Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA: Veenkoloniale Genealogieën

Notes:
Butte (IPA: bjut, like 'beaut-', not 'butt') is a city in and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of The City and County of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2000 census, Butte's population was 33,892. In its heyday between the late 19th century and about 1920, it was one of the largest and most notorious copper boomtowns in the American West, home to hundreds of saloons and a famous red-light district. Butte is the only city in the United States where possession and consumption of open containers of alcoholic beverages always are allowed on the street throughout the entire city (although not in vehicles).

The local daily newspaper is the Montana Standard, owned by Lee Enterprises. There is also an independent weekly newspaper, The Butte Weekly.

The city is served by Bert Mooney Airport.

History

Butte began as a mining town in the late 19th century. At first only gold and silver were mined in the area, but the advent of electricity caused a soaring demand for copper, which was abundant in the area. The small town soon became one of the most prosperous cities in the country, especially during World War I, and was often called "the Richest Hill on Earth". It was the largest city for many hundreds of miles in all directions. The city attracted workers from Ireland, Wales, England, Lebanon, Canada, Finland, Austria, Serbia, Italy, China, Syria, Croatia, Montenegro, Mexico, and all areas of the USA. The legacy of the immigrants lives on in the form of the Cornish pasty which was popularized by mine workers who needed something easy to eat in the mines.

The influx of miners gave Butte the reputation as a wide-open town where any vice was obtainable. The city's famous saloon and red-light district, called the "Line", was centered on Mercury Street, where the elegant bordellos included the famous Dumas Brothel, regarded as the longest-running house of prostitution in the U.S. In the brick alley behind the brothel was the equally famous Venus Alley, where women plied their trade in small cubicles called "cribs". The red-light district brought miners and other men from all over the region and was openly tolerated by city officials until the 1980s as one of the last such urban districts in the U.S. The Dumas Brothel is now operated as a museum to Butte's rougher days. Close by Wyoming Street is home to the Butte High School (home of the "Bulldogs").

At the end of the 19th century, copper was in great demand because of new technologies such as electric power that required the use of copper. Three men fought for control of Butte's mining wealth. These three "Copper Kings" were William A. Clark, Marcus Daly, and F. Augustus Heinze.

In 1899, Daly joined with William Rockefeller, Henry H. Rogers, and Thomas W. Lawson to organize the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company. Not long after, the company changed its name to Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM). Over the years, Anaconda was owned by assorted larger corporations. In the 1920s, it was the fourth largest company in the world, and had a virtual monopoly over the mines in and around Butte. The prosperity continued up to the 1950s, when the declining grade of ore and competition from other mines led the Anaconda company to switch its focus from the costly and dangerous practice of underground mining to open pit mining. This marked the beginning of the end for the boom times in Butte.

Butte was also known as "the Gibraltar of Unionism", with a very active labor union movement that sought to counter the power and influence of the Anaconda company, which was also simply known as "The Company." At one time, not only was there considerable activism by the predecessor organizations to the AFL-CIO, but Butte was also a hotbed of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or the "Wobblies") organizing. There were a number of clashes between laborers, labor organizers, and the AAnaconda company, including the lynching of IWW activist Frank Little, and at one point, Pinkerton Agency guards hired by The Company resorted to gunning down strikers in the Anaconda Road Massacre. Between approximately 1900 and 1917, Butte also had a strong streak of Socialist politics, even electing a Mayor on the Socialist ticket in 1914.

In 1917, copper production from the Butte mines peaked and has steadily declined since. By WWII, copper production from the ACM's holdings in Chuquicamata, Chile, far exceeded Butte's production. The historian Janet Finn has examined this "tale of two cities"--Butte and Chuquicamata as two ACM mining towns.

The open-pit era

Thousands of homes were destroyed in the Meaderville suburb and surrounding areas, McQueen and East Butte, to excavate the Berkeley Pit, which opened in 1955. At the time, it was the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the United States. Other open pit mines were dug in the area, including the still-operational East Continental Pit. The Berkeley pit grew with time, and in November 1973 the Columbia Gardens, William A. Clark's gift to the people of Butte, was torn down to expand the Berkeley Pit. In 1977 the ARCO company purchased Anaconda Mining, and only three years later started shutting down mines due to lower metal prices. In 1982, all mining in the Berkeley Pit was suspended.

