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(photo: Pinterest)

Did you know? The GEM of Egypt was a power shovel used for strip mining. Built in 1966, the machine had worked in the Egypt Valley coalfield near Barnesville. The GEM acronym stands for Giant Earth Mover or Giant Excavating Machine. It was one of only two Bucyrus-Erie 1950-B shovels built. The machine began work in January, 1967 for Hanna Coal, and was later purchased by Consolidated Coal (CONSOL) in “Little Egypt Valley”. The machine was parked in 1988 and finally scrapped in 1991.

This time of the year, a half century ago, the Barnesville Schools superintendent and treasurer would head out beyond Hendrysburg on January 1 each year to see where the huge machine was located. The school district where it was located on the first day of the year was the district that would receive taxes from the Gem for that year. 

There is a “GEM of EGYPT fan page on Facebook, sources for the photo and details. There are 2,100 followers signed onto the page.