Butte, Montana

Lucille Ball (who was from Jamestown, New York) chose to tell people she was from Butte, Montana.. of all the places she could choose. Apparently, this was to "seem more middle America." Of course she would do something so random, and choose a such a random place!

Why? why? why would she choose Butte? Well, let's just see what kind of fascinating place Butte was/is...

FIRST of all, it's pronounced "Beee-oot", not "Butt". Most people know this and are just being sassy, but.. just in case some don't...

(A "butte", for those who actually don't know, means "A hill that rises abruptly from the surrounding area and has sloping sides and a flat top." Considering the landscape, it's a perfect name! Of course, when I look for a picture to support that, I can't find a single one...maybe it's because there's buttes the whole way there, and then mountains and rocks, once you arrive...)

THIS particular Butte was once a famous (infamous?) mining town. It's best know for its copper mining, but did you know that they first discovered gold there? That's what actually brought prospectors to the area, in 1864, the year after the gold strike in Virginia City (see blog January 2, 2013).

 

However, the miners ran into so much silver while searching for gold, extracting the gold was very difficult!

 

In 1868, the miners' focus officially switched to silver. The silver market peaked in 1887, but crashed in 1893, thanks to the "Silver Panic of 1893", which was a severe economic depression, that has something to do with railroads and gold and silver and banks and inflation. (I think I got the gist of it, but if you want to know more, you will have to do your own research.)

 

In the meantime - the miners had found copper while they had been searching for gold in the 1870's... after a delay, trying to adjust in the turn in the economy, the focus was turned to copper mining. It was really right on time.

Up until the late 1880's, copper had only been used for pots and pans, roofing material and other odds and ends. However, with the popularity of electricity, came the need for copper for electricity's wires. Everyone wanted it! Street lights, electricity in the homes...

 

In 1882, a man named Marcus Daly discovered a deposit that contained up to 35% copper. (This earned the hill - Butte Hill - the title of "The Richest Hill on Earth.") By 1898, Butte was the biggest supplier of copper, supplying 41% of the copper for the entire world!!

 

A smelter was built nearby (30 miles) in a newly constructed city, called Anaconda. (Smelting is a process of heating ore in order to extract precious metals.)

 

The World Wars further increased the need for copper (apparently, it was included in all of the bullets), and Butte was considered one of the most prosperous cities in the United States. By the late 1920's, the Anaconda Mining Company was apparently the fourth largest company in the world!!

 

In the 1950's, to reduce costs of underground mining, the Anaconda Mining Company started open strip mining - which basically meant that they just removed the ground above, rather than tunnelling through it, which is what you can see evidence of today, and for which Butte is most well-known, nowadays.

You can visit the Berkeley Pit ($2 to visit the viewing platform.)

 The www.visitmt.com website confirms that the pit is 7000 feet (2134 meters) long, 5600 feet (1707 meters) wide, and 1600 feet (488 meters) deep.

 

The smelter itself was demolished in 1981, but the Anaconda Smelter Stack is still standing. (I've searched through all of my pictures - somehow, I don't have one. That's the problem with the days of "film" (which shows how long ago I went through Anaconda) - pictures are hidden in a massive jumble of other pictures, and I can't find even one.)

 

The smelter stack is 585 feet tall. To put that into perspective, Wikipedia explains that the Washington Monument could actually fit inside of it!!
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaconda_Smelter_Stack)

 

The Pit was closed in 1982. The pumps were turned off and started to fill with water. (Somewhere I read that it's about 1000 feet full, so far...but I forget the date that that report was written...) The water, mixed with all of the minerals, is toxic (sigh) so that's a new thing that has to be fixed, and there's a plan... there's a strategy in place... they are working on it.

 

It's interesting - I think we visited there (the first time) probably shortly after the mine had shut down. At that time (from my memory), they hadn't really done a lot of restoration on the town, and many surrounding houses were buried in the dirt that had been taken from the mine area. I remember it being a very sad and dirty place.