Anaconda stopped mining at the Continental pit in 1983. Montana Resources bought the property and reopened the Continental pit in 1986. The company stopped mining in 2000, but resumed in 2003 with higher metal prices, and continues at last report, employing 346 people. From 1880 through 2005, the mines of the Butte district have produced more than 9.6 million tonnes of copper, 2.1 million tonnes of zinc, 1.6 million tonnes of manganese, 381 thousand tonnes of lead, 87 thousand tonnes of molybdenum, 715 million troy ounces of silver, and 2.9 million ounces of gold.

When mining shut down at the Berkeley pit in 1982, water pumps in nearby mines were also shut down, which resulted in highly acidic water laced with toxic heavy metals filling up the pit. Only two years later the pit was classified as a Superfund site and an environmental hazard site. Meanwhile, the acidic water continued to rise. It was not until the 1990s that serious efforts to clean up the Berkeley Pit began. The situation gained even more attention after as many as 342 migrating geese picked the pit lake as a resting place, resulting in their deaths. Steps have since been taken to prevent a recurrence, including but not limited to loudspeakers broadcasting sounds to scare off waterfowl. However, in November 2003 the Horseshoe Bend treatment facility went online and began treating and diverting much of the water that would have flowed into the pit. Ironically, the Berkeley Pit is also one of the city's biggest tourist attractions. It is the largest pit lake in the United States, and is the most costly part of the country's largest Superfund site.

Today, Butte's population is about a third of its peak in 1917 of 115,000 (estimated), when it was the largest city between Seattle and Minneapolis. Since about 1960, the city's population has been about 30,000, despite periodic rises and dropsps. Over a dozen of the headframes still stand over the mine shafts, and the city still contains thousands of historic commercial and residential buildings from the boom times, which, especially in the Uptown section, give it a very old-fashioned appearance like a ghost town, with the many buildings and comparatively few people. As with many industrial cities, tourism and services, especially health care (Butte has Southwest Montana's only major trauma center), are rising as primary employers. Many areas of the city, especially the areas near the old mines, show signs of wear from time but a recent influx of investors and an aggressive campaign to remedy blight has led to a renewed interest in restoring property in Uptown Butte's historic district, which was expanded in 2006 to include parts of Anaconda and is now the largest National Historic Landmark District in the United States with nearly 6,000 contributing properties.

A century after the era of intensive mining and smelting, the area around the city remains an environmental issue. Arsenic and heavy metals such as lead are found in high concentrations in some spots affected by old mining, and for a period of time in the 1990s the tap water was unsafe to drink due to poor filtration and decades-old wooden supply pipes. Efforts to improve the water supply have taken place in the past few years, with millions of dollars being invested to upgrade water lines and repair infrastructure. Environmental research and clean-up efforts have contributed to the diversification of the local economy, and signs of vitality remain, including a multi-million dollar polysilicon manufacturing plant locating nearby in the 1990s and the city's recognition and designation in the late 1990s as an All-American City and also as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2002. In 2004, Butte received another economic boost as well as international recognition as the location for the Hollywood film Don't Come Knocking, directed by renowned director Wim Wenders and released throughout the world in 2006.

The annual celebration of Butte's Irish heritage (since 1882) is the annual St. Patrick's Day festivities. In these modern times about 30,000 revelers converge on Butte's Historic Uptown District to enjoy the parade led by the Ancient Order of Hibernians and celebrate in bars such as Maloney's, the Silver Dollar Saloon, the M&M Cigar Store, and The Irish Times Pub.

The larger and better known annual celebration is Knievel Days held each summer. This event draws over 50,000 bikers and daredevils from across the world. The highlight of the event is when all participants share a moment of silence for the whole Knievel clan traditionally observed at 4:20 pm on the second day of the event. The moment is broken by five daredevils simultaneously jump 19 trucks while fireworks explode and fifty foot flames of fire shoot up through the trucks while God Bless America plays. Many participants openly weep at the sight.

