Butte, Montana
Encyclopedia
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Silver Bow County
Silver Bow County, Montana
-National protected areas:*Beaverhead National Forest *Deerlodge National Forest -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 34,606 people, 14,432 households, and 8,933 families residing in the county. The population density was 48 people per square mile . There were 16,176 housing units at...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200. Butte is currently Montana's fifth largest city.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Butte experienced every stage of development of a mining town, from camp to boomtown to mature city to center for historic preservation and environmental cleanup. Unlike most such towns, Butte's urban landscape includes mining operations set within residential areas, making the environmental consequences of the extraction economy all the more apparent. Despite the dominance of the Anaconda Company, Butte was never a company town
Company town
A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...
. It prided itself on architectural diversity and a civic ethos of rough-and-tumble individualism. In the 21st century, efforts at interpreting and preserving Butte's heritage are addressing both the town's historical significance and the continuing importance of mining to its economy and culture.
Butte was one of the largest cities west of the Mississippi for generations. Silver Bow county (Butte and suburbs)
Silver Bow County, Montana
-National protected areas:*Beaverhead National Forest *Deerlodge National Forest -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 34,606 people, 14,432 households, and 8,933 families residing in the county. The population density was 48 people per square mile . There were 16,176 housing units at...
had 24,000 people in 1890, and peaked at 60,000 in 1920. Then the population steadily declined to 34,000 in 1990 and stabilized. In its heyday between the late 19th century and about 1920, it was one of the largest and most notorious copper boomtown
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons,...
s in the American West, home to hundreds of saloons and a famous red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
. The documentary Butte, America
Butte, America
Butte, America is a 2009 documentary film about Butte, Montana's history as a copper mining town. It was created by Pamela Roberts, narrated by Gabriel Byrne, and includes a mix of first hand accounts and scholarly analysis from John T. Shea, Marie Cassidy, David Emmons, and Janet Finn...
depicts its history as a copper producer and the issues of labor unionism, economic rise and decline, and environmental degradation that resulted from the activity.
The city is served by Bert Mooney Airport
Bert Mooney Airport
Bert Mooney Airport , is a public airport located three miles southeast of the central business district of Butte, a city in Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. It is owned by the Bert Mooney Airport Authority....
with airport code BTM.
History
Butte began as a mining town in the late 19th century in the Silver Bow Creek Valley (or Summit Valley), a natural bowl sitting high in the Rockies straddling the Continental DivideContinental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
. At first only gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
were mined in the area, but the advent of electricity caused a soaring demand for copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, which was abundant in the area. The small town was often called "the Richest Hill on Earth". It was the largest city for many hundreds of miles in all directions. The city attracted workers from Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and all areas of the USA. The legacy of the immigrants lives on in the form of the Cornish pasty
Pasty
A pasty , sometimes known as a pastie or British pasty in the United States, is a filled pastry case, associated in particular with Cornwall in Great Britain. It is made by placing the uncooked filling on a flat pastry circle, and folding it to wrap the filling, crimping the edge at the side or top...
which was popularized by mine workers who needed something easy to eat in the mines, the povitica--a Slavic pastry which is a holiday favorite sold in many supermarkets and bakeries in the Butte area—-and the boneless pork-chop sandwich.
The influx of miners gave Butte a reputation as a wide-open town where any vice was obtainable. The city's famous saloon and red-light district, called the "Line" or "The Copper Block", was centered on Mercury Street, where the elegant bordellos included the famous Dumas Brothel
Dumas Brothel
The Dumas Brothel was a famous bordello in Butte, Montana in the United States. Located in the heart of uptown Butte, the brothel has been proclaimed America’s longest running house of prostitution...
. Behind the brothel was the equally famous Venus Alley
Venus Alley
Venus Alley was a famous red-light district once located in Butte, Montana in the United States. It flourished from the late 19th century through the early 20th century and was one of the last openly tolerated urban prostitution districts in the American West, along with the one in Reno, Nevada...
, where women plied their trade in small cubicles called "cribs". The red-light district brought miners and other men from all over the region and was open until 1982 as one of the last such urban districts in the U.S. The Dumas Brothel is now operated as a museum to Butte's rougher days. Close by Wyoming Street is home to the Butte High School (home of the "Bulldogs").
At the end of the 19th century, copper was in great demand because of new technologies such as electric power that required the use of copper. Three men fought for control of Butte's mining wealth. These three "Copper Kings
Copper Kings
The Copper Kings, industrialists William Andrews Clark, Marcus Daly, and F. Augustus Heinze, were collectively known for the epic battles they fought in Butte, Montana and the surrounding region during the Gilded Age over the control of the local copper mining industry, a fight which had...
" were William A. Clark
William Andrews Clark
William Andrews Clark, Sr. was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads.-Biography:...
, Marcus Daly
Marcus Daly
Marcus Daly redirects here, see also Marcus Daly Marcus Daly was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the three "Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, United States.- Early life:...
, and F. Augustus Heinze
F. Augustus Heinze
Fritz Augustus Heinze was one of the three "Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, along with William Andrews Clark and Marcus Daly...
.
In 1899, Daly joined with William Rockefeller
William Rockefeller
William Avery Rockefeller, Jr. , American financier, was a co-founder with his older brother John D. Rockefeller of the prominent United States Rockefeller family. He was the son of William Avery Rockefeller, Sr. and Eliza Rockefeller.-Youth, education:Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York,...
, Henry H. Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
, and Thomas W. Lawson
Thomas W. Lawson (businessman)
Thomas William Lawson was an American businessman and author. A highly controversial Boston stock promoter, he is known for both his efforts to promote reforms in the stock markets and the fortune he amassed for himself through highly dubious stock manipulations.The Scituate, Massachusetts...
to organize the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company. Not long after, the company changed its name to Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM). Over the years, Anaconda was owned by assorted larger corporations. In the 1920s, it had a virtual monopoly over the mines in and around Butte. Between approximately 1900 and 1917, Butte also had a strong streak of Socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
politics, even electing a Mayor on the Socialist ticket in 1914.
The prosperity continued up to the 1950s, when the declining grade of ore and competition from other mines led the Anaconda company to switch its focus from the costly and dangerous practice of underground mining to open pit mining. This marked the beginning of the end for the boom times in Butte.
Labor organizations
By 1885, there were about 1,800 dues-paying members of a general union in Butte. That year the union reorganized as the Butte Miners' Union (BMU), spinning off all non-miners to separate craft unions
Craft unionism
Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level...
. Some of these joined the Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
, and by 1886 the separate organizations came together to form the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, with 34 separate unions representing nearly all of the 6,000 workers around Butte. The BMU established branch unions in mining towns like Barker, Castle, Champion, Granite, and Neihart, and extended support to other mining camps hundreds of miles away.
In 1892 there was a violent strike
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892
There were two related incidents between miners and mine owners in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: the labor strike of 1892, and the labor confrontation of 1899....
in Coeur d'Alene
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coeur d'Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the 2010 census the population of Coeur...
. Although the BMU was experiencing relatively friendly relations with local management, the events in Idaho were disturbing. The BMU not only sent thousands of dollars to support the Idaho miners, they mortgaged their buildings to send more.
There was a growing concern that local unions were vulnerable to the power of Mine Owners' Association
Mine Owners' Association
In the United States a Mine Owners' Association, also sometimes referred to as a Mine Operators' Association or a Mine Owners' Protective Association, is the combination of individual mining companies, or groups of mining companies, into an association, established for the purpose of promoting the...
s like the one in Coeur d'Alene. In May 1893, about forty delegates from northern hard-rock mining camps met in Butte and established the Western Federation of Miners
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
(WFM), which sought to organize miners throughout the West. The Butte Miners' Union became Local Number One of the new WFM. The WFM won a strike
Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894
The Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894 was a five-month strike by the Western Federation of Miners in Cripple Creek, Colorado, USA. It resulted in a victory for the union and was followed in 1903 by the Colorado Labor Wars...
in Cripple Creek, Colorado
Cripple Creek, Colorado
The City of Cripple Creek is a Statutory City that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located southwest of Colorado Springs near the base of Pikes Peak. The Cripple Creek Historic District, which received National Historic...