 

Perhaps they were in their mourning period (or I'm remembering wrong), because this past trip, it was a nice little city (2010 census confirms the population around 34,000), clean, with a lively downtown area. (Although a different kind of "lively" than from once upon a time - when it included an entire "red-light district".... you can tour the brothel (this brothel was still active until 1982!!!) ...we haven't taken the tour, but it's an option! Wikipedia says that "In its heyday...it was one of the largest and most notorious copper boomtowns...home to hundreds of saloons and a famous red-light district." "Notorious" seems like an appropriate word.)

 

You can take a trolley tour around the city (http://www.buttecvb.com/listing/butte-trolley/) and it'll take you around to the historical sites, including the Berkeley Pit viewing area (which, according to this website) is the only stop. But, they will pass the Copper King Mansion, the Dumas Brothel Museum, and some other places that seem very interesting, that I didn't write about, like the Mai Wah Museum and the National Landmark Historic District.

 

Another tour which seems REALLY Interesting is a tour of Butte's Underground City. (I didn't know it existed until my brother told me, and we'd already passed through - it's on my "to-do" list for next time.)
http://www.buttetours.info/tour.htm (Tripadvisor reviews are all 5*.)

 

(Apparently, Butte's Underground City tour is similar to the Moose Jaw Underground Tours, which we also missed, but talk about in my September 29, 2012 blog.)

 

Part of the Underground tour apparently includes a below-ground city jail, where Evel Knieval spent some time...which segues nicely into my segment on him!

 

Speaking of "notorious", "famous" and "infamous", the famous dare-devil, Evel Knieval was born in Butte, in October 1938. There is a an annual celebration each summer ~ the Evel Knievel Days. On the second day, there is a moment of silence for the entire Knievel clan, ending with 5 daredevils jumping over 19 trucks, all at the same time! AND with 50 foot flames shooting up through the trucks! YIKES!

 

Evel Knievel started racing around Butte on his bicycle at a very young age, laying a foundation for his future career as a motorcycle riding daredevil.

 

After he was an adult, and had to be more responsible, he got a job at the Anaconda Mining Company, but was eventually fired because he "made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie and drove it into Butte's main power line."

 

After tries at desk jobs (something about insurance), and some smaller motorcycle shows (his first public show involved jumping over a 20 foot box of rattlesnakes and 2 mountain lions. Though mildly successful, it wasn't enough to support his family.)

 

His first big show was January 1966, in California, and was a huge success! His career was launched!

 

He is super famous for setting all kinds of records in his life time - He also set a World Record for jumping 19 cars, in February 1971. In February 1973, he set the Record for jumping 50 stacked cars!! His motorcycle is now in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. AND he is in the Guiness Book of World Records for surviving having the most bones broken in a lifetime (including several concussions)!

 

Many little boys had Evel Knievel toys, action figures and accessories. Even Peter remembers having an Evel Knievel motorcycle toy. He was an icon, representing a very specific time period. If you don't remember him in his red, white and blue jumpsuit, with stars and stripes - you have to Google for some images!!! A 1970's icon.

 

In November 2007, he died of pulmonary disease, and is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery, in Butte.

 

He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Sturgis Hall of Fame in 2011. (For more on Sturgis, please see my December 18, 2012 blog.)

 

When in Butte, try the foods for which they are famous! Three restaurants were featured on Man Vs. Food, on the Food Network. One such place was Joe's Pasty Shop. (This is "PASS-TEE", not "PAY-STEE", because, as they explain "Pay-stees are for strippers.") Pasties are basically meat pies, served with gravy, and brought over during the Gold/Silver/Copper rushes, by prospectors from Europe. (I ordered mine with gravy on the side, but I think it's probably important to have gravy served right on it - for the sake of regulating the dryness of the Pasty...)

(Apparently, Pasties were introduced to the Butte area, during its hey-day, when so many people from around the world (Cornwall, in particular) were coming to Butte for work.)

