Columbia Falls and Hungry Horse, Montana

A few minutes south of Whitefish is the turn off to Columbia Falls, directly east on Montana Highway 40. (You can also go straight south to Kalispell, but that'll be a discussion for another time.)

 

After my friend, Shannan (again, mentioned often in previous blogs), moved from Eureka, her family moved to Columbia Falls. We had so much fun there, but mostly just "being".

 

But other than just "being", the Columbia Falls' Chamber of Commerce's website list some other fun things that you can actually do there are:

• Celebrate Heritage Days the last weekend in July (rodeo, parade, craft fair, car show
• Hike Columbia Mountain
• Golfing ( Meadow Lake Resort and Glacier View Golf Course)
• Pick Huckleberries starting in July on both sides of Hungry Horse Reservoir
• Snowmobiling (groomed trails via the Canyon Creek Trailhead)
• Outdoor summer concerts in Marantette Park
• Pinewood Family Aquatic Center
• Big Sky Waterpark (waterslides and mini golf)
• Tour Hungry Horse Dam and Reservoir

This time, we drove straight through to Hungry Horse...after stopping for groceries, that is. And, actually - now that I brought that up - this particular grocery store (I think it was Super 1 Foods) had the most beautiful fruit display I've ever seen. (I'm not saying they had the most variety or the most exotic fruit, but their displays were really beautifully laid out. In fact, they even had a really pretty onion display! I took so many pictures, I'm pretty sure they thought I was a "secret shopper".)

Seven miles (11 kms) further east, on your way to Glacier National Park, you will find Hungry Horse.

 

As the name suggests, Hungry Horse was named after two hungry horses, Tex and Jerry. Apparently, in the winter of 1900, Tex and Jerry wandered away, but were found a month later, hungry and scrawny, but alive!

 

Although Hungry Horse is only 11 miles (18 kms) from Glacier National Park, we didn't quite get there... we spent our entire weekend in Hungry Horse and the Hungry Horse Dam area.

 

Even though I grew up not that far away (see Eureka, MT blog), I had never been to Hungry Horse (except passing through on my way to Glacier) and we (ok, I) decided it was time to change that. So, when a couple of our friends from Calgary wanted to go "somewhere new, somewhere sunny", for August Long Weekend, we (ok, I) picked Hungry Horse.

 

In case you don't have time to pick your own huckleberries while in Eureka or Hungry Horse, you will find an abundance all down the main street - everything from actual huckleberries (I brought home a pound and froze them mmmmmmmm yummy!!) to pies to milk shakes... syrups, jams, honey... Sooooo delicious!!

We spent one entire day at and around Hungry Horse Dam. The area is gorgeous and the dam is fascinating!

 

On the South Fork of the Flathead River, and about 5 miles from Hungry Horse town, the Hungry Horse Dam is 564 feet (172 meters) high and 2115 feet (645 meters) long.

The building of the Dam (the Hungry Horse Project) started in 1948 and was completed in 1952. (According to the www.usbr.gov/pn pamphlet, President Truman "threw the switch in 1952 to start generating electricity at Hungry Horse Dam Power Plant.")

 

At the time of its completion, it was the 3rd largest dam, and 2nd highest dam in the entire world. Now it's not on the Top 10 - BUT it's still on the "tallest" list... I counted around 83rd... but I might've miscounted. (The current World's Tallest is the Nurek Dam in Tajikistan.)

 

The Hungry Horse Dam's main purposes are the generation of electricity and the control of flooding. But, it's also used for irrigation and recreation (and probably a bunch of other things.)

All dams have some sort of Spillway, which is (as per many on-line dictionaries): "A channel for an overflow of water, as from a reservoir."

Basically, though, at some point the water reaches its highest level and must be released, and the dam's purpose is to control that release of water, to prevent flooding. Most dams (that I've seen) have something like a chute. Wikipedia has a great explanation with pictures.

 

However, Hungry Horse Dam has a "morning glory" spill hole. This particular spillway (which falls under the category of "bell-mouth spillway") is the highest morning-glory structure in the world, and drops the cascading water a maximum distance of 490 feet!

 

It's called a "bell mouth" because it has a shape similar to an upside bell - when the water level reaches the level to spill over into the mouth of the bell, it funnels down into the base, and goes out through a tunnel at a lower level.

