Friday, October 26, 2012

BUTTE MONTANA'S MINES!

Silver Bow Mine Butte, Mt
In 1864 gold was found n Silver Bow Creek and was registered as Butte's first mine.

William Andrew Clark
In 1872 William comes to Butte and buys four major mining claims.  He would be know as one of the Copper Kings of Butte.  He owned the newspapers The Butte Miner and he owned many bushiness throughout the US.  He was the first to successfully build and operate a smelter and stamp mill.  He also established the water company, the first commercial electric light company and an electric railway.

Marcus Daly
He came to Butte in 1876 and buys the Alice Silver Mine.  He is originally from Ireland but eventually became an America citizen.  He is one of the other Copper Kings in Butte.  In 1881 he sold the Alice mine and acquired the Anaconda claim with George Hearst and James Ben Ali Haggin and Lloyd Tevis.  Anaconda was a silver mine until they found a copper vein 300 feet deep and 100 feet wide.

Butte' Union Hall
The Miner's Union was organized in 1878 after the workers went on strike over wages being cute from $3.50 a day to $3 a day.

First St. Patrick's Day Parade
The first St. Patrick' Day parade was in Butte led by the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Anaconda Mine
The Anaconda smelter became the world's largest was constructed in 1883.  By 1884 there were 300 mines, 9 quartz mills and 4 smelters in Butte that employed 5,000 workers.

Fritz Augustus Heinze
F. Heinze arrived in Butte in 1889, a while after the other Copper Kings arrived.  He has a late start and need to catch up.  So he purchased the Heinze's Montana Ore Purchasing Company and opened a new sophisticated smelter.  He then cut the hours down for his workers from 10 to 8 hours a day to try and catch up.  The workers loved him and considered him a hero.  

In 1890 Butte alone provides the US half of all copper production in the US.  Although the Panic of 1893 caused almost all silver mine to close.

Butte in the 1890's

Main Street Butte

Main Street Butte 1922


Mine Worker with explosives 1955

Butte Miner in 1971

1100' Level in Butte, MT

Speculator Mine - Butte, MT
Speculator Mine - Butte, MT
Speculator Mine - Butte, MT
Speculator Mine - Butte, MT

Butte, MT
Mining was shut down due to high energy costs and low copper prices in 200.  In 2002 mining is resumed in the Continental Pit.  Now people tour the mine of Butte.

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