PORCH PONDERINGS

Trip to Butte

I finally got to take a trip this past week. I went to Butte - 4 1/2 hour drive one way from Roundup. Hubby and I spent two days and one night. I was invited to participate in a tourism event.

So, Butte. A town that knew great wealth from copper mining. It was a small mining town, until copper was discovered.

From their advertising:
Our nickname is “Butte America,” but we also go by, "The Richest Hill on Earth.” Immigrants from Ireland, China, Lebanon, Austria, Greece, Italy, Mexico, and numerous other countries came to Butte to work in the mines, they came to Butte, America. It is said as many as 25 nationalities settled in that town. it is a rough and tumble town, bars, restaurants plus many churches. Even brothels.

But now people go to see the old neighborhoods, the abandoned mines, and the former open pit copper mine, the Berkeley Pit. The Pit is the largest Superfund site in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit

The Dumas Brothel (formerly the Dumas Hotel) was a famous bordello in Butte, Montana in the United States. Located in the heart of uptown Butte, the brothel has been proclaimed America's longest-running house of prostitution, finally closing its doors in 1982. I walked inside this place and promptly went back to the trolley. Not impressive at all.

We went on a little tour to learn all these facts. Butte - quite a town.

I wanted to stay another night, but a winter storm warning sent us on our way. That night it snowed about 8 inches on the pass we had to travel over to get back to Roundup. Yes, snow. This is Montana after all.