 

I've never seen this before - never even heard of it, actually.

 I was completely intrigued!

...
Sunday, we'll be talking about Seattle - just a quick trip.

Whitefish, Montana

Since this particular trip through Whitefish was in August, it was nice, sunny and warm. Whitefish is a beautiful little town, with beautiful scenery.

 

It’s so beautiful, ABC’s The Bachelor 2013 even filmed an episode there. (They spent their group date canoe racing, milking goats, and bucking hay*…because that’s what all Montana girls do…) (That being said, most Montana girls probably do know what “bucking hay” is… but if you don’t know, the dictionary defines it as: “is a type of manual labor where hay bales, usually 65 lb. to as much as 140 lb., are stacked by hand in a storage area such as a barn.”)

 

Whitefish is a very tourist-friendly town – and not just because it’s a world-renowned ski destination, but it also has so much to do in the summer. Even the ski hill (Whitefish Mountain Resort - also known as Big Mountain) offers a full season of summer activities, including zip-lining, hiking, and mountain biking. You can also take the ski-lift up to the summit to enjoy the summer view!

 

There’s also Whitefish Lake, fishing tournaments, wine festivals, and a Huckleberry Arts Festival (this year is August 9-11), which includes a dessert back-off contest…hmmmm… I might need to plan a trip around that…)

The town itself is worth walking around (and is “pedestrian-friendly”), with it’s quirky shops with art galleries (generally local artists) and jewellery (mostly, if not all, hand crafted) stores.

So, summer in Whitefish is great, BUT it really is best known for it’s winter activities. Not only winter fishing, sleigh riding, the local dog-sledding activities and the Whitefish Winter Carnival (pay special attention – we’ve missed it this year, but it’s the 54th (?) annual, so you can plan to make it next year!), but, also! cross country and downhill skiing and snowboarding at the Whitefish Mountain Resort!


Somehow, I had not previously gone down hill skiing, until I was about 15, when my friends, Shannan (previously mentioned) and her sister, Stacey, made me go. I was scared to death!! And, she said, “oh no – it’s really easy! You just have to point your skies down hill and then go like this” (snow-plow motion) “to slow down” and THEN! took me up a chair lift!! No, NOT the bunny hill, which is scary enough, but up a real hill!!! (Chair #3, which – ok, is called “Tenderfoot”, but don’t let that fool you!! It was SUPER STEEP AND REALLY SCARY!)

Not to mention that the Chair lift is scary enough, your first couple of times …how to disembark, how to not fall disembarking …how to not fall off on the way up the hill!!


So, there I am, safely off the Lift, and staring straight down the hill, straight at the Lodge, waaaaaaaaaaaay down below…I’m not sure how long it took to get down the mountain. I crawled down the first 50 feet, and then skied from one side to the other side of the mountain, zigzagging the whole way down, and when I’d get to the tree line, I’d lay down on the snow, and flip over… it was a long process.

I can’t remember if I had fun or not…

Last year, I decided to try snowboarding. But, I took official lessons at Big Mountain (they had a great deal – 2 lessons, equipment, and lift tickets, for around $70! The catch is: you are supposed to take those lessons within two days.)

I barely could walk the day after my first lesson. I mean – not at all. I did manage to get in my second lesson. Barely. The second day was better. It wasn’t good. I am actually terrible at it. Terrible.

 

Later, when in physio therapy, they asked “Did you at least have fun?” I actually can’t remember if I did or not.. BUT, I’m at least crossing it off my list of things I haven’t tried before…

 

One of my favorite things was listening to my snowboarding instructor talking to his co-workers. “Listen – this is what I’m thinking – we should climb up on that roof, and we should board off the end, and flip around in the air and land on that roof, and then hit that mound of snow, and then go off a jump over there, and then end in that mound, and that’s when someone should take a picture of all the powder flying” (or something like that – probably really cool words, though, instead of just the basic “flip” and “jump”.) The best part, though, was the follow-up conversation: “DUDE!” “YEAH duuuuude!” “Du-u-ude”. (and all the “dude”-ing totally made sense. “TO-O-O-O-tally, Dude.”)

