Butte Beaut Beer
Butte began in the late 1800s as a gold and silver mining camp. At the turn of the century, the development of electricity and the industrialization of America resulted in a massive copper boom, and Butte flourished. As copper mining ramped up and the city grew, it attracted workers from all over the globe, creating a unique cosmopolitan setting against the backdrop of the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains. The influx of miners also gave Butte its hardscrabble reputation as a place where anything was possible, spawning a famous saloon and red light district, 'Venus Alley,' along Mercury Street. Today the main remnant of the wild old days is the Dumas Brothel, which operated until 1982, but the cultures of the many ethnic groups who came to work in Butte can still be found throughout the community, primarily in foods like the Cornish pasty, Slavic povitica and Scandinavian lefse, just to name a few.
The increasing demand for copper caused the copper mining industry in Butte to become one of the first centralized and industrialized businesses in the world. By the first decade of the 1900s,
The consolidation of mining interests placed heavy demands on the immigrant workers who toiled in the mines under harsh conditions. This situation led Butte to the forefront of labor organization and unionism, and it was one of the first cities in the world where the battle between labor and management played out.
Strikes and other conflicts sometimes turned violent, and conflicts were not only labor vs management. At times, unions vying for control turned against one another. Tensions broke loose during flashpoint events, such as the dynamiting of the Butte Miner's Union Hall in 1914 and the lynching of labor activist and International Workers of the World(IWW) organizer Frank Little in 1917. At the peak of the labor conflict, martial law was declared in Butte from 1914 until 1921, the longest period of military occupation in the U.S. since the reconstruction era.
While numbers vary, the Butte population peaked in 1920 at more than 60,000. Some reports claim as many as 100,000 lived in the area. However, increasing industrialization of the mining process caused the town's growth to level off and then enter a long period of decline that became the most pronounced in 1955 with the opening of the Berkeley Pit. The Pit marked a transition from primarily underground mining to the much less labor-intensive open pit mining.
The Berkeley Pit operated until 1982, when increasing costs and low copper prices resulted in a full shutdown. Most underground mines had been closed in the 1970s, so for the first time in its history, Butte was a mining town without a mine. During the 1980s, the population declined before stabilizing around 32,000 in the early 1990s.
High energy costs and low copper prices again caused mining to cease in 2000, but the closure did not last long. Montana Resources resumed operations at the Continental Pit in 2002 on the heels of sharply rising copper prices, and that facility continues to operate today.
The late 1990s and early 21st century also marked a turning point for the mining-scarred environment of Butte. While the city still bears many prominent visual remnants of mining, the environmental effects of that century of industry are being actively remediated and restored through the federal Superfund program and a unique State of Montana lawsuit against the responsible companies. The net result is over $1 billion (yes, billion) dollars toward environmental restoration in the Butte area,
source: co.silverbow.mt.us/481/History-Culture
Butte Beaut Beer
Butte began in the late 1800s as a gold and silver mining camp. At the turn of the century, the development of electricity and the industrialization of America resulted in a massive copper boom, and Butte flourished. As copper mining ramped up and the city grew, it attracted workers from all over the globe, creating a unique cosmopolitan setting against the backdrop of the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains. The influx of miners also gave Butte its hardscrabble reputation as a place where anything was possible, spawning a famous saloon and red light district, 'Venus Alley,' along Mercury Street. Today the main remnant of the wild old days is the Dumas Brothel, which operated until 1982, but the cultures of the many ethnic groups who came to work in Butte can still be found throughout the community, primarily in foods like the Cornish pasty, Slavic povitica and Scandinavian lefse, just to name a few.
The increasing demand for copper caused the copper mining industry in Butte to become one of the first centralized and industrialized businesses in the world. By the first decade of the 1900s,
The consolidation of mining interests placed heavy demands on the immigrant workers who toiled in the mines under harsh conditions. This situation led Butte to the forefront of labor organization and unionism, and it was one of the first cities in the world where the battle between labor and management played out.
Strikes and other conflicts sometimes turned violent, and conflicts were not only labor vs management. At times, unions vying for control turned against one another. Tensions broke loose during flashpoint events, such as the dynamiting of the Butte Miner's Union Hall in 1914 and the lynching of labor activist and International Workers of the World(IWW) organizer Frank Little in 1917. At the peak of the labor conflict, martial law was declared in Butte from 1914 until 1921, the longest period of military occupation in the U.S. since the reconstruction era.
While numbers vary, the Butte population peaked in 1920 at more than 60,000. Some reports claim as many as 100,000 lived in the area. However, increasing industrialization of the mining process caused the town's growth to level off and then enter a long period of decline that became the most pronounced in 1955 with the opening of the Berkeley Pit. The Pit marked a transition from primarily underground mining to the much less labor-intensive open pit mining.
The Berkeley Pit operated until 1982, when increasing costs and low copper prices resulted in a full shutdown. Most underground mines had been closed in the 1970s, so for the first time in its history, Butte was a mining town without a mine. During the 1980s, the population declined before stabilizing around 32,000 in the early 1990s.
High energy costs and low copper prices again caused mining to cease in 2000, but the closure did not last long. Montana Resources resumed operations at the Continental Pit in 2002 on the heels of sharply rising copper prices, and that facility continues to operate today.
The late 1990s and early 21st century also marked a turning point for the mining-scarred environment of Butte. While the city still bears many prominent visual remnants of mining, the environmental effects of that century of industry are being actively remediated and restored through the federal Superfund program and a unique State of Montana lawsuit against the responsible companies. The net result is over $1 billion (yes, billion) dollars toward environmental restoration in the Butte area,
source: co.silverbow.mt.us/481/History-Culture