Butte, MT is called ‘Montana’s most historic city’. Butte began in the late 1800s as a gold and silver mining camp. At the turn of the century, the development of electricity and the industrialization of America resulted in a massive copper boom, and Butte flourished. Employment opportunities in the mines attracted surges of Asian and European immigrants, particularly the Irish; as of 2017 Butte has the largest population of Irish Americans per capita of any city in the United States. Indeed, my family has roots here. My great grandfather and his sons were firemen and my grandma grew up here.
Labor Riots
Butte has a strong history of unions and labor fights, the most famous of which is the 1914 labor riots. It all started at a parade in June 1914 at a Miner’s Day Celebration. Dissident union members assaulted union officers and attacked the Western Federation of Miners local’s headquarters, hauling away a safe, which they later blew open and stole $1600 from. Next, the crowd dynamited the home of one of the union officials (they were miners after all). The violence went on for months and is documented extensively in info signs posted around town. If you’re interested, the internet also has a wealth of information.
Granite Mountain Mine
Of course, with all the mining came catastrophes. The Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine disaster of June 8, 1917 occurred as a result of a fire in a copper mine some 2000′ below the surface, and was the most deadly event in underground hard rock mining in United States history. Most men died of suffocation underground as the fire consumed their oxygen; a total of 168 miners were killed.
Berkeley Pit
Butte is famous for the open Berkeley Pit. The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine right in town. It is 1 mi long by 1⁄2 mi wide with an approximate depth of 1,780 feet. It is filled to a depth of about 900 feet with “water” that is heavily acidic, about the acidity of Coca-Cola, lemon juice, or gastric acid. As a result, the pit is laden with heavy metals and dangerous chemicals that leach from the rock, including copper, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and sulfuric acid. The pit is part of the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, considered one of the largest in America!
Downtown
The concentration of wealth in Butte due to its mining history resulted in unique and ornate architectural features amongst its homes and buildings, particularly throughout the uptown section of Butte. We walked around and looked at a multitude of historic brick buildings as seen in the pictures below. I could spend days writing about all the historic buildings but I’ll just mention 2.
The 34-room Copper King Mansion in uptown Butte was constructed in 1884 by William A. Clark, one of the city’s three Copper Kings. By 1900, Clark had amassed a personal fortune estimated at $50,000,000 and was considered one of the wealthiest men in the world. Today the mansion functions as a bed-and-breakfast and local museum, and is often reported to be a haunted site.
In 1923 the Masonic Bodies built a six-story Masonic Temple and an adjoining 1,200-seat ornate Temple Theatre in which to conduct their ceremonial services. With the advent of the Great Depression a decade later, the Masons found it necessary to develop income from their buildings to aid in support and upkeep. The Temple Theatre was converted into a movie house and leased to various operators, including 20th Century Fox. Years of declining population and revenue led the building to deteriorate and in the 1990’s it was finally renovated The Mother Lode Theatre has emerged, after a $3 million dollar renovation, as an opulent and fully equipped performing arts center.
If you’re passing through I highly recommend taking a tour of the downtown historic district.
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