Peter, and the friends with us, had a wonderful time skiing. Best snow ever (today’s snow report has 85 inches (216 cms) of snow at the base) – they went through the snow ghosts, they went down the north side, they did jumps and moguls. They passed me on the bunny hill many, many times.

 

Oh! and don’t forget the Pond Skim! This year, it’s April 6. Have you ever seen this? It’s a bunch of crazy people who – well, actually, this is what the website says: “The pond skimming celebrates the wacky feeling of spring and the end of the ski season. Participants must have skis or snowboards appropriately worn (normally mounted) as they attempt to cross an 80+ foot pond…”

Don’t forget to go to the Bierstube pub while you are there, and get your free souvenir ring!!!!! I got mine when I was about 15, and I’ve since lost it. They keep track, too, so you can’t get another one… :’(

…

See you Wednesday!  (Hopefully- this one is two days late - I had no internet!!)

Eureka, Montana

45 minutes south of Fernie, and just on the other side of the US/Canada border, you will find Eureka, Montana.

Once upon a time, people would only know "Eureka" if I added the identifying "you drove through it on the way to Whitefish" (where everyone goes skiing.) (Or if coming from somewhere other than Canada, people might have an idea where it is if I added "It's close to the Canadian border...North of Whitefish, which is north of Kalispell, which is in Montana, which is in the northern part of the United States, and no, we don't all live in teepees, and yes, we have electricity there, and indoor plumbing.")

Although, to tell you the truth, when we first moved there, even further back, in the "once upon a time" story, we didn't have electricity OR indoor plumbing. But that was just us. Well, and our neighbor. They didn't have electricity or plumbing either... and they did live in a teepee... But, I'm pretty certain electricity and plumbing were available. I'm pretty certain some people had it...?

We moved to Eureka from Seattle, again "once upon a time... a long, long, long time ago."

Eureka was so "old west" back then, that the week we moved to town, there was an actual "shoot-out" from the rooftops, between some of the locals (can I call them "red-necks"?) and the sheriff and deputy. I don't know the cause, but a couple of years ago, I was reminiscing with my Mom, and she said that wasn't the only time that happened!

When I was in school, there was (and this is true) a bike rack AND a hitching post for those who want to ride their horses to school. It didn't get used often, but it DID get used!!

That was then... but now! people actually go TO Eureka! They go for the sake of being IN EUREKA! Can you believe that?

Having spent most of growing-up time in the Eureka area, this makes total sense to me, though. An abundance of beautiful, clear, warm lakes in the summer, never crowded. Mountains for hiking and huckleberry picking.

By the way - have you ever had huckleberries? They are THE BEST berries EVER!! Generally, you can find huckleberry milkshakes, syrups, jams, pies, hand lotion and jelly beans in little stores (and sometimes even Wal-mart) all over Montana and Idaho. (Apparently, they are Idaho's Official State Fruit.)

Here's how I remember Huckleberry Picking (which I loved to do): driving way up a mountain (generally one that had, at one point or another, gone through a forest fire), climbing up a steep slope, trying to get down-wind from bears (who also love huckleberries), wrapping one arm around the huckleberry bush (so you don't slide down the shale) while holding the ice cream bucket...

My friend, Tammy, was the best-ever Huckleberry Picker. She would collect buckets of huckleberries for the day, and then she'd sell them for $20-$30 a gallon!! She supported herself a whole summer that way!

On the other hand, I would come back with maybe 1/3 of a bucket, purple stained fingers, purple stained lips, and scrapes and scratches, after either eating most of them OR dropping them all down the mountain.

In the winter, we have snow mobiling, snow shoeing (which I never did because I didn't "get" that it was recreational - at one point, my parents used it for a source of transportation), cross-country skiing, and down-hill skiing at the nearby Big Mountain, in Whitefish (or Fernie BC - see blog Feb 10, 2013). Oh! and dog sledding. (I only found out about this in the last couple of years, actually - after I went to my first Iditarod in Alaska (see future blog, starting March 3rd.)

