![]() ![]() The first labor strike in the Butte area took place in Walkerville in 1878, when workers at two mines refused to accept a pay cut. In addition, whenever money was needed for new equipment or profits dropped, management either cut wages or refused to pay workers. Between 19, 685 miners in the Butte area died and hundreds more were injured or disabled in accidents. Mining underground paid well, but was hard dangerous work. By the 1900s the Anaconda Mining Company was one of the largest mining companies in the world, and retained that position until 1977 when it was sold to Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO).Ī strong counterforce to the company's monopoly was organized labor. Daly's battles with Montana's other Copper Kings resulted in his company acquiring most of the mines in the area, giving "The Company" a virtual monopoly over mining in and around Butte and dominance over copper production in the U.S. Marcus Daly, one of the famed "Copper Kings," formed the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company in 1899. ![]() While many mining companies operated in the Butte area throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the largest and most powerful was the Anaconda Mining Company. Mining areas historically pass through an evolution of boom, dramatic growth, and then decline or "bust." Copper continued to be mined in and around Butte through the 20th century, declining during the Great Depression in the 1930s, picking up during World War II, and declining again until it ceased in the 1980s when the largest mining company in the area, ARCO, closed its entire Montana operation including the mines in Butte and the smelting facility in Anaconda. This demand reached a high point during World War I, when copper was used for the manufacture of ammunition. giving it the nickname the "Richest Hill on Earth." In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, demand for copper grew rapidly due to the development of new technologies such as electricity. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the response of organized labor to this rapid growth.īutte was founded as a mining town after the discovery of silver in the region in 1872, but was known primarily for its copper production - the highest output in the U.S. The Butte-Anaconda Historic District showcases the industrialization of the U.S. Known as the "Gibraltar of Unionism," Butte was also one of the centers of the U.S. This was one of the most productive mining regions in the United States, and the source of nearly one third of the entire world's copper in the early 1900s. Decorative square cast iron newel posts, originally capped with electric lights, are especially noteworthy.The Butte-Anaconda Historic District in Montana includes the communities of Butte, Anaconda, and Walkerville as well as the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad. Frescoes and county seals by Consolidated Artists of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, adorn the panels between the “ribs.” Other interior appointments include an ornate spiral staircase of oak and marble treads, oak banisters, and cast iron risers. On the interior, the dome’s painted ribs dramatically simulate structural members. The grand Neoclassical style building, constructed of buff-colored dressed sandstone, features a central two-tiered, domed tower. Deer Lodge County officials moved from Anaconda’s City Hall into the new facility in the spring of 1900. Kent, who also drew the plans for the state capitol in Helena, were commissioned to design the building. County Clerk Martin Martin suggested placing the building at the head of Main Street rather than in the middle of the block so that “A stranger visiting Anaconda has no need to ask where the court house is.” Architects Charles E. A bond election in 1898 assured funding for the construction of a county courthouse. The county seat, first located at Silver Bow and then Deer Lodge, moved to Anaconda in 1896. After the creation of the Territory of Montana in 1864, the first territorial legislature named Deer Lodge one of Montana’s original nine counties. This valley known by Native Americans as “Lodge of the White Tailed Deer” officially became Deer Lodge County when this area was part of the Territory of Idaho. ![]()
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