RVing Around America with Ron and Kathy: Butte, MT

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

We have been in Butte since Monday and have had a more relaxing time here after our busy sightseeing in Kalispell and Helena.

Though gold and silver were found here in Butte, it was copper which gave Butte the reputation as the “richest hill on Earth” with over 11 billion pounds of the metal. Copper kings fought for control of Butte’s wealth and eventually Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Company gained control and became the dominant power. By 1955 the high grade copper had about played out and an open pit mine called Berkeley Pit began to extract low grade ore.

The historic district of Butte contains many, many large and small homes dating to the late 19th and early 20th century as well as lots of commercial buildings of the same time period. There did not appear to be a lot of empty buildings or homes either downtown or in outer areas. Butte reminded me very much of San

Francisco as the streets are very hilly and many of the homes on the hills and the commercial buildings had bay windows which are so common in the older buildings and homes in San Francisco.

There are a number of what are called steel “headframes” doting the city (used to lower miners to a network of more than 2,000 miles of tunnels under “the hill”).

Mine Entrance

A friend suggested that we make a visit to the World Museum of Mining which is located on the Montana Tech campus and on the grounds of what was the Orphan Girl mine which was a silver mine in operation from 1875-1956.

This is as far as I would want to go.

The grounds contain a number of original structures as well as a reconstructed 1890’s mining town which they call Hell Gate Gulch. I always knew that mining was and is still a very hazardous occupation and after listening to a video and hearing the tales of how many widows and children were left behind after all the accidents which occurred here in Butte as well as in other locations throughout the country, I wonder why anyone would want to be a miner. Scary!

The “Gulch” had many, many buildings and most were set up inside with artifacts, etc. of the various types of commercial businesses they were at the time. Lots to see and very interesting.

Being someone who has always enjoyed dolls

and collecting them since I was very young, I was quite interested in the many elaborate doll houses which had been donated to the museum. They were really something to see. Pictures below do not really show them well since they were behind glass and lit up.

Later in the day, Ron and I took the tour of the Copper King Mansion which was once the home of W.A. Clark, a U.S. Senator and “copper king.” The home is a restored historic landmark and bed and breakfast which was built in 1884-88 and cost at the time $250,000. Today it would cost over $6 million. Wow!

The house has beautiful woodwork, ornate fireplaces, original light fixtures, ornate wall décor, beautiful main staircase with carved wood pieces below the railings and has been furnished in period items as well as housing numerous collections which the present owner has added to the home décor. While the house is beautiful and tastefully decorated, I was overwhelmed by the too many collections in the cabinets, on the walls, etc.