ohio?  James A. Garfield's grand memorial at the historic Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland presents an excellent case study as for the long and the short of Ohio's place in American presidential history.

Garfield, like fellow Buckeye Presidents Grant, Hayes, Harrison and McKinley, served in the Civil War with notable distinction. Ohio being a growing state in Victorian America, with Cincinnati being the largest city west of the original 13 states, her influence on the political scene rivals what large populous states of New York, Texas and California are today.  War service, along with Ohio's national prominence, is why seven of the twelve presidential terms served between 1869 and 1923 had an Ohioan in the White House.


James A. Garfield served but 200 days but you would think he served two full terms by his legacy at Lakeview Cemetery.  Like his executive colleague's resting place an hour south, Garfield's memorial rises high into the sky, easily dwarfing William McKinley's structure in Canton.  However, both offer sweeping views of their adopted cities seen through considerable climbing of steps.  McKinley's steps lead toward his lofty memorial, while Garfield's wind through the inner structure and lead to an impressive exterior balcony.

Walking around the structure, the native Ohio sandstone shows the weathering of time against Lake Erie's wind, rain and snow.  Construction surprisingly began a mere four years after Garfield's assassination, was completed by 1889, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and received a half-million dollar grant for renovations in 1985.  Time has blackened the three tier, 180-foot structure and exterior sculptures, but fits in appropriately with the surrounding cemetery grounds.

The five bas relief sculptures along the exterior walls depict Garfield's life as a teacher, soldier, legislator and president.  Many of these elements can be seen in the murals inside the memorial as well.  Stained windows are numerous, easily seen from both outside and inside.  The entrance to the memorial offers grand murals painted on the walls, intertwining nicely with stained glass windows throughout the structure.

Winding staircases lead to the crypt below, the observation balcony above and the upper level where you can gaze down upon the statue of Garfield in the inner room.  Every inch of the memorial appears to have paint, tile, marble or other decorative aspects.  I found it strange that one of these large murals depicts the assassination being carried out.

The stairs leading up narrow and twist as you climb to the observation level.  But the reward is worth the effort, as the large terrace gives a sweeping view of the lake and downtown Cleveland.  It would be intriguing to see photographs taken of the skyline over the last 100+ years from this spot.  Lakeview at first seems a deceiving name for the cemetery, as the entrance and grounds are over a mile inland from Erie's shores.  But Garfield's memorial at one point easily would have looked out over the lake before development altered site lines.

The crypt in the basement contains the caskets of Garfield and his wife, plus the ashes of his daughter and husband.  There are those who believe the ghost of Garfield haunts the crypt, reporting strange lights from the basement.  Allegedly Garfield haunts his former home, Lawnfield, in Hiram as well as the House of Representatives in Washington. 

If one were not knowledgeable about American History and our presidents, it could easily be thought that Garfield was one of the nation's strongest leaders by the sheer magnitude of his memorial.  McKinley's, by comparison, is not nearly as grand but he does have a sprawling museum and presidential library.  Perhaps Garfield could have been one of our top 10 president's, but his fate was intertwined with that of many Ohioan's that occupied the Executive Mansion.  Of Ohio's eight claimed presidents, half did not complete their term as president due to death in office.  Garfield was the first assassinated, as will be McKinley just short of 20 years later, with William Henry Harrison and Warren Harding dying in office from illness.  Like Harrison, Garfield did not manage to complete a full year.

Perhaps the magnitude of the structure is necessary, as Lakeview is a sprawling cemetery with little help in finding the grave sites of Cleveland's movers and shakers.  A little help on Google map is useful to scout the location before a visit.  But for someone who so briefly occupied the memory of the people as President, his memorial will continue to surprise those who did not realize this grand structure existed nor has stood for a century.

- J .


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Central Ohio's Cave of Wonders

Historic signage near the entrance

In 1897 a teenage farm hand working the land came across a large sink-hole and curiosity has led to a century of Eco-Tourism in the countryside about an hour west of Columbus.  Robert Noffsinger poked around that sinkhole and found a series of caves below and told the farm's owner, William Reams, who immediately saw an economic opportunity.


Over the intervening century-plus, countless visitors have descended and wandered the estimated 2 miles of passageways. A visit is always cool -- in a multitude of ways -- as the year-round temperature is 54 degrees with over 90% humidity.  The air is cleaner than that above the ground, as the water in and around the caves serves to filter it.  While a trip to the caves is possible regardless of the surface weather, keep in mind that accessing the site through the rolling hills and 2-lane roads may be tricky in icy and snowy weather.

There are two tours of the caves, a regular tour and a historic tour, led by a guide in front and in behind.  Part of this dual touring is to keep groups together while another to keep visitors from plundering the cave as the first tourists did in the early 1900's.  First visitors would take home their own stalactite from the cave, as the tour was a simple light and rope and wave to where the entrance was without the assistance of any guides.

The stalactites and stalagmites in the cave of our two types, calcite and iron oxide (yes, rust).  There a places where both exist together and combinations of the two are seen.  The tour is well lit and photography is encouraged.  But watch your step, as puddles off the main pathway make trying to get the perfectly framed shot challenging.

One room, a half-acre in size, offers a panoramic view of formations that is simply stunning.  The alleged largest stalactite in Ohio resides here as well, and is an estimated 400 pounds.  These formations take 500 to 1,000 years to form and, understandably, a strict no-touching policy is in place as even a single finger touch can cause irreparable damage to nature's slow-drip action.

The toughest part of the 45-minute, mile-long tour is the ascent at the conclusion of the experience.  A 60-step concrete stair way leads you back to the surface, and its current weather conditions.  On a hot day the surface conditions strike you quickly.

There are ample facilities at the caverns, as a welcome center has a sizable gift shop and for the warmer months sells bags of dirt with rocks inside that allow for some panning in the outside miniature mill run.

While at first blush it may seem that a visit to the Caverns is all there is to do in the area, driving towards West Liberty reveals more history to discover.  Along, and just off, Ohio Route 287 is a pair of "castles" built by the Piatt Family in the 1860s.  Both striking structures are available for tours and make for a great half-day in Logan County.

The history of Ohio may have been written by humans, but sometimes those humans took advantage of the natural resources around them.  And Ohio has its share of geologic delights that have shaped the history of Buckeye's.

- J.



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