Butte nightlife in the 1930s
By the 1900s Butte was the largest producer of copper in the world. There was a huge demand for copper during this time, because electricity was new and copper was needed for electric wire. Most buildings got electricity at some point, so if you think of every building in America needing electricity, you will have some idea of how in demand copper was. The three men who where in control of the mining companies were William a. Clark, Marcus Daly, and F. Augustus Heinze (these men were known as the "Copper Kings"). These men fought over control of the copper for many years. Eventually, William A. Clark created the Anaconda mining company, and "won" the Copper king war. Clark was making around 17 million a month. His mansion, (The copper king Mansion) cost him $250,000, about a half a days wages for him.
People from all over the world came to Butte to mine in the copper mines. Many people came for better working conditions, higher wages, and a better life for their families. Back when Butte was a boom town it was the biggest north west city in the United States (bigger than Denver, Seattle, and Portland), but today it's population in only about 33,000 and it feels like the biggest ghost town in the world.
uptown Butte today
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Cool, a nice piece of history to learn about :)
ReplyDeleteIs there an 'old time village' there for tourists? I know a place in Australia called Sovereign Hill, in Ballarat. It's to do more with the Gold Rush, but it's set out like it was 150+ years ago, with the same shops as well.
yes, there is an old mining villiage at this museum we went to. It was the best part of the trip!! (:
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