North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917

Sparked by a tragic accident more than 2,000 feet (610 m) below the ground on June 8, 1917, a fire in the Granite Mountain shaft spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through the labyrinth of underground tunnels. A rescue effort commenced buut the carbon monoxide was stealing the air supply. A few men built man-made bulk heads to save their lives but many others died in a panic to try to get out. Rescue workers set up a fan to prevent the fire from spreading. This worked for a shorrt time but when the rescuers tried to use water, the water evaporated creating steam that burned people trying to escape. Once the fire was out, those waiting to hear the news on the surface couldn't identify the victims. They were too mutilated to recognize, leading many to assume the worst. One hundred sixty eight bodies were removed from the mine. Due to the heroic efforts of men such as Ernest Sullau, Manus Duggan, Con O'Neil, and JD Moore, some survived to tell the tale. The Speculator Mine Memorial was built as a reminder of the greatest loss of life in US hard rock mining history, a title it still holds today.

Birth

Matches 1 to 13 of 13

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Birth		Person ID	Tree
1	Cockell, Alice Winifred	1901	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I452686	Veenkoloniale voorouders
2	Doggett, Alice Jeanette	Saturday 03 November 1923	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I447509	Veenkoloniale voorouders
3	Irvine, Emma Clark	About 1869	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I447802	Veenkoloniale voorouders
4	Kramer, Alice Hazel	Tuesday 15 November 1904	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I448206	Veenkoloniale voorouders
5	Kramer, Gladys Lillian	Sunday 22 August 1909	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I310674	Veenkoloniale voorouders
6	Kramer, Hubert Elwood	Wednesday 01 January 1908	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I448215	Veenkoloniale voorouders
7	Kramer, Robert Nelson	Friday 08 June 1906	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I448207	Veenkoloniale voorouders
8	Reed, Margy	Sunday 27 August 1916	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I691173	Veenkoloniale voorouders
9	Smith, Irene Isabelle	1896	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I453212	Veenkoloniale voorouders
10	Smith, Ivy Hazel	Friday 31 March 1899	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I453216	Veenkoloniale voorouders
11	Wellcome, Charlotte	Monday 03 December 1894	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I447806	Veenkoloniale voorouders
12	Wellcome, John B.	Tuesday 19 November 1907	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I447810	Veenkoloniale voorouders
13	Wellcome, Katherine	Monday 04 January 1897	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I447807	Veenkoloniale voorouders

Death

Matches 1 to 6 of 6

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Death		Person ID	Tree
1	Collins, Alice	Monday 01 July 1895	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I452943	Veenkoloniale voorouders
2	Danielson, Selma Carolina	Saturday 18 April 1953	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I450620	Veenkoloniale voorouders
3	Doggett, Elmer Duane	January 1979	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I452684	Veenkoloniale voorouders
4	McGarry, Hubert	Saturday 13 May 1922	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I452848	Veenkoloniale voorouders
5	Thompson, Hans E.	1905	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I450962	Veenkoloniale voorouders
6	Tobol, Harriett Elizabeth	Saturday 14 March 1931	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	I450961	Veenkoloniale voorouders

Marriage

Matches 1 to 9 of 9

	Family	Marriage		Family ID	Tree
1	Doggett / Cockell	Wednesday 11 July 1923	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F176320	Veenkoloniale voorouders
2	Kinman / Rippingale	Wednesday 24 July 1901	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F175712	Veenkoloniale voorouders
3	Kramer / McGarry	Wednesday 10 February 1904	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F174533	Veenkoloniale voorouders
4	Lehr / Heide	Wednesday 06 July 1927	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F97008	Veenkoloniale voorouders
5	Smith / Rippingale	Monday 08 July 1895	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F175711	Veenkoloniale voorouders
6	Sparks / Verlanic	Tuesday 01 December 1936	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F176433	Veenkoloniale voorouders
7	Thompson / Kiesling	Tuesday 25 December 1934	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F176316	Veenkoloniale voorouders
8	Verlanic / Bonner	Tuesday 26 June 1906	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F175719	Veenkoloniale voorouders
9	Wellcome / Irvine	Thursday 17 December 1891	Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA	F174717	Veenkoloniale voorouders

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Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, USA