, the following year, but then in 1896-97 lost another violent strike
Leadville Colorado, Miners' Strike
Silver was discovered in Leadville, Colorado in the 1870s, initiating the Colorado Silver Boom. The Leadville miners' strike in 1896-97 occurred during, and as a result of, rapid industrialization and consolidation of the mining industry. Mine owners had become more powerful, and they resolved not...
in Leadville, Colorado
Leadville, Colorado
Leadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of, and the only municipality in, Lake County, Colorado, United States. Situated at an elevation of , Leadville is the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States...
, prompting the Montana State Trades and Labor Council to issue a proclamation to organize a new Western labor federation
November 1897 proclamation
The November 1897 proclamation of the State Trades and Labor Council of Montana was a reflection of western labor's assessment of the struggle between labor and capital after the failed Leadville Colorado, Miners' Strike...
along industrial lines
Industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations...
.
After 1905, Butte became a hotbed of Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW, or the "Wobblies") organizing. There were a number of clashes between laborers, labor organizers, and the Anaconda company, including the 1917 lynching of IWW executive board officer Frank Little. In 1920, company mine guards gunned down strikers in the Anaconda Road Massacre
Anaconda Road Massacre
The Anaconda Road Massacre was a deadly incident that occurred on April 21, 1920 during a miners strike in Butte, Montana's copper mines. A group of striking miners who were picketing near a mine of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company were fired upon by company guards, killing a miner named Tom...
. Seventeen were shot in the back as they tried to flee, and one man died.
Copper production
In 1917, copper production from the Butte mines peaked and steadily declined thereafter. By WWII, copper production from the ACM's holdings in Chuquicamata, Chile, far exceeded Butte's production. The historian Janet Finn has examined this "tale of two cities"--Butte and Chuquicamata as two ACM mining towns.Beer Production
Commercial breweries first opened in Butte, in the 1870s; they were usually run by German immigrants, including Leopold Schmidt, Henry Mueller, and Henry Muntzer. The breweries were always staffed by union workers. Most ethnic groups in Butte, from Germans and Irish to Italians and various Eastern Europeans, including children, enjoyed the locally brewed lagers, bocks, and other types of beer. By the 1960s, major national brands dominated the market, including Budweiser, Miller and Coors; by the 1990s however small microbreweries in Butte and nearby cities found a niche market, and international imports became widely availableThe open-pit era
Berkeley Pit
The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine located in Butte, Montana, United States. It is one mile long by half a mile wide with an approximate depth of . It is filled to a depth of about with water that is heavily acidic , about the acidity of cola or lemon juice...
, which opened in 1955 by Anaconda Copper
Anaconda Copper
Anaconda Copper Mining Company was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century. The Anaconda was purchased by Atlantic Richfield Company on January 12, 1977...
. At the time, it was the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the United States. Other open pit mines were dug in the area, including the still-operational East Continental Pit. The Berkeley pit grew with time, and in November 1973 the Columbia Gardens, William A. Clark's
William Andrews Clark
William Andrews Clark, Sr. was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads.-Biography:...
gift to the people of Butte, caught fire and burned to the ground. The remaining site was excavated to expand the Berkeley Pit. In 1977 the ARCO
ARCO
Atlantic Richfield Company is an oil company with operations in the United States as well as in Indonesia, the North Sea, and the South China Sea. It has more than 1,300 gas stations in the western part of the United States. ARCO was originally formed by the merger of East Coast-based Atlantic...
company purchased Anaconda Mining, and only three years later started shutting down mines due to lower metal prices. In 1982, all mining in the Berkeley Pit was suspended.
Anaconda stopped mining at the Continental pit in 1983. Montana Resources LLP
Montana Resources LLP
Montana Resources LLP is an American mining company with headquarters in Butte, Montana. The company is owned by businessman Dennis Washington. The company employs about 350 people, and operates the Continental mine, an open pit copper and molybdenum mine at Butte...
bought the property and reopened the Continental pit in 1986. The company stopped mining in 2000, but resumed in 2003 with higher metal prices, and continues at last report, employing 346 people. From 1880 through 2005, the mines of the Butte district have produced more than 9.6 million metric tons of copper, 2.1 million metric tons of zinc, 1.6 million metric tons of manganese, 381,000 metric tons of lead, 87,000 metric tons of molybdenum, 715 million troy ounces (22,200 metric tons) of silver, and 2.9 million ounces (90 metric tons) of gold.
When mining shut down at the Berkeley pit in 1982, water pumps in nearby mines were also shut down, which resulted in highly acidic water laced with toxic heavy metals filling up the pit. Only two years later the pit was classified as a Superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
site and an environmental hazard site. Meanwhile, the acidic water continued to rise. It was not until the 1990s that serious efforts to clean up the Berkeley Pit began. The situation gained even more attention after as many as 342 migrating geese picked the pit lake as a resting place, resulting in their deaths. Steps have since been taken to prevent a recurrence, including but not limited to loudspeakers broadcasting sounds to scare off waterfowl. However, in November 2003 the Horseshoe Bend treatment facility went online and began treating and diverting much of the water that would have flowed into the pit. Ironically, the Berkeley Pit
Berkeley Pit
The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine located in Butte, Montana, United States. It is one mile long by half a mile wide with an approximate depth of . It is filled to a depth of about with water that is heavily acidic , about the acidity of cola or lemon juice...
is also one of the city's biggest tourist attractions. It is the largest pit lake in the United States, and is the most costly part of the country's largest Superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
site.
Recent history
Over a dozen of the headframes still stand over the mine shafts, and the city still contains thousands of historic commercial and residential buildings from the boom times, which, especially in the Uptown section, give it a very old-fashioned appearance, with many commercial buildings not fully occupied. As with many industrial cities, tourism and services, especially health care (Butte's St. James Hospital has Southwest Montana's only major trauma center), are rising as primary employers. Many areas of the city, especially the areas near the old mines, show signs of wear from time but a recent influx of investors and an aggressive campaign to remedy blight has led to a renewed interest in restoring property in Uptown Butte's historic district, which was expanded in 2006 to include parts of AnacondaAnaconda, Montana
Anaconda, county seat of Anaconda City/Deer Lodge County, is located in mountainous southwestern Montana. The Continental Divide passes within 8 miles of the community with the local Pintler Mountain range reaching 10,379 feet...
and is now the largest National Historic Landmark District in the United States with nearly 6,000 contributing properties.
A century after the era of intensive mining and smelting, the area around the city remains an environmental issue. Arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
and heavy metals such as lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
are found in high concentrations in some spots affected by old mining, and for a period of time in the 1990s the tap water was unsafe to drink due to poor filtration and decades-old wooden supply pipes. Efforts to improve the water supply have taken place in the past few years, with millions of dollars being invested to upgrade water lines and repair infrastructure. Environmental research and clean-up efforts have contributed to the diversification of the local economy, and signs of vitality remain, including a multi-million dollar polysilicon manufacturing plant locating nearby in the 1990s and the city's recognition and designation in the late 1990s as an All-American City and also as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2002. In 2004, Butte received another economic boost as well as international recognition as the location for the Hollywood film Don't Come Knocking
Don't Come Knocking
Don't Come Knocking is a 2005 film, a comedy-drama road movie directed by German director Wim Wenders and written by Wenders and actor/playwright Sam Shepard. The two had previously collaborated on the film Paris, Texas...
, directed by renowned director Wim Wenders and released throughout the world in 2006.
