Butte, Montana

July 31 -- Today was all about Butte, Montana. Although I started out in Billings, I didn't do any sightseeing there (I'll be back through on Monday) but immediately got on the road toward Butte. Unfortunately, the rain started just as I was packing up to leave. Although the rain wasn't as bad as I'd seen earlier, there was the challenge of going around more turns since I was going through mountains this time. It looked like the rain curse was back and I'd be spending another soggy day visiting the sites of another city. However, the weather broke before I arrived at Butte, so although it was a little muggy, it was otherwise a bright shiny day in Butte when I arrived.

I was a little confused by the City Hall. It's also the city and/or county courthouse, so I originally thought I was in the wrong place. After going in and out a few times, I finally looked at the directory and found the place I wanted. Without too much trouble I obtained a zoning map of the city. While I was waiting for a printout I saw some other maps that were interesting. One showed the major property holders in and around the city. I couldn't get close enough to read who they were. Another map showed the population changes in the various Montana counties from 1990 to 2000. In general the eastern part of the state gained population and the western part of the state lost population. Silver Bow County, where Butte resides, had the distinction of being the only county with an unchanged population. What really surprised me was that some counties had an increase or decrease of as much as 25% in just one decade. The data is now almost a decade old. I'm sure they will have a new map after the 2010 census is done.

I tried to see some of the "Copper King" mansions, but one required reservations and another wasn't open. So I went to find something to eat before moving on. I found a little place that used to be the city jail. The woman told me a little about the place and the city. Among other things, the city police had been corrupt during the 1980's until the FBI came in and cleaned it up. I think that was around the time the Berkeley Pit was being shut down, so it sounded like something that happened during hard times.

After that I drove to the Berkeley Pit and hung out there for a little bit. There wasn't that much to see. It's a hole in the ground with water in it. Kind of like Crater Lake without the island in the middle. In truth you could see the water cleaning plant across from the viewing stand. There was some dirty liquid flowing down the side of the pit from there, but I wasn't sure what that was about. The owners of the viewing stand were trying to spruce the place up. In addition to the gift shop they had some picnic tables and an old style trolley to amuse the kids. There was also the start of a scenic garden on the hill by the gift shop.


In addition to the pit, there were a lot of black metal structures which were related to the mines. I'm unclear if that was how people and ore were transported up and down or if it had something to do with processing. Anyway, these structures were all over the east side of town. The one shown is behind the police station. The City Hall had a model of the minehead and how it was used. Unfortunately it was broken so I couldn't see it in action. Each structure had a name, I think the same as the mine it serviced.


Since I still had time, I headed down to Montana Tech and the Mineral Museum. The museum was made up of one large room and a few side rooms and balconies all in one of the buildings on campus (I think the Biology department was on the next floor down). Various gems and minerals were in cases around the place with larger pieces either in individual cases or just on a pedestal. I noticed that some of the items were actually in a safe (gold, silver, platinum). The neatest display was of phosphorescence in one of the side rooms. If you pressed a button the regular light would go out and a black light would turn on so you could see how some of the rocks glowed. After a few minutes the black light would turn off and two of the rocks would blow in the dark. Unfortunately, my camera can't take pictures of this. The picture shown is of one of the large pieces on a pedestal. It was part of a large crystal nodule that was cut apart.

Finally, I stopped by one of the Copper King mansions again. This time it was opened. The guide was showing a tour. I walked around and took some pictures until he was done and paid for a tour. I was very impressed with the amount of stuff packed into the building which didn't look all that big from the outside. The fourth floor was a ballroom in addition to the bedrooms and all of the sitting rooms. The guide even let me play one of the pianos for a little bit.

After that, running a bit late, I headed to Great Falls. I didn't have any problem getting there. Since I knew the layout of the city, once I was on the surface streets, I didn't have any problem getting to my destination. The only confusing part was that I had only been to the city in winter, so none of the streets looked familiar because of all of the green foliage around.



Here's a slideshow of the photos from my time at Devils Tower.


I'm taking a break for a few days, but will be back on the road on Monday.

TTFN