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Butte
was once the largest city in Montana with a
population of around 115,000 and was one of
the most flourishing cities in the country
but that was in 1910. Now Butte has
population of 33,892 (based the 2000 census)
and is behind Billings (89,847), Missoula
(57,053), Great Falls (56,690), Bozeman
(27,509), Helena (25,780) in Montana. For
more information on the Montana cites listed
below from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
just click on the city name: Anaconda -
Belgrade - Billings - Bozeman - Butte -
Evergreen - Glendive - Great Falls - Havre -
Helena - Kalispell - Laurel - Lewistown -
Livingston - Miles City - Missoula - Sidney
- Whitefish .
Copper
mining was what made Butte such a large town
and it has been estimated that around one
third of all the copper produced in the
United States came from the Butte mines. In
1899, Standard Oil formed the Amalgamated
Copper Mining Company and then the company
changed its name to Anaconda Copper Mining
Company. In the 1920s, it was the fourth
largest company in the world, and had a
virtual monopoly over the mines in and
around Butte.
Early
Butte had the reputation as a wide-open town
with a bunch of bars and a renowned
red-light district which included the famous
Dumas Brothel, this may have been the
longest-running brothel in the country.
Behind this brothel was the equally famous
Venus Alley, where women plied their trade
in small cubicles called "cribs". The Dumas
Brothel is now operated as a museum to
Butte's rougher days.
The
prosperity of Butte continued up to the
1950s. I spent some time in the underground
mines and it was tough work! Then the
Anaconda Copper Company switched its focus
from underground mining to open pit mining
This marked the beginning of the end for the
boom times in Butte. Thousands of homes were
destroyed in a Butte suburb to excavate the
Berkeley Pit, which opened in 1955 and it
was the largest truck-operated open pit
copper mine in the country. In 1977 ARCO
purchased the Anaconda Mining Company and
properties, and three years later started
shutting down mines due to lower metal
prices. In 1982, all mining in the Berkeley
Pit was suspended. Today, mining remains a
major employer for the city, but at greatly
reduced levels from the past, with just one
mine, Montana Resources' Continental Pit, in
operation and employing about 350 people.
Now
tourism and health care are becoming primary
employers for Butte workers. A recent
incursion of investors and an interest in
restoring property in Uptown Butte's
historic district is now the largest
National Historic Landmark District in the
United States.
A
century after the era of intensive mining
and smelting in the area has resulted in EPA
designating parts of the area a Super Fund
Site. Heavy metals such as lead and arsenic
are found in some spots. Environmental
research and cleanup efforts have
contributed to the local economy and a
multi-million dollar polysilicon
manufacturing plant was open a little West
of town a few years ago. |