 

There's so much more to talk about, but I've decided to stop my blog here... just too much...

 

Sunday, we'll be in Great Falls.

 

OH! ONE MORE THING BEFORE I GO!!! I canNOT believe I almost forgot this!! The Ringing Rocks!! I haven't seen them yet (a hike is required and we are normally running out of time by this point in our trip), but if you can go see them, go see them!! (Google "Ringing Rocks Montana.") Next time we are there, we are GOING! (Will be this coming September, hopefully.)

 

References (because there were too many to list during the blog):

History and statistics: http://www.dakotamatrix.com/content/butte-mineral-specimens http://www.bigskyfishing.com/Montana-Info/butte_mt-2.shtm http://www.buttecvb.com/history/ http://montanakids.com/history_and_prehistory/Frontier_Life/butte.htm

Evel Knievel: http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?racerid=48 http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/news/read-more-news/evel-knievel-among-2011-sturgis-hall-of-fame-inductees http://evelknievel.com/

Attractions and tourism: http://gonw.about.com/od/attractionsmt/tp/butte_attractions.htm: http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attractions-g45106-Activities-Butte_Montana.html

Virginia City, Montana

Oh! I was so carried away with the Grizzly Encounter last blog, I completely didn't mention that some great friends from Seattle met us in Bozeman, to go to the Grizzly Encounter - Brian, Taunya, and kids (Kelsey and Kade).

 

So, after we went to the Montana Grizzly Encounters, we headed off to Virginia City. If you come from the east, like we did, you will take Montana highway 287 (MT-287), and you will go east from Ennis., up and up and up! (Apparently, Ennis is around 5000 feet (1524 meters) above sea level, but the high point of the road is over 6900 feet (2115 meters) above sea level, and you climb about 8 miles (12.87 kms). You drop down a tiny bit, into Virginia City, which is at 5761 ft (1756 meters). (This, although fascinating in general, really matters when you are pulling a trailer!! And remember! What goes up, must come down - we almost melted our brakes on the way down the hill on the other side.)

What would possess people to cross this divide on foot, by horse, or by horse and buggy? (or maybe mule and buggy?)

Dreams of gold (I learned that phrase in Italian - it's "sogno d' oro" and they use it to say "good night" - like "sweet dreams".)

 

Those dreams of riches and grandeur and fame drove the gold rushes (including the Black Hills, the California, the Alaskan...etc.)

 

Apparently, in May 1863, a group of hopeful gold miners, who had encountered a series of misadventures (including being captured by warriors of the Crow Nation and missing an important rendezvous with a larger prospecting party) set up camp beside a stream they'd been following, on their way to the gold-mining camp - Bannack. (Bannack, by the way, had only been founded the year before, in 1862. Google Maps says that, by foot, it's about 71 more miles.)

 

Four of the six prospectors in the group went off to do some gold panning before dinner, and Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar stayed behind to take their turn doing chores in camp. Bill went to find a spot to picket the horses, and discovered instead - the mother lode!

 

The Virginia City website (maintained by the Virginia City Preservation Alliance
http://www.virginiacity.com/) explains that "What Bill had discovered would prove to be one of the richest gold deposits in North America, and would be the seminal event in the history of Montana."

 

Gold miners and prospectors came in droves - within weeks, thousands had arrived. At its peak, it was an actual city - a thriving, forward moving city of 30,000! In 1865, in became the Capitol city of Montana Territory.

 

Through a string of political decisions, the name of the site was named Virginia, and ultimately, Virginia City.

During it's heyday, the Report of the United States Assay Office estimates that at least $90,000,000 in gold had been mined between 1863 and 1889. (According that report, that would've been approximately the modern-day equivalent of $40,000,000,000. (You can do your own math on what that is per ounce...)

 

Being the thriving location that it was, electricity was brought in, in 1892 (which is pretty amazing, considering the first lightbulb was just invented in 1878 - by 1880, they had lightbulbs that would last about 1200 hours!)