Eureka is said to have the best weather in all of Montana. (Is it said by people who live in other places?) We always called it "the Banana Belt" of Montana, and now that I'm researching, I see that that's "official". The summer is almost always hot and sunny (with the best lightning storms!); the winter always has the fun snow that you can go sledding in, or make a snow man - not usually too cold to go outside - it's a Winter Wonderland! the spring is always on time, with fresh air and flowers; and fall is nice crisp air, with changing leaves. Oh! and we have Western Larch, which look like evergreens, with needles, but then the needles turn color and fall off, like leaves.

Also, since we have no pollution, you can see bzillions of stars, occasionally watch the Aurora Borealis, and/or catch a meteor shower.

Near Eureka (ok, about 45 minutes away), but "near" by Montana standards is the West Kootenai Amish Community.

Personally, I find the Amish culture fascinating! They still drive around in horse-drawn buggies. They go to school in a one-room school-house, and they speak German. They don't have electricity or telephones in their homes. They make their own furniture. They make their own candles. You can go up to the community and buy home-made goods (jams, candles, bread, and I think, quilts and furniture).

And, my Mom tells me that nowadays, they also have an all-you-can eat dinner buffet on Friday nights. It's so popular, reservations are recommended. (It kind of makes me giggly that there's a website for this... )

If you are not completely intrigued and feel compelled to take a drive up to the Amish Community. This can only mean one thing: I haven't explained it properly...

So, sometime early in the 1800's, the great explorer, David Thompson came through the area, and because of the native strain of tobacco the Indians were growing, he named the valley, the Tobacco Plains. Eurekans commemorate his visit, annually in April, with Rendezvous Days, where everyone dresses like mountain men and carry muskets. (Not everyone in Eureka is a "character", but there are more than a few REAL characters - I bring this up now because:...well, if you do go to Rendezvous Days sometime in the future, you should know that SOME of the people are not in costume, but those are really just their clothes.)

Officially "founded" in the 1880's by cattlemen and homesteaders, the area was first inhabited for centuries by the Kutenai Indians. In 1904, the Great Northern Railroad came through the Tobacco Valley and "the town of Eureka was born."

Oh goodness - you have to look at this website! The town now looks almost exactly like it does in the pictures! I'm serious - I'm certain some of those buildings are still there! I know that big white building is there (or at least it was there, last time I was on that road...) (There is pavement now, and the sidewalk is concrete, too... and there's not that many horses on main street.)

At 1037 people (as per the 2010 census), Eureka is the metropolis! Taking in the outlying areas (which were assigned to our High School area - Lincoln County High School - GO LIONS!), we include Fortine (population in 2000 was 169), Trego (no data for "Trego" town, but outlying areas - approximate population: 541), and Rexford (105 in 2010.) My graduating class had 63 kids, and we were one of the larger classes.

Well, now that I'm talking about it, I'm feeling a tiny bit homesick...

Sunday, on to Whitefish, MT.

Great Falls, and then! Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jog!

Can you believe it? this is the last post in this particular segment – the end of the original “Biggest Ball of String Tour.” Not that I’m done writing. Next, we are moving on to one of our trips to Michigan.

 

Technically, we could’ve driven home from Butte, but 1) my cousin and her husband had come to visit us there, so we wanted to leave Butte leisurely, and not on a specific schedule, and 2) we didn’t want our road trip to be over! So, we meandered to Great Falls, which is only 2 1/2 hours from Butte! (By the way, this is the point where we sadly had to say "see you soon" to Brian and Taunya and crew, as they headed back towards Seattle.)

 

Besides, we’d never really spent any time in Great Falls, but aLOT of Canadians go to Great Falls to shop, especially for school supplies, etc., making a weekend getaway of it. (Great Falls is less than 2 hours from the US/Canada border, and about 5 1/2 hours from Calgary.)

 

Once upon a time, the first people who lived in the Great Falls area were, of course, Native Americans. The Lewis and Clark Expedition went through 1805/1806, but the area wasn’t “founded” until 1883, when a businessman, named Paris Gibson, was in the area and recognized the potential for building an industrial city near “the great falls” – which would provide power by hydroelectricity. (When Meriwether Lewis (of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) first saw it in 1805, he said the Great Falls were the grandest thing he’d ever seen!)

