Marion Steam Shovel: The Last of Its Kind
New York
Sitting on Gulf Road in the town of Le Roy is what is believed to be the largest intact steam shovel remaining in the world. This Model Ninety-One was built in nineteen oh six by the Marion Steam Shovel and Dredge Company of Marion, Ohio. It weighs roughly one hundred five tons, stands eighteen feet wide, and stretches forty-two feet long.
A crew of eight operated it, and it fed a quarry that produced about two thousand tons of crushed stone per day for railroad ballast and road construction. Machines just like this one set world records for material removed during the digging of the Panama Canal. This particular shovel was retired and moved to Le Roy sometime in the mid-twentieth century.
In two thousand eight it became the first steam shovel ever listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It represents the industrial muscle that built the American rail network and, ultimately, the roads that replaced it.