Ancient Order of Hibernians
The Ancient Order of Hibernians is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be Catholic and either Irish born or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in New York City in 1836...
and celebrate in bars such as Maloney's, the Silver Dollar Saloon, the M&M Cigar Store, and The Irish Times Pub.
Butte is one of the few cities in the United States where possession and consumption of open containers of alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
s are allowed on the street (although not in vehicles).
The larger and better known annual celebration is Knievel Days, held each summer. This event draws over 50,000 bikers and daredevils from across the world. The highlight of the event is when all participants share a moment of silence for the whole Knievel clan, traditionally observed at 4:20 pm on the second day of the event. The moment is broken by five daredevils simultaneously jump 19 trucks, while fireworks explode and fifty foot flames of fire shoot up through the trucks and "God Bless America
God Bless America
"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version has notably been recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song ....
" plays.
Butte's Fourth of July Parade and Fireworks show is the largest in the state. In 2008 Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
spent his last Fourth of July before his Presidency campaigning in Butte, taking in the parade with his family, and celebrating his daughter Malia Obama's 10th birthday.
In March 2009, Butte was the location of an airplane crash
2009 Montana Pilatus PC-12 crash
The 2009 Pilatus PC-12 crash occurred near Butte, Montana at approximately 14:32 local time on March 22, 2009. All 14 people on board the single engine turboprop aircraft died when it crashed into a cemetery while on approach to Butte's Bert Mooney Airport...
that made headlines worldwide. Fourteen passengers and crew were killed when the plane crashed into the Holy Cross Cemetery near the runway at Bert Mooney Airport.
Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine Disaster
Sparked by a tragic accident more than 2000 feet (609.6 m) below the ground on June 8, 1917, a fire in the Granite Mountain shaftShaft mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through the labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
of underground tunnels including the connected Speculator mine. A rescue effort commenced, but the carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
was stealing the air supply. A few men built man-made bulk heads to save their lives, but many others died in a panic to try to get out. Rescue workers set up a fan to prevent the fire from spreading. This worked for a short time, but when the rescuers tried to use water, the water evaporated, creating steam
Steam
Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...
that burned people trying to escape. Once the fire was out, those waiting to hear the news on the surface couldn't identify the victims. They were too mutilated to recognize, leading many to assume the worst. Of the 168 bodies removed from the mine, most had died due to lack of oxygen and smoke inhalation as opposed to the actual fire itself. Due to the heroic efforts of men such as Ernest Sullau, Manus Duggan, Con O'Neil, and JD Moore, some survived to tell the tale. The Granite Mountain Memorial was built as a reminder of the greatest loss of life in US hard rock mining history, a title that still holds true. The disaster was also memorialized in the song, "Rox in the Box" on the album The King is Dead by the indie rock band, The Decemberists (band).
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 716.8 square miles (1,856.5 km²), of which 716.1 square miles (1,854.7 km²) is land and 0.7 square mile (1.7 km²) is water. The total area is 0.09% water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
. Butte is also home to one of the largest deposits of Bornite
Bornite
Bornite is a sulfide mineral with chemical composition Cu5FeS4 that crystallizes in the orthorhombic system .-Appearance:Bornite has a brown to copper-red color on fresh surfaces that tarnishes to various iridescent shades of blue to purple in places...
. Of all U.S. communities situated on the Continental Divide, Butte is the most populous. Every highway exiting Butte (except westbound I-90) crosses the Divide (eastbound I-90 via Homestake Pass; eastbound MT 2 via Pipestone Pass; northbound I-15 via Elk Park Pass; and southbound I-15 via Deer Lodge Pass).
Climate
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 33,892 people, 14,135 households, and 8,735 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 47.3 people per square mile (18.3/km²). There were 15,833 housing units at an average density of 22.1 per square mile (8.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.38% White, 0.16% African American, 1.99% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.59% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.74% of the population.
There were 14,135 households out of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.2% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.2 males.
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $17,068. About 10.7% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.2% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.
Arts and culture
Movies featuring Butte and Butte buildings- 1930 - Roadhouse Nights, Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel "Red Harvest"
- 1961 - Route 66, TV show, episodes "A Month of Sundays" and "Blue Murder"
- 1961 - Yojimbo, Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel "Red Harvest"
- 1971 - Evel KnievelEvel KnievelEvel Knievel , born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket...
, Fanfare Films - 1974 - The Killer Inside MeThe Killer Inside MeThe Killer Inside Me is a 1952 novel by American writer Jim Thompson published by Fawcett Publications. In the introduction to the anthology Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s, it is described as "one of the most blistering and uncompromising crime novels ever written."- Plot summary :The...
, Cyclone Productions - 1985 - Runaway TrainRunaway Train (film)Runaway Train is a 1985 film about two escaped convicts and a female train worker who are stuck on a runaway train as it barrels through snowy desolate Alaska. It stars Jon Voight as Oscar "Manny" Manheim, Eric Roberts as Buck, John P. Ryan as Associate Warden Ranken and Rebecca De Mornay as Sara...
, Cannon Films - 1989 - Lonesome DoveLonesome DoveLonesome Dove is a 1985 Pulitzer Prize–winning western novel written by Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series, but the third installment in the series chronologically...
, RHI Productions - 1992 - Die Vergessene Stadt, Directed by Thomas Schadt. Known in translation as Butte, Montana—The Abandoned Town
- 1993 - Return to Lonesome DoveReturn to Lonesome DoveReturn to Lonesome Dove, written by John Wilder, is a TV Miniseries involving characters created in the Pulitzer Prize-winning western novel Lonesome Dove. The story focuses on a retired Texas Ranger and his adventures driving mustangs from Texas to Montana...
, RHI Productions. - 1994 - The Last RideThe Last RideThe Last Ride is a western novel by Thomas Eidson, first published in 1995. It is the sequel to St. Agnes' Stand and is followed by All God's Children ....
, Ivar Productions & Mondofin B.V. - 2002 - From Beara to Butte: The Road to McCarthy, Directed by Pete McCarthy
- 2002 - An Injury to One, Directed by Travis Wilkerson.
- 2003 - Love Comes to the Executioner, Aura Entertainment
- 2004 - Don't Come KnockingDon't Come KnockingDon't Come Knocking is a 2005 film, a comedy-drama road movie directed by German director Wim Wenders and written by Wenders and actor/playwright Sam Shepard. The two had previously collaborated on the film Paris, Texas...
, Wim Wenders Productions - 2005 - Who Killed Cock Robin?, Extreme Low Frequency
- 2006 - Psycho Sheep of Butte, McWilliams Digital Studios
- 2007 - Hidden Fire: The Great Butte Explosion
- 2008 - Butte, America: The Saga of a Hard Rock Mining Town
- 2010 - Butte: The Original Produced by Dick Maney and B.J. McKenzie
Butte in literature*1929 -
- 1929 - Red Harvest, the Dashiell Hammett novel.
- 1998 - Buster Midnight's Cafe by Sandra Dallas
- 2010 - Work Song - Ivan DoigIvan DoigIvan Doig is an American novelist. He was born in White Sulphur Springs, Montana to a family of homesteaders and ranch hands. After the death of his mother Berneta, on his sixth birthday, he was raised by his father Charles "Charlie" Doig and his grandmother Elizabeth "Bessie" Ringer...
Set in Butte in 1919 - 2009 - The Selected Works of T.S. SpivetThe Selected Works of T.S. SpivetThe Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is the debut novel by American author Reif Larsen, first published in 2009. The book follows the exploits of a 12-year old mapmaker named T.S...
- Butte is the setting of the first third of the novel, and the hometown of its eponymous protagonist. - 2007 - The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone - A paliative care center in Butte is the site of a grisly double murder and mutilation.
