Butte, MT

My dad's side of the family lives in Butte, MT. I love going up there to visit. It is not a big town now, but I still look forward to the opportunity to go up there. The trip is even better when I get to see family and friends and eat some of my favorite foods. If you ever get up there I recommend getting a pork chop sandwich from Pork Chop John's and I always get some pasties from the Town Talk Bakery on Front Street. It is not a trip without both of those foods. (And now I'm turning friends in Utah into fans of both.) Of course if you don't have family or friends in Butte there are some other reasons to go.

When we were little we hiked the "mountain" with the M on it. I remember looking down and waving to Grandpa at the bottom. He looked so small. I realize now that it is a butte and not a mountain. But as a kid it seemed like a big hike. Sadly, I just found out that the M is for the Montana School for the Mines. I always just thought it stood for Montana. Learned something new. Another hike option is going up to the Our Lady of the Rockies. This is a 90 foot statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus that sits on the continental divide overlooking Butte. I have taken the bus up there to see it. But my dad and a sibling (I think Chris) hiked up there once. So at one end of town you have the M that is lit up at night and at the other end you have Our Lady of the Rockies that is lit up watching over the town.

Our big hike to the M

If you are a fan of the Daily Show you might have seen a segment they did 3 years ago on the Berkeley Pit in Butte. The pit is an open copper mine that is about one mile long and a half mile wide. It is also extremely deep, about 1780 feet. I thought it was hilarious that it made the Daily Show because as kids we always had to go check it out. Every time we visited the water had gotten deeper, covering up more layers. Now if you want to see the pit you have to pay to go so I haven't been in years. Sadly the pit is a Superfund site and I'm not sure they have figured out how to clean up this mess before it starts to pollute the water system. They do still have some time before that happens.

The Berkeley Pit (Superfund site & tourist destination?)

According to Wikipedia (taken with a grain of salt) Butte was one of the biggest and most notorious copper mining towns with a hundreds of saloons and a red light district. The other day I drove by a building that was advertising tours of the brothel that used to be located there. So I'm thinking Wikipedia might be right on this one. I have to admit that I have not gotten up there for St. Patrick's Day since I was legal, but I hear its one of the best parties. I always heard stories growing up of how you could go in one bar, out the back and into another celebrating the day. Since I have only been to one St. Patrick's day up there as a kid all I remember is the parade.

Mine

There are still some great old buildings in Butte. These are just a couple. I'd like to go back and take some more photos on another trip. I had to stop pulling over to take pictures after the cops drove by me twice. I was starting to get funny looks. Maybe next time I'll have to see about signing up for a historical walk in uptown.

As much as I love Butte I still love coming home to Utah. And now we have new welcome signs that replaced the ones with a ski jumper on them. Come visit me out west. I can show you around Utah and Montana. And along the way maybe we can get you some stops in Idaho and Wyoming.