More Than a Machine: Big Boy No. 4014 Sparks a Nationwide Reunion
Still, he finds an ingenious way for the old steam shovel to remain useful. When Burton wrote those words, she was capturing the painful sunset of an era. It was a lament for the living, breathing machines of American progress, cast aside for the newest efficient technology.
- ▪Still, he finds an ingenious way for the old steam shovel to remain useful.
- ▪When Burton wrote those words, she was capturing the painful sunset of an era.
- ▪It was a lament for the living, breathing machines of American progress, cast aside for the newest efficient technology.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
More Than a Machine: Big Boy No. 4014 Sparks a Nationwide Reunion Salena Zito 2:30 PM | July 18, 2026 Shannon Venditti ALTOONA, Pennsylvania -- In Virginia Lee Burton's classic 1939 children's book "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel," Mulligan often boasted that his steam shovel, Mary Anne, "could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week, but he had never been quite sure that this was true." Advertisement googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display("div-gpt-300x250_4"); //googletag.pubads().refresh([gptAdSlot["div-gpt-300x250_4"]]) }); By the end of the story, Mulligan never gets the chance to prove his boast because electric, diesel and gasoline shovels have taken away nearly all of Mary Anne's work.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at HotAir.
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