Tourist attractions
- Montana TechMontana Tech of The University of MontanaMontana Tech is a university located in Butte, Montana. It was founded in 1900, originally as Montana State School of Mines with two degrees, Mining Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The "M" on Big Butte overlooking the city stands for Miners and was built in 1910...
http://www.mtech.edu/, a state university specializing in the resources and engineering fields. (The giant letter "M" visible in the top photograph on this page stands for Montana Tech and was constructed in 1910.) - Our Lady of the Rockies Statue, a 90 feet (27.4 m) statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dedicated to women and mothers everywhere, on top of the Continental DivideContinental DivideThe Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
, overlooking Butte - The Berkeley PitBerkeley PitThe Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine located in Butte, Montana, United States. It is one mile long by half a mile wide with an approximate depth of . It is filled to a depth of about with water that is heavily acidic , about the acidity of cola or lemon juice...
, a gigantic former open pit copper mine filled with toxic water. There is an observation deck on the south wall of the Berkeley Pit lake. - The World Museum of Mining on the site of the Orphan Girl mine. Its main attraction is "Hell Roarin' Gulch" a mockup of a frontier mining town.
- There are many underground mine headframes (Gallows frames http://www.msha.gov/century/colliery/colliery.asp) still remaining on the hill in Butte, including the Anselmo, the Steward, the Original, the Travona, the Belmont, the Kelly, the Mountain Con, the Lexington, the Bell/Diamond, the Granite Mountain, and the Badger.
- The Dumas BrothelDumas BrothelThe Dumas Brothel was a famous bordello in Butte, Montana in the United States. Located in the heart of uptown Butte, the brothel has been proclaimed America’s longest running house of prostitution...
, widely considered America's longest running house of prostitution - Venus AlleyVenus AlleyVenus Alley was a famous red-light district once located in Butte, Montana in the United States. It flourished from the late 19th century through the early 20th century and was one of the last openly tolerated urban prostitution districts in the American West, along with the one in Reno, Nevada...
- Mai Wah MuseumMai Wah MuseumThe Mai Wah Museum is located in Butte, Montana, USA. Its mission is to document the history of Asian people in the Rocky Mountains. The museum is housed in the Wah Chong Tai building and Mai Wah Noodle Parlor building at 17 West Mercury Street....
- Rookwood Speakeasy http://www.buttetours.info/rookwood.htm, an underground, prohibition era Speakeasy
- Copper King MansionCopper King MansionThe Copper King Mansion, also known as the W. A. Clark Mansion, is a 34-room residence of Romanesque Revival Victorian architecture that was built from 1884 to 1888 as the Butte, Montana residence of William Andrews Clark, one of Montana's three famous Copper Kings...
http://www.thecopperkingmansion.com, a bed and breakfast/local museum and previously home to William Andrews ClarkWilliam Andrews ClarkWilliam Andrews Clark, Sr. was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads.-Biography:...
, one of Butte's three Copper KingsCopper KingsThe Copper Kings, industrialists William Andrews Clark, Marcus Daly, and F. Augustus Heinze, were collectively known for the epic battles they fought in Butte, Montana and the surrounding region during the Gilded Age over the control of the local copper mining industry, a fight which had...
. - The Arts Chateau, formerly the home of William Andrews ClarkWilliam Andrews ClarkWilliam Andrews Clark, Sr. was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads.-Biography:...
's son, Charles, the home was designed in the image of a French Chateau. This ornate mansion now serves as a community arts center and gallery. - The Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives http://www.buttearchives.org stores and provides public access to documents and artifacts from Butte's rich past.
- U.S. High Altitude Speed Skating Center is an outdoor speed-skating rink, one of three such rinks in the USA.
- Butte Silver Bow Public Library http://www.buttepubliclibrary.info Located at 226 W. Broadway in uptown Butte. The Library is the first open source public library in Montana and has been serving Butte since 1893.
Sports and Recreation
Sports Teams from Butte- Butte Copper Kings 1979-1985, 1987–2000, Pioneer Baseball League now the Casper Ghosts.
- Butte Irish 1996-2002, North American Hockey LeagueNorth American Hockey LeagueThe North American Hockey League is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is enterting its 36th season in 2011-12. It is currently the only Junior A Tier II league, sanctioned by USA Hockey. The NAHL currently acts as an alternative to the United States Hockey League...
now the Wichita Falls WildcatsWichita Falls WildcatsThe Wichita Falls Wildcats are a Tier II Junior A ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's South Division. The Wildcats play out of the 6,500-seat Kay Yeager Coliseum in Wichita Falls, Texas. Current coaches of the team are Paul Baxter, Brian Huebel, and Sean Fish.The team's games...
. - Butte RoughridersButte RoughridersThe Butte Roughriders are a Tier III Junior A ice hockey team located in Butte, Montana, USA. The team joined the Northern Pacific Hockey League's America West Division in 2003 when the league competed at the Jr. B level. In 2007 The NorPac was granted Tier III Jr...
2001–present, Northern Pacific Hockey LeagueNorthern Pacific Hockey LeagueThe Northern Pacific Hockey League is an American Tier III Junior A ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. Its championship trophy is the Cascade Cup.-Current teams:-Suspended teams:...
. - Butte DaredevilsButte DaredevilsThe Butte Daredevils were a basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association that played from 2006 to 2008. They played their home games at the Butte Civic Center in Butte, Montana. The team was named in honor of Butte native Evel Knievel, the famous daredevil...
2006-2008, Continental Basketball AssociationContinental Basketball AssociationThe Continental Basketball Association was a professional men's basketball league in the United States, which has been on hiatus since the 2009 season.- History :...
named for Butte born Evel KnievelEvel KnievelEvel Knievel , born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket...
, folded. - Montana TechMontana Tech of The University of MontanaMontana Tech is a university located in Butte, Montana. It was founded in 1900, originally as Montana State School of Mines with two degrees, Mining Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The "M" on Big Butte overlooking the city stands for Miners and was built in 1910...
Orediggers have competed in the Frontier ConferenceFrontier ConferenceThe Frontier Conference is a college athletic conference, founded in 1952 and affiliated with the NAIA. Member institutions are located in the northwestern United States, in the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Utah....
of the NAIANational Association of Intercollegiate AthleticsThe National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
since the league's founding in 1952. The school hosts men's and women's basketball, football, golf, and women's volleyball.
Government
Butte and Silver Bow CountySilver Bow County, Montana
-National protected areas:*Beaverhead National Forest *Deerlodge National Forest -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 34,606 people, 14,432 households, and 8,933 families residing in the county. The population density was 48 people per square mile . There were 16,176 housing units at...
are merged into one governmental body.
Butte and Superfund
The Upper Clark Fork River, with Butte at the headwaters, is America's largest Superfund site. This area takes in the cities of Butte, Anaconda, and Missoula. The mining and smelting activity in Butte resulted in significant contamination of the Butte Hill as well as downstream and downwind areas. The contaminated land extends along a corridor of 120 miles (193.1 km) that reaches to Milltown near Missoula and takes in adjacent areas such as the Anaconda smelter site. The mining and smelting operations of the Anaconda Copper Mining Corporation were the primary cause of this pollution at the headwaters of the Clark Fork River.Between the upstream city of Butte and the downstream city of Missoula lies the Deer Lodge Valley. By the 1970s, local citizens and agency personnel were increasingly concerned over the toxic effects of arsenic and heavy metals on environment and human health. Most of the waste was created by the Anaconda Copper Mining Corporation (ACM), which merged with the Atlantic Richfield Corporation (Arco
Arco
-Places:*Arco, a town in Trentino, Italy*Arco, Idaho, in the United States*Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States*ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings-Companies:...
) in 1977. Shortly thereafter, in 1983, Arco ceased mining and smelting operations in the Butte-Anaconda area.