 

By 1887, 1200 people lived there. By October, 1887, the Great Northern Railway arrived. (The Steamboat had arrived in 1859, by way of the Missouri River, which runs through. Apparently, THE Great Falls was as far as the Steamboats could go, anyway, because it was impossible to “portage” them… “Portage”, in case it’s not a familiar term to you, means ”The carrying of a boat or its cargo between two navigable waters” as per… all on-line dictionaries.) And, by 1888, Great Falls was incorporated.

 

As hinted, Great Falls was named for THE Great Falls of the Missouri River. These are a series of 5 waterfalls, which include Black Eagle Falls, Colter Falls, Rainbow Falls, Crooked Falls (a.k.a. Horseshoe Falls), and The Great Falls. The Great Falls is the highest, at 87 feet (26.5 meters), although, apparently, most of its water is diverted to Ryan Dam, for hydroelectric power. (The Ryan Dam is 1336 feet (407 meters) long and 61 feet (19 meters) high. Because of all of the hydroelectric dams (5), the city of Great Falls has been called “Electric City.”)

Speaking of… you might be recall, we talked about Lewis and Clark in my blog of January 6, 2013, about Lewis and Clark Caverns. Interestingly, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark never actually went to the Caverns, but they DID go to Great Falls. (The Lewis & Clark Expedition was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson – see blog December 11, 2012 (Mount Rushmore) for some summarized details about Jefferson!)

The Expedition (Also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition) stretched from St. Louis, Missouri (blog Nov. 20, 2012 about St. Louis) to Fort Clatsop, where the Columbia Basin empties into the Pacific Ocean…. there ~ and back again!

 

National Geographic did a series on the Lewis and Clark Expedition (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_intro.html), and their on-line introduction explains: “In 1803 Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s Corps of Discovery to find a water route to the Pacific and explore the uncharted West. He believed woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a mountain of pure salt awaited them.

 

What they found was no less mind-boggling: some 300 species unknown to science, nearly 50 Indian tribes, and the Rockies. “ (The ”Journey Log” is REALLY interesting!!

 

On occasion, especially as we travel through and to various Montana destinations, we pass or follow the Lewis & Clark Trail.

 

Great Falls is the home of one of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, and gets 5* reviews on Tripadvisor. One review says: “I was absolutely blown away. I’ve been to other Lewis & Clark sites and this is nothing like any of them. You walk through the exhibits that take you through the entire journey and attempt to give you a feeling of what they were experiencing.”
(http://lewisandclarktrail.com/section3/montanacities/greatfalls/lcinterpretive/index.htm) (http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g45198-d103830-Reviews-Lewis_Clark_National_Historic_Trail_Interpretive_Center-Great_Falls_Montana.html)

 

Great Falls also is famous for being the home of Charles M. Russell – famous Old West artist. Born in St. Louis in 1864, he moved to Montana when he was 16, to work on a ranch. He finally settled in Great Falls, after he was married, in 1896, and stayed there, until he died in 1926. (According to Wikipedia,” On the day of Russell’s funeral in 1926, all the children in Great Falls were released from school to watch the funeral procession. Russell’s coffin was displayed in a glass sided coach, pulled by four black horses.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Marion_Russell)
Visit the CM Russell Museum at http://cmrussell.org/about/about-the-museum for more information.

 

Besides CM Russell, others who have called Great Falls “home” include (apparently) Charley Pride (best known as a country western singer), Walter Breuning (was once the oldest known man in the world – 1896-2011), a lot of professional athletes, AND the shortest river in the world – the Roe River, which is 201 feet long….(not sure if that record has been “beaten” or not – apparently Guiness Book of World Records stopped have “shortest river” as a category in 2006.)

 

Also, many movies have been filmed here, including The Untouchables (1987) and A River Runs Through it (1992).

 

Despite the many interesting things to do in Great Falls, and its fascinating history – we were really just concerned that it was our last chance to eat yummy (hopefully) delicious Mexican food before we crossed the border!

 

AND we did!

 

We had delicious enchiladas and chili relleno at El Comedor, and let’s not forget to mention the mmmmmmmargaritas!!!

We had a nice, peaceful drive home the next day – it was a beautiful surprise to see the flax blooming beside the canola, with seas of blue and yellow. And that’s it! Home sweet home!!

Never done – I will be talking about something-Calgary on Wednesday, and then on to Michigan!

http://www.greatfallsmt.net/

 

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