Butte,
MT, Travel Guide : Introduction.gif)
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| Downtown Butte, Montana |
Butte,
Montana, is a town full of history. Few other towns anywhere
in the US can claim such a spectacular boom and
then bust as Butte, MT, can. During Butte’s prime,
back in the late 1910’s and early 1920’s, the
population of Butte was nearly 100,000 people. Today, due
to the decline of the mining industry and other resource
extraction industries, the population of Silver Bow County
is only about 34,000 people. And, if this staggering reduction
in population isn’t enough, Butte, due to its mining
past, is unlucky enough to now sit in the largest Superfund
Cleanup Site in the United States – the legacy of more
than 100 years of mining that paid scant attention to environmental
concerns during the time.
One would think from the above paragraph that Butte, Montana,
is nothing but a bunch of empty buildings and dirty streets
that is surrounded by an environmental nightmare of unequaled
proportions. Yet, Butte is far from that. In fact, considering
how far and how fast Butte fell following the decline of
the mining industry; it is quite amazing how far Butte has
come in rebuilding its downtown, restoring its environment,
and in general transforming itself from a resource extraction
town to a town built on other industries.
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| Entrance
to the Berkeley Pitt |
Butte
also has something few other cities can claim – a
rich and incredible history. Visiting Butte, even today,
one can literally step back into time. Butte is also one
of only two cities to be recognized as a National Historic
Landmark (the other is Lowell, MA) – with more than
4000 historic buildings of one kind or another. Butte is
literally teeming full of historic buildings – and
makes other “restored” historic towns seem rather
lame in comparison. And if all the historical buildings and “ghost
signs” aren’t enough, there is always the every
present old mining rigs (over 40 of them dot the sky in Butte)
to help remind visitors what built Butte into the town that
it is today.
For
this reason, it’s highly recommended that anyone
who plans on visiting Montana, whether it is for fishing
or something else, make plans to stop by and check out the
town. It’s a unique town that is well worth spending
time to poke around in.
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