For more than a century, the Anaconda Copper Mining company mined ore from Butte and smelted it in Butte (prior to c. 1920) and in nearby Anaconda. During this time, the Anaconda smelter released up to 40 short tons (36 t) per day of arsenic, 1700 short tons (1,542.2 t) per day of sulfur, and great quantities of lead and other heavy metals into the air (MacMillan). In Butte, mine tailings were dumped directly into Silver Bow Creek, creating a 150 miles (241.4 km) plume of pollution extending down the valley to Milltown Dam on the Clark Fork River just upstream of Missoula. Air and water borne pollution poisoned livestock and agricultural soils throughout the Deer Lodge Valley. Modern environmental clean-up efforts continue to this day.
Radio
- KBOWKBOWKBOW is a radio station licensed to serve Butte, Montana. The station is owned by Butte Broadcasting, Inc. It airs a country music format.The main offices and studios of Butte Broadcasting are at 660 Dewey in Butte...
AM 550 CountryCountryA country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... - KANAKANAKANA is a radio station licensed to serve Anaconda, Montana. The station is owned by Butte Broadcasting, Inc. It airs an Oldies music format.The main offices and studios of Butte Broadcasting are at 660 Dewey in Butte...
AM 580 OldiesOldiesOldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day.... - KXTLKXTLKXTL is a radio station licensed to serve Butte, Montana. The station is owned by Cherry Creek Radio and licensed to CCR-Butte IV, LLC. It airs a talk radio format....
AM 1370 OldiesOldiesOldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
and Talk radioTalk radioTalk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
- KAARKAARKAAR is a commercial radio station in Butte, Montana. KAAR airs the syndicated "U.S. Country" country music format from Jones Radio Networks....
FM 92.5 CountryCountryA country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... - KOPRKOPRKOPR is an American commercial radio station licensed to serve the community of Butte, Montana.KOPR airs the syndicated, "Custom Rock Hits" music format from Jones Radio Networks. The station has aired an adult hits format for several years....
FM 94.1 Classic RockClassic rockClassic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the... - KMBRKMBRKMBR is a commercial radio station in Butte, Montana, broadcasting to the Butte, Montana area. KMBR airs a classic rock music format....
FM 95.5 Classic RockClassic rockClassic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the... - KQRVKQRVKQRV is a commercial radio station in Deer Lodge, Montana, broadcasting to the Butte, Montana area. KQRV airs a country music format....
FM 96.9 CountryCountryA country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... - KGLM FM 97.7 Adult Contemporary
- KMSM FM 107.1 Variety
Television
Butte shares its Neilsen market with nearby BozemanBozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...
, with which it forms the 194th largest TV market in the United States. Butte has the distinction of being near the dividing line in terms of Pro-Sports markets, so the city receives both Seattle and Denver teams games on local cable TV channels.
- KXLF (Channel 4) CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
/CWThe CW Television NetworkThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
affiliate. KXLF is the oldest broadcast television station in the state of Montana. - KTVM (Channel 6) NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate. The station airs local news and commercials from Butte, most of the other programming comes from nearby KECI-TV in Missoula, MontanaMissoula, MontanaMissoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
. - KUSMKUSMMontana PBS is the Public Broadcasting Service member Public television state network for Montana. It is a joint venture between Montana State University and the University of Montana-Missoula...
(Channel 9) PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
affiliate. The station broadcasts out of Montana State UniversityMontana State University - BozemanMontana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...
in Bozeman. - KWYBKWYBKWYB is a full-service television station in Butte, Montana, broadcasting locally in digital on UHF channel 19 as an affiliate of ABC. The station's signal is rebroadcast on KWYB-LD UHF channel 28 in Bozeman...
(Channel 19) ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
/FOXFox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate and last of the "Big Three" networks to come into the market (1992). Prior to this Butte's ABC feeds came from KUSA-TVKUSA-TVKUSA, channel 9, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. KUSA is owned by the Gannett Company, and is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD...
in Denver, ColoradoDenver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
and FOX from now-defunct Butte station KBTZKBTZKBTZ was a full-service television station serving Butte, Montana as a Fox affiliate, broadcasting in analog on UHF channel 24, with no digital allocation. The station was owned by Equity Media Holdings of Little Rock, Arkansas...
.
Newspapers
Butte has one local daily, a weekly paper, as well as several papers from around the state of Montana.- The Montana Standard is Butte's daily paper. It was founded in 1928 and is the result of The Butte Miner and the AnacondaAnaconda, MontanaAnaconda, county seat of Anaconda City/Deer Lodge County, is located in mountainous southwestern Montana. The Continental Divide passes within 8 miles of the community with the local Pintler Mountain range reaching 10,379 feet...
Standard merging into one daily paper. The Standard is owned by Lee EnterprisesLee EnterprisesLee Enterprises is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 54 daily newspapers in 23 states, and more than 300 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by A.W. Lee and is based in Davenport, Iowa....
. - The Butte Weekly is a local paper.
Notable natives and residents
- Eden AtwoodEden AtwoodEden Atwood is an American jazz singer. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee but moved to Montana at the age of five. She is the granddaughter of A. B. Guthrie, Jr..- Career :...
, jazz vocalist - Rudy AutioRudy AutioRudy Autio was an American sculptor, best known for his figurative ceramic vessels.Rudio Autio was born Arne Rudolph Autio to a family of Finnish immigrants in Butte, Montana. As a child, he first learned to draw by taking evening classes from Works Progress Administration artists working in Butte...
, ceramist/sculptor/artist - John BanovichJohn BanovichJohn Banovich is an American artist born in Butte, Montana. JOHN BANOVICH is among the world’s most renowned wildlife artists. His award-winning original paintings are owned and exhibited by noteworthy organizations and museums across the globe...
, internationally renowned painter/artist - John W. BonnerJohn W. BonnerJohn Woodrow Bonner was an attorney and the 13th Governor of Montana.Bonner was born in Butte, Montana, graduating from high school in that city, and received his undergraduate and law degrees from Montana State University - now the University of Montana in Missoula.On February 3, 1929 he married...
, Governor of Montana - Rosemarie BoweRosemarie BoweRosemarie Bowe is an American film and television actress.Her father was a building contractor and her mother was a dress designer. The family moved to Tacoma, Washington when Bowe was a child. She graduated from Stadium High School in Tacoma just before moving to Los Angeles, California.-Beauty...
, actress - Patricia BriggsPatricia BriggsPatricia Briggs is an American author, well-known for the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series. Briggs was born in Butte, Montana, and lived in various cities in the Pacific Northwest...
, fantasy author - Scott BrowScott BrowScott John Brow was a Major League Baseball Pitcher from to . He primarily pitched middle relief, but he did get four starts in his major league career, three of which were in his rookie season. He graduated from Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, Oregon. He also graduated from the University of...
, Arizona DiamondbacksArizona DiamondbacksThe Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field...
pitcherPitcherIn baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the... - John Francis BuckleyJohn Francis BuckleyJohn Francis Buckley was a barrister, soldier, and Canadian federal politician.Buckley served in World War I with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry from 1915 to 1918....
, member of the Canadian House of CommonsCanadian House of CommonsThe House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament... - Daniel BukvichDaniel BukvichDaniel Bukvich is an American Composer and Percussionist. He has been a Professor of Percussion and Music theory at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho since 1978. Dan is heavily involved in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and "DancersDrummersDreamers®", both major...
, composerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
; faculty, University of IdahoUniversity of IdahoThe University of Idaho is the State of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state...
Moscow - Albert J. CampbellAlbert J. CampbellAlbert James Campbell was a U.S. Representative from Montana.Born in Pontiac, Michigan, Campbell attended the common schools and the State Agricultural College, Lansing . He taught school for several years, and then studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1881 and commenced practice in...
, United States Representative from Montana - Barbara EhrenreichBarbara Ehrenreich-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
, author - Julian EltingeJulian EltingeJulian Eltinge , born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage and screen actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other producers and made his first appearance on Broadway in 1904...
