Hunter Thompson once said, in describing his infamous lawyer, "There he goes. One of God's own…read moreprototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." The same can be easily said of Butte. It's a mutant monster of a place that is too weird to continue living, and yet it's too rare and tough to die. After all, we're talking about a city that turned both a brothel and a toxic superfund site into tourist attractions, and St. Patrick's Day is treated as a major holiday.
Like many cities of the west, Butte's origination was that of a gold-rush era mining camp in the early 1870's. But its wealth and fame came not from gold or silver, but copper, for which demand skyrocketed with the advent of electricity (as well as bullet manufacturing during WW I and II later on). Life in Butte was definitely good.
Unfortunately, just like so many mining towns of the West, the good times were destined to end. In this case, the falling cost of copper, making importation from South America cheaper than mining and processing it here in the US. As the mining operations shut down, businesses and individuals packed up and left, with arson becoming the leading business in the area. Almost overnight, the city that was considered the Paris of the West became a tarnished empty shell of its former glory days. Many now call Butte "The Detroit of The West".
These days, the population is under a third of what it once was, and continues to dwindle. No doubt about it, life has dropped trousers, squatted over the area, and let fly with a fresh steaming load of lemons, over and over and over.
But leave it to the lifelong residents to prove to the world exactly how tough they really are. The mining is gone? Let's build a giant statue to bring in the tourists! The statue isn't bringing in as many tourists as before? Let's build a speed skating arena to train people for the Olympics! Man-made lake so toxic that it almost instantaneously killed more than three hundred Canadian geese that landed in it? Turn it into a tourist attraction! Water so filled with toxic minerals that it can be mined? Mine it! You get the idea.
As much as people outside the area love to dump on and make fun of the community, there's no getting around the fact that Butte has contributed greatly to Montana and world history. After all, would there be extreme sports if Butte-native Evel Knievel had chosen to become a miner instead of a world-class daredevil? Would Dashel Hammet's novels had been has hard-boiled as they were if he didn't spend time as a Pinkerton Detective on The Richest Hill on Earth?
These days, with most of the mining gone, Butte plays host to various conventions and festivals. The most famous of which, outside of St. Patrick's Day, are Evel Knievel days, which is a celebration of Butte's most famous son.
There are hundreds of reasons one should visit Butte, far too many to list here. Instead, I recommend you, again to quote Thompson, "Buy the ticket and take the ride." Marvel at the rich history. As you take all the attractions in, remember this: you are standing in what is quickly becoming one of the most modern and largest 20th century ghost towns. Enjoy!
