Butte, Montana - Sept. 5-10, 2012

Butte, MT is called the "Richest Hill on Earth".    At one time the town had miles of tunnels and many copper mines.   The population of Butte at one time was 100,000 people!   Most of the miners were immigrants from various countries who were hoping for a better life.   When the copper ran out, the population of the town dropped to about 35,000 people, which is the approximate population at this time.

The Butte, MT KOA is really a convenient campground.   The Visitor Center and a walking trail are both next door, so we walked over after getting the trailer set up.    We also took a walk on the hiking trail - very nice.   We picked up many brochures of possible things to do.   However, I was frustrated when I tried calling the two house museums I was hoping to visit -- no answer at either.   The lady at the Visitor's Center indicated that since Labor day, many of the facilities were likely either closing for the season, or cutting their hours.  

Thursday we tried stopping at both the house museums, but neither was open, although their web sites indicated that they SHOULD be open.   We ended up walking through the historic "uptown" and reading signs on the historic buildings.    Hmmmm,  not exactly what we had in mind, although exercise is good!  

Friday we stopped at the Mai Wah museum, a Chinese museum in the heart of the area that had been China town.   The historic Wah Chong Tai Company and Mai Wah Noodle Parlor building were the cornerstone of Butte's once vibrant Chinatown.  They are now Montana's only museum devoted to the history of Chinese immigrants in the mining west.  They were particularly excited about obtaining the return of an extensive collection of Chinese material.   The items were the remaining inventory and personal items of the Wah Chong Tai Company and the Mai Wah noodle parlor.   They represent a range of items from clothing, spices, herbal medicines and household religious items.  

We stopped at the Mall and inquired about the Our Lady of the Rockies statue which overlooks the city of Butte from the Continental Divide at 8510 ft.   The statue is 90 feet tall and is the end result of a dream and six years of work.   The statue is lighted and visible at night.   The project was the result of volunteers of all faiths working together to construct a road to the top of the mountain and the fund raising projects to make the statue possible.   It was started on 12/29/1979 and was completed on 12/17/1985.   The statue is reached by school bus and tours occur twice a day.   The next project is to build a gondola to take the visitors to the top in 5 minutes, rather than the 1 hour bus ride each way that is currently occurring.

We took the Trolley Tour from the Visitor's Center that afternoon.   IT was the best thing we did in Butte, as the guide was extremely knowledgeable about the town and it's history.   We shared the trolley with the Red Hats who had come to Butte from 5 states for their annual convention.  

Since the Red Hats were in town, I figured that women like house museums and sure enough, on Saturday both the Copper King Mansion belonging to William A. Clark and the Clark Chateau which belonged to his son were both open for tours.    Unfortunately the Copper King's Mansion only had a few original pieces, but was furnished with period furniture of the era.   The Chateau had been turned into an art gallery, but the house was interesting.   Again, very little furniture was in the house, and again it was period, not anything that had belonged to Wm. Clark's son.  

Sunday we completed our sightseeing of Butte with a trip to the World Museum of Mining at the Orphan Girl silver mine.    The other mines were copper mines, but the Orphan Girl was a silver mine.   We enjoyed the DVD about the history of mining and the town, and the exhibits were interesting.   There is generally an optional tour of the mine, but on Sunday there was no tour.   OK with me, I don't like going underground -- mines, caves, etc.