, actor and female impersonator - Henry FrankHenry FrankBorn in Ohio, USA in 1851 of French parents, Henry L. Frank was an important business and political figure in the state of Montana, USA. A self-made entrepreneur who invested in liquor distribution, real estate and mining, he also founded the Silver Bow Electric Light Company, was president of the...
, businessman and Butte mayor - George F. GrantGeorge F. GrantGeorge F. Grant was an angler, author and conservationist from Butte, Montana. He was active for many years on the Big Hole River.-Biography:...
, innovative fly tier, author, and conservationist - Kirby GrantKirby GrantKirby Grant, , was a long-time B movie and television actor. He is mostly remembered for playing the title role in the television series Sky King....
, actor - Karla M. GrayKarla M. GrayKarla M. Gray is an American attorney and judge who served as the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court; she was the first woman elected to that position....
, Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court, worked here. - Dashiell HammettDashiell HammettSamuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
worked for the Pinkerton National Detective AgencyPinkerton National Detective AgencyThe Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired... - Bobby HauckBobby HauckBobby Hauck is a college football coach, currently the head coach of the UNLV Rebels. Hauck was previously the head coach at Montana, where he led the Grizzlies to seven conference titles and postseason berths in as many seasons, including three national championship game appearances.-Early...
, head coach of the University of Nevada Las Vegas football team - Tim HauckTim HauckTimothy Christian Hauck is a former American football defensive back in the National Football League....
, NFL defensive back and defensive coordinator for UCLAUniversity of California, Los AngelesThe University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses... - Sam JankovichSam JankovichSam Jankovich, a Butte, Montana native is sports administrator that has held several positions including athletic director at the Washington State and the University of Miami...
, football player, coach, administrator - Keith JardineKeith JardineKeith Hector Jardine is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the light heavyweight division and is best known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
, mixed martial artistMixed martial artsMixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be... - Rob JohnsonRob Johnson (baseball)Robert James "Rob" Johnson is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. Born in Anaconda, Montana, he played Little League in Whitehall....
, San Diego PadresSan Diego PadresThe San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
catcher - Helmi JuvonenHelmi JuvonenHelmi Dagmar Juvonen was an American artist active in Seattle, Washington. She is associated with the artists of the Northwest School .-Background:...
, artist - Evel KnievelEvel KnievelEvel Knievel , born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket...
, motorcycle daredevil - Robbie KnievelRobbie KnievelRobert Edward "Robbie" Knievel is an American daredevil and son of stunt performer Evel Knievel.-Family:...
, motorcycle daredevil and son of Evel - Ella J. Knowles HaskellElla J. Knowles HaskellElla J. Knowles Haskell was the first female lawyer in Montana and the first female candidate for state attorney general in the United States.-Biography:...
, the first woman to practice law in Montana - Andrea LeedsAndrea LeedsAndrea Leeds was an American film actress. A popular supporting player of the late 1930s, Leeds was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Stage Door...
, actress - Levi LeipheimerLevi LeipheimerLevi Leipheimer is an American professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major results are winning the 2007–2009 editions of the Tour of California, the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré and the 2005 Deutschland Tour, coming in second in the 2008 Vuelta a España, third in the 2001 Vuelta a...
, Olympic medal-winning cyclist - Frank Little, union leader
- Paul B. LowneyPaul B. LowneyPaul Benjamin Lowney was a Seattle-based author and humorist. He wrote 29 books and three comic strips, most mixing humor, philosophy, and whimsical illustrations by his frequent collaborator Frank Renlie...
, writer and humorist, author of At Another Time — Growing up in Butte - Sonny LubickSonny LubickLouis "Sonny" Lubick is a former head football coach at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. In his fourth decade as collegiate football coach, the 2007 season marked Lubick's 15th and final year at the helm of a Colorado State program that he built from virtually the ground up...
, football coach at Colorado State UniversityColorado State UniversityColorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and... - Betty MacDonaldBetty MacDonaldBetty MacDonald was an American author who specialized in humorous autobiographical tales, and is best known for her book The Egg and I. She also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of children's books...
, humor writer - Mary MacLaneMary MacLaneMary MacLane was a controversial Canadian-born American writer whose frank memoirs helped usher in the confessional style of autobiographical writing...
, renowned feminist author and "Wild Woman of Butte" - Mike MansfieldMike MansfieldMichael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...
, U.S. senatorUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Montana and longest-serving Senate Majority LeaderParty leaders of the United States SenateThe Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive... - Lee MantleLee MantleLee Mantle was a United States Senator from Montana.Born in Birmingham, England, his mother converted to Mormonism and immigrated to the United States with her children; they settled at Salt Lake City, Utah in 1864...
, United States Senator from Montana - Judy MartzJudy MartzJudy Martz was the 22nd Governor of Montana, having served a single term from January 2, 2001, to January 3, 2005. Earlier, she was the Lieutenant Governor under Marc Racicot from 1997-2001...
, OlympicWinter Olympic GamesThe Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
speed skater and Governor of Montana - Jack McAuliffeJack McAuliffe (American football)John Theodore "Jack" McAuliffe was a halfback in the National Football League.-Career:McAuliffe played with the Green Bay Packers during the 1926 NFL season. He played at the collegiate level at Beloit College and the University of Montana.-References:...
, Green Bay PackersGreen Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
halfbackHalfback (American football)A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive... - Mike McGrathMike McGrathMichael McGrath currently serves as the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court. He was elected in 2008. He also served as Montana's Attorney General from 2000-2008. He was elected in November 2000, and was unopposed for his second term in 2004. He was a member of the Montana Democratic Party...
, Montana Attorney General - Joseph P. MonaghanJoseph P. MonaghanJoseph Patrick Monaghan of Butte, Montana was a U.S. Representative from Montana from 1933 to 1937. He was a Democrat. In 1936 he decided not to run for reelection and instead challenged Democratic incumbent United States senator James E. Murray in the Democratic primary. When Murray won, Monaghan...
, United States Representative from Montana - Bob O'BillovichBob O'BillovichRobert "Bob" O'Billovich, nicknamed "Obie", is the current General Manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League....
- CFLCanadian Football LeagueThe Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
executive, former CFL player, coach, and administrator - Pat OgrinPat OgrinPatrick John Ogrin is a former American football defensive tackle in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins. He also played for the now defunct United States Football League Denver Gold in 1983. He played college football at the University of Wyoming...
, Washington RedskinsWashington RedskinsThe Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
defensive lineman - Arnold OlsenArnold OlsenArnold Olsen was a U.S. Democratic politician from the state of Montana.-Early life:He was born in Butte, Montana on December 17, 1916. He attended Butte public schools, the Montana School of Mines, 1934–1936, and graduated from the Montana State University Law School , Missoula, Montana in 1940...
, United States Congressman from Montana - Erin PopovichErin PopovichErin Popovich is a three-time United States Paralympic swimmer. She has won 14 career Paralympic gold medals, and 19 total.- Personal life :...
, Paralympic swimmer, gold medalist and world record holder - Milt PopovichMilt PopovichMilton John Popovich was a professional American football halfback in the National Football League. He played with the Chicago Cardinals from 1938 to 1942.-External links:**...
, former professional football player - Martha RayeMartha RayeMartha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....
, actress - John E. RickardsJohn E. RickardsJohn Ezra Rickards was a Montana legislator and politician.Rickards was a businessman in Butte, Montana. He was a member of the territorial legislature from 1888-89, and was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1889...
, first Lieutenant Governor of Montana - Fritzi RidgewayFritzi RidgewayFritzi Ridgeway was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 63 films between 1916 and 1934...
, actress - Jim RotondiJim RotondiJames Robert Rotondi is an American jazz trumpeter, educator and conductor.Born in Butte, Montana and the youngest of 5 siblings, Rotondi lives in Graz, Austria and performs there and internationally with several groups, as well as being a Professor at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts...
, jazz trumpeter, composer, educator - Michael SellsMichael SellsMichael Anthony Sells is currently the John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.....
, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago - Jim SweeneyJim Sweeney (coach)Jim Sweeney is a former American football coach. He served as the head coach at Montana State University , Washington State University , and California State University, Fresno . Sweeney's 143 wins as the head coach at Fresno State are the most in the history of the program...
, former head football coach at Washington State UniversityWashington State UniversityWashington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
and longtime head coach at Fresno State University - Montana TaylorMontana TaylorArthur "Montana" Taylor was an American boogie-woogie pianist best known for his recordings in the 1940s and regarded as the leading exponent of the "barrelhouse" style of playing....
, pianist - George Leo ThomasGeorge Leo ThomasGeorge Leo Thomas is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as Bishop of Helena since 2004.-Biography:...
, Bishop of HelenaRoman Catholic Diocese of HelenaThe Diocese of Helena is the Catholic diocese for western Montana. It was erected from the year-old Vicarate of Montana on March 7, 1884, while Montana was still a territory. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Portland, which encompasses Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.For its first... - Jacob ThorkelsonJacob ThorkelsonJacob Thorkelson was an American elected official, Naval officer and medical doctor.-Biography:Thorkelson was born in Egersund, a coastal town in the county of Rogaland, Norway. Thorkelson immigrated to the United States in 1892 and worked as a navigator...
, United States Representative from Montana - Burton K. WheelerBurton K. WheelerBurton Kendall Wheeler was an American politician of the Democratic Party and a United States Senator from 1923 until 1947.-Early life:...
, United States Senator from Montana - Kathlyn WilliamsKathlyn WilliamsKathlyn Williams was an American actress, known for her blonde beauty and daring antics, who performed on stage as well as in early silent film.-Early life and career:...
, actress - Colt AndersonColt AndersonColt Anderson is an American football free safety for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League . He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Montana....
, Former Minnesota Vikings Free Safety, Eagles Free Safety - Bryon WilsonBryon WilsonBryon Wilson is an American freestyle skier and Olympic bronze medalist. He earned a spot on the US Freestyle Ski Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics after a solid beginning to the 2009–10 FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup season where he had two 2nd place finishes during the first weekend of...
, Olympic Bronze Medalist
See also
- Anaconda Copper Mine (Montana)
- Melrose, MontanaMelrose, MontanaMelrose is a neighborhood of Butte, Montana, United States, located at 45.6847ºN, 112.63ºW. Melrose lies off Interstate 15, Big Hole River Valley, and is an outfitting hub for fly fisherman using the Big Hole and Wise Rivers....
- Ramsay, MontanaRamsay, MontanaRamsay is a neighborhood in Butte, Montana, United States. Located at the coordinates of N 46° 00.828 W 112° 40.644, Ramsey lies off exit 216 on Interstate 90 on the Rocker Hill above central Butte....
- Rocker, MontanaRocker, MontanaRocker is a suburb of Butte, Montana, United States, located at the coordinates of N 46° 24.20 W 112° 36.40. Most known for its Port of Montana transportation hub at the connection of Interstates 15 and 90, Rocker lies 3 miles west of Butte....
- Silver Bow, MontanaSilver Bow, MontanaSilver Bow is a neighborhood in Butte, Montana, United States. It lies near the interchange of Interstate 15 and Interstate 90, near Rocker. Silver Bow is at Exit 119 off I-15, near the Port of Montana. It is well known locally as the location of the Silver Bow Twin Drive-In. Silver Bow has no...
Websites
- The Battle for Butte: Mining & Politics on the Northern Frontier, 1864-1906 by Michael P. Malone, from Montana Historical Society Press, 1995.
- Copper Camp: Stories of the world's greatest mining town, Butte, Montana compiled by Workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Montana.
- The War of the Copper Kings: The Builders of Butte and the Wolves of Wall Street (1935) by C. B. Glasscock
Books and book chapters
- Barnett, Harold C. 1994. Toxic Debts and the Superfund Dilemma. University of North Carolina Press.
- Beirle, Thomas C. and Jerry Cayford. 2002. Democracy in Practice: Public Participation in Environmental Decisions. Washington DC, USA: Resources For the Future Press.
- Callon, Michel. 1986. “Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and Fishermen of St. Brieuc Bay.” In John Law (ed.), Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).
- Calvert, Jerry. 1988. The Gibraltar: Socialism and Labor in Butte, Montana (Helena, Montana: Montana Historical Society).
- Castree, Noel and Tom MacMillan. 2001. “Dissolving Dualisms: Actor-networks and the Reimagination of Nature.” In Noel Castree and Bruce Braun (eds.), Social Nature: Theory, Practice, and Politics (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers).
- Church, Thomas W. and Robert T. Nakamura. 2003. Taming Regulation: Superfund and the Challenge of Regulatory Reform (Washington: Brookings Institution Press).
- Church, Thomas W. and Robert T. Nakamura. 1993.Cleaning up the Mess: Implementation Strategies in Superfund (Washington: The Brookings Institution).
- Clark Fork Coalition. 2005. State of the Clark Fork: Understanding our Watershed. Missoula, Montana: The Clark Fork Coalition.
- Cranor CF. 1993. Regulating Toxic Substances (NY: Oxford U. Pr).
- Edelstein, Michael R. 2003. Contaminated Communities: Coping with Residential Toxic Exposure. Westview Press.
- Emmons, David. 1989. The Butte Irish: Class and Ethnicity in an American Mining Town, 1875-1925 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press).
- Everett, George. 2007. Butte Trivia (Helena, Montana: Riverbend Publishing Co.)
- Finn, Janet. 1998. Tracing the Veins: Of Copper, Culture, and Community from Butte to Chuquicamata (Berkeley: University of California Press).
- Freudenberg, Nicholas and Carol Steinspir. 1992. “Not in Our Backyards: The Grassroots Environmental Movement,” pp. 27–38 in Dunlap, Riley E. and Angela G. Mertig (eds.) American Environmentalism: The U.S. Environmental Movement: 1970-1990 (Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis).
- Gibbs, Lois. 1998. Love Canal: The story continues... (Stony Creek, CT: New Society Publishers).
- Glasscock, C.B. 1935. The War of the Copper Kings (NY: Grosset and Dunlap).
- Hird, John. 1994. Superfund: The Political Economy of Environmental Risk (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press).
- Hiskes, Richard P. 1998. Democracy, Risk, and Community: Technological Hazards and the Evolution of Liberalism (NY: Oxford University Press).
- Kemmis, Daniel. 1990. Community and the Politics of Place (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press).
- Krimsky, Sheldon and Alonzo Plough.1988. Environmental Hazards: Communicating Risks as a Social Process (Dover, Mass: Auburn House Publishing Company).
- Law, John and John Hassard (eds.). 1999. Actor Network Theory and After (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers).Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection Elma MacGibbons reminiscences of her travels in the United States starting in 1898, which were mainly in Oregon and Washington. Includes chapter "Butte and Anaconda."
- MacMillan, Donald. 2000. Smoke Wars: Anaconda Copper, Montana Air Pollution, and the Courts, 1890-1924. Helena: Montana Historical Society Press.
- Malone, Michael. 1981. The Battle for Butte: Mining and Politics on the Northern Frontier (Seattle: University of Washington Press).
- McCarthy, Pete. 2002. From Beara to Butte: The Road To McCarthy (Great Britain: Hodden and Stroughton)
- Mercier, Laurie. 2001. Anaconda: Labor, Community, and Culture in Montana’s Smelter City (Chicago: University of Illinois Press).
- Munday, Pat. 2001. Montana’s Last Best River: The Big Hole River and its People (Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press).
- Murphy, Mary. 1997. Mining Cultures: Men, Women, and Leisure in Butte, 1914-1941 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press).
- Nash, June. 1979. We Eat the Mines and the Mines Eat Us (NY: Columbia University Press).