 

The telephone service arrived in 1902, with 28 telephones. (Also, not too bad, when you consider that Alexander Graham Bell got his telephone to work in 1876....However, the Virginia City website tells us that Cell service didn't arrive in Virginia City until June 2010...)

 

But! if you think that's interesting, how about this: by 1865, they had camels that they used for freighting!

 

In 1944, the Historic Landmark Society was established by Charles & Sue Bovey, to save and restore Virginia City (and Nevada City). Then, the State of Montana purchased it and established the Montana Heritage Commission, in 1997.

 

Today, the City consists some wooden boardwalk sidewalks, a saloon, a theater, some gift stores, historical buildings for viewing, and a population of approximately 132 people.

 

They have live theater at the Opera House - while we were there, they (the Virginia City Players) were performing a story about "Davy Crocket". (http://www.virginiacityplayers.com/#!previous-seasons)

We, unfortunately, couldn't stay through the evening to go to the theater, nor could we stay to do gold panning or garnet mining (that's my subtle way of introducing Garnet mining into the conversation)...

 

BUT, we did stay long enough to experience the Bale of Hay Saloon. (http://www.baleofhaysaloon.com). The food was delicious, the owners were friendly and fun (two sisters who moved there from...I forget where...I want to say Colorado, but that might be wrong...), and the highlight of all highlights (for me, anyway) is that Daisy and Coco (our miniature dachshunds) got to come in, too! The Saloon even keeps water dishes for dogs at the end of the bar!

You can also take train rides between Virginia City and Nevada City (Nevada City is there right-next-door historical mining town), a stagecoach tour, a 1941 Fire Engine Tour, and various walking tours.

Taunya, Kelsey & Kade took the train ride, and we picked them up at the local ice cream shop on the way through - on our way to Lewis & Clark Caverns.

 

http://www.virginiacitymt.com/History.asp

 

Sunday - Lewis and Clark Caverns!

The Battle of Little Big Horn (Crow Agency, Montana)

"It was a terrible battle...a hard battle because both sides were brave warriors." (Red Feather, Lakota)

The first time I went to The Battle of Little Bighorn (sometime in the 1980's), it was called "Custer's Last Stand."

 

However, in 1991, Congress authorized the name of the area and National Monument to be changed from Custer Battlefield to Little Bighorn National Monument, signed into law by former President George W. Bush. (Public Law 102-201: "The public interest will best be served by establishing a memorial...to honor and recognize the Indians who fought to preserve their land and culture.")

 

An Indian Memorial was also designed to honor the Native American participation in Battle (before there was just the Memorial for the 7th Cavalry soldiers.)

The description of the Indian Memorial in the National Park pamphlet is better than on-line (unless I am just looking in the wrong place) but it describes the Memorial this way: "The circular earth and stone work is gently carved from the prairie...for many tribes, the circle is sacred and symbolic of the journey of life. A weeping wall symbolizes the tears of the Indian People and the suffering that resulted from their battle here on the Greasy Grass to retain their nomadic way of life. The interior walls commemorate the five tribes that fought there: Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow and Arikara." The Memorial's theme is "Peace through Unity", and it was dedicated in June, 2003.

 

Basically, this marks the location of a TERRIBLE battle (well, the same could be said about any battle, actually, couldn't it?), which took place June 25 and 26, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River, in eastern Montana Territory, when General Alfred H. Terry sent Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer to the Rosebud and Little Bighorn area, to force the Indians back onto their reservations.

 

As we've previously briefly discussed (see Blog December 8th, about Crazy Horse), there was ALOT of anger and discontent, as treaties were made and broken, with the Native Americans, resulting in the Indians losing much of their sacred ground (every time something good was discovered on their land....like gold, in the Black Hills.)

 

The National Park Services information pamphlet describes that this conflict against the "relentless invasion of the white man" "reached its peak in the decade following the Civil War, when settlers resumed their vigorous westward movement. These western emigrants, possessing little or no understanding of the Indian way of life, showed slight regard for the sanctity of hunting grounds or the terms of former treaties. The Indians' resistance to those encroachments on their domain only served to intensify hostilities." 

