The death of the Silver Spade - a 14 million pound mining shovel with a boom 14 stories tall and a scoop that could carry 300,000 pounds of dirt in one load - is a timely reminder of the ingenious and industrious heritage of the people of the Great Lakes. The machine - one of only a few dozen ever made - was built in Milwaukee and operated on an Ohio strip mine until it died after 41 years of hard labor, according to a report in yesterday's Milwaukee Sentinel Journal.
But like the heavy layoffs of manufacturing workers, factory closings, outsourcing, and other distressing trends affecting the region, the death of the Super Stripper is yet another sign that the intense resource extracting industries that drove prosperity in the 20th century - timber, gas, etc - will not be the key to economic success in the modern era. Innovation, creativity, and talent drive job and economic growth today, just as it did 100 years ago. The people of the Great Lakes just need to rediscover the spirit and can-do attitude that built modern marvels like the Silver Spade.
Credit to the Associated Press for the mind-bending photo.