- National Research Council. 2005. Superfund and Mining Megasites: Lessons from the Coeur d’Alene River Basin (Washington, DC: National Academy Press).
- Novotny, W. Patrick. 2000. We Live, Work, and Play: The Environmental Justice Movement and the Struggle for a New Environmentalism (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers).
- Punke, Michael. 2006. Fire and Brimstone The North Butte Mining Disastor of 1917 (New York: Hyperion Books).
- Salzman, James and Barton H. Thompson, Jr. 2003. Environmental Law and Policy (NY: Foundation Press).
- Taylor, Peter. 2005. Unruly Complexity: Ecology, Interpretation, Engagement (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Journal articles
- Capek, Stella M. 1992. Environmental Justice, Regulation, and the Local Community.” International Journal of Health Services 22(4):729-746.
- Chess, C. and Purcell, K. 1999. Public participation and the environment: Do we know what works? Environmental Science and Technology 33(16): 2685-2692.
- Covello VT and Mumpower J. 1985 “Risk Analysis and Risk Management: A Historical Perspective,” Risk Analysis 5(2): 103-120.
- Folk, Ellison. "Public Participation in the Superfund Cleanup Process," Ecology Law Quarterly 18 (1991), 173-221.
- Hird, J. A. 1993. “Environmental Policy and Equity: the case of Superfund.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 12: 323-343.
- Jasanoff, Sheila. 1992. "Science, Politics, and the Renegotiation of Expertise at EPA", Osiris, Vol. 7 (1992): 195-217.
- Light, Andrew. 2000. "What is an Ecological Identity?," Environmental Politics 9 (4): 59-81.
- Malone, Michael. 1985. “The Close of the Copper Century.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 35: 69-72.
- Moore, Johnnie N. and S.N. Luoma, S.N. 1990. "Hazardous wastes from large-scale metal extraction." Environmental Science & Technology 24 (September 1990): 278-282.
- Munday, Pat. 2002. “’A millionaire couldn’t buy a piece of water as good:’ George Grant and the Conservation of the Big Hole River Watershed.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 52 (2): 20-37.
- Quivik, Fredric. 2004. “Of Tailings, Superfund Litigation, and Historians as Experts: U.S. v. Asarco, et al. (the Bunker Hill Case in Idaho).” The Public Historian 26 (1): 81-104.
- Probst, K. et al. 2002. “Superfund's Future: What Will It Cost?” Environmental Forum, 19 (2 ): 32-41.
- Tesh, Sylvia. 1999. “Citizen experts in environmental risk.” Policy Studies 32 (1): 39-58.
- Teske, N. 2000. "A tale of two TAGs: Dialogue and democracy in the superfund program." American Behavioral Scientist. 44 (4): 664-678.
- Wyckoff, William. 1995. “Postindustrial Butte. (Butte, Montana)” The Geographical Review 85 (4): 478-497.
Other
- Arco (Atlantic Richfield Company). U.d. “Clark Fork River Operable Unit—Clark Fork River Facts.” http://www.clarkforkfacts.com Accessed 03.Nov.02.
- Center for Public Environmental Oversight. 2002. “Roundtable on Long-term Management in the Cleanup of Contaminated Sites.” Report from a roundtable held in Washington, DC, 28 June 2002. http://www.cpeo.org/, accessed 19.Dec.05.
- Curran, Mary E. 1996. “The Contested Terrain of Butte, Montana: Social Landscapes of Risk and Resiliency.” Master’s thesis, University of Montana.
- Dobb, Edwin. 1999. “Mining the Past.” High Country NewsHigh Country NewsHigh Country News is a twice-monthly magazine published in Paonia, Colorado that primarily focuses on public policy, environmental issues, and culture in the Western United States. Founded in 1970 in Wyoming by rancher and environmentalist, Tom Bell, High Country News is a non-profit 501 corporation...
31 (11): 1-10. - Dobb, Edwin. 1996. “Pennies from Hell: In Montana, the Bill for America’s Copper Comes Due.” Harper’s Magazine (293): 39-54.
- Langewiesche, William. 2001. “The Profits of Doom—One of the Most Polluted Cities in America Learns to Capitalize on Its Contamination” The Atlantic Monthly (April 2001): 56-62.
- Levine, Mark. 1996. “As the Snake Did Away with the Geese.” Outside Magazine 21 (September 1996): 74-84.
- LeCain, Timothy. 1998. “Moving Mountains: Technology and Environment in Western Copper Mining.” PhD Dissertation, University of Delaware.
- Missoula Independent (newspaper). 2005. “Knocking Opportunity,” 7 October 2005. Missoula, Montana.
- Montana Environmental Information Center. 2005. “Federal Superfund: EPA's Plan for Butte Priority Soils.” Available at http://www.meic.org/Butte_Superfund2005/Butte_Superfund.html.
- Murray, C. and D.R. Marmorek. 2004. “Adaptive Management: A science-based approach to managing ecosystems in the face of uncertainty.” Prepared for presentation at the Fifth International Conference on Science and Management of Protected Areas: Making Ecosystem Based Management Work, Victoria, British Columbia, May 11–16, 2003. ESSA Technologies, BC, Canada.
- National Academy of Sciences. 2005. The National Academy of Sciences Report on Superfund and Mining Megasites: Lessons from the Coeur d’Alene River Basin. Available at http://www.epa.gov/superfund/reports/coeur.htm.
- Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. 2005. “Cut and Run: EPA Betrays Another Montana Town—A Tale of Butte, the Largest Superfund Site in the United States.” News release (August 18, 2005). http://www.peer.org/news/news_archive.php, accessed 15.Sept.05.
- Quivik, Frederic. 1998. “Smoke and Tailings: An Environmental History of Copper Smelting Technologies in Montana, 1880–1930.” PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
- Society for Applied Anthropology. 2005. “SFAA Project Townsend, Case Study Three, The Clark Fork Superfund Sites in Western Montana.” www.sfaa.net Accessed 23.Nov.05.
- Southland, Elizabeth. 2003. “Megasites: Presentation for the NACEPT—Superfund Subcommittee.” www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/naceptdocs/megasites.pdf, accessed 22.April.05.
- St. Clair, Jeffrey. 2003. “Something About Butte.” Counterpunch, an online magazine. www.counterpunch.org, accessed 3.Oct.05.
- Steele, Karen Dorn. 2002. “Superfund revived Butte.” Spokesman-Review (newspaper), Spokane, Washington, 28 July 2002.
- Toole, K. Ross. 1954. “A History of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company: A Study in the Relationships between a State and its People and a Corporation, 1880-1950.” PhD Dissertation, University of California-Los Angeles.
- United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2005a. Region 8 – Superfund: Citizen’s Guide to Superfund. Updated 27 December 2005. www.epa.gov/ Accessed 27Dec.05.
- ______. 2005b. “EPA Region 8—Environmental Justice (EJ) Program.” Updated 24 March 2005). www.epa.gov/region8/ej/ Accessed 05.Jan.06.
- ______. 2004a. Superfund Cleanup Proposal, Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit of the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site. www.epa.gov/Region8/superfund/sites/mt/FinalBPSOUProposedPlan.pdf Accessed 20.Dec.2004.
- ______. 2004b. “Clark Fork River Record of Decision,” available at http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/sites/mt/milltowncfr/cfrou.html.
______. 2002a. Superfund Community Involvement Toolkit. EPA 540-K-01-004.*
_______. 2002b. “Butte Benefits from a $78 Million Cleanup Agreement.” Available at http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/sites/mt/silver_.html.
- ______. 1998. Superfund Community Involvement Handbook and Toolkit. Washington, DC: Office of Emergency and Remedial Response.
- ______. 1996. “EPA Superfund Record of Decision R08-96/112.” Available at http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/rods/fulltext/r0896112.pdf.
- ______. 1992. "Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk for All Communities." EPA A230-R-92-008; two volumes (June 1992).