 

In 1868, a treaty was signed by the US Government and the Lakota, Cheyenne and other tribes of the Great Plains, designating a large area as permanent Indian reservation., promising to protect the Indians "against the commission of all depredations by people of the United States."

But...then... in 1874 someone struck Gold in the Black Hills, which was in the heart of the reservation AND the Lakota's sacred ground, and their treaty was ignored and their protection was ... gone? So, in an effort to protect themselves and their land, the Lakota & Cheyenne left their reservation and raided settlements and travelers along the fringes of their land.

 

When they did not comply with the order to return to their reservation, the army was called in.

 

Which gets us (eventually) to the Battle of Little Bighorn.

 

Once there, Custer divided his forces (of about 600 men, including officers) into three groups - one under his command, and the other two under Maj. Marcus Reno and one under Capt. Frederick Benteen. Benteen was to go to the South, and Custer and Reno were to go to the North. Custer and Reno then split up and Reno advanced down the valley

 

What they didn't know, though, is that in the meantime, Chief Sitting Bull (who was already recognized as a strong and accomplished warrior, protecting his Lakota people, his culture, and his land, and who considered the US Army as an invasion of Lakota way of life) had formed an alliance with other neighboring tribes (the Cheyenne, Arapaho and other Agency Indians) - and so they had alot more warriors than the U.S. Army calculated.

 

A large force of Lakota warriors intercepted Reno, and Reno was eventually forced to retreat. He was joined by Benteen, and after hearing heaving gunfire to the north, marched on to help Custer.

However, by the time they arrived, the firing at the "Custer battlefield" had stopped. Reno and Benteen soon found themselves under attack, as well, and were forced to withdraw.

The battle continued - the army held their defenses, and the siege ended with the Indians withdrew. (They withdrew, not because Benteen and Reno were winning, but because they heard that General Alfred H. Terry and Col. John Gibbon were coming; General Crook had been delayed in battle at Rosebud, by Crazy Horse (as previously discussed in the December 8 blog about Crazy Horse.)

The Battle was only 2 days long, but Custer and his entire company were killed (about 210 men), Reno and Benteen lost about 53, and about 100 Indians also died.

Mrs. Spotted Horn Bull (of the Lakota tribe) is quoted: "Since the Sioux first fought the men (white men) who are our friends now, they had not won so great a battle...so it was that the Sioux defeated Long Hair and his soldiers in the valley of the Greasy Grass River, which my people remember with regret, but without shame."

 

Despite the overwhelming victory, this marked the beginning of the end of the Indian Wars, and Sitting Bull exiled to Canada. Later, due to hunger and cold, he eventually was forced to return to Fort Buford, Montana, and surrendered.

 

After spending time here and there at various Forts, he and his band were allowed to return to the Standing Rock Agency, in 1883. From there, In 1884, Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation and joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (see my blog of November 27th, 2012 - "Nebraska, the Cornhusker State"). He was with the show for 4 months, and then returned, again, to the Standing Rock Agency.

 

Because of Sitting Bull's enthusiasm for his culture and people, by 1890, the government started to fear an uprising, and decided to have him arrested. A group of Sioux rallied around him to prevent the arrest. A shoot-out followed and Sitting Bull was shot in the head... an all too familiar story...

 

....


Back to the Little Bighorn Battlefield site: You are allowed to tour around the Battlefield, but you must stay on the designated areas.

 

Markers are scattered around the site, and they are placed where bodies had fallen. The white markers represent soldiers and the brown markers represent Indian warriors.

There's also a Visitors' Center and the National Cemetery. There is an entrance fee (at the time we were there, it was $10 per vehicle.)  http://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm

 

You should go.

....

Sunday, we are going to be visiting the Montana Grizzly Encounter, in Bozeman, Montana.