Thanks for finding my place on the web and I welcome you to a glimpse of Butte, America. Come along for a while, enjoy this city, the ‘Richest Hill on Earth’ …

Butte, Montana nests high in the Northern Rockies of America’s West. Surrounded on three sides by the Continental Divide, this city is half-way between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. A third incredible wonder in Montana as I see it.

The wealth beneath this city was created long ago in a formation known as the ‘Boulder Batholith’ a tremendous geological formation which yields vast amounts of copper and minerals. Historic Butte was built with these riches by courageous men, women and children in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s who came here laying claim to the American Dream. Designated as a National Historic Landmark District this place resonates with the boom and bust of a metropolis like no other place in the history of America’s West.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stories here are waist-deep on every street, hopes and dreams, sweat, brothels, tears, wealth and optimism ring in the streets of an elite 20th century industrial-city complex. The burgeoning West yelled out for workers, entrepreneurs, performers who came from Ireland, China, Finland and beyond with a hope of possibility. What happened here is a very unique segment in the world’s history … 100,000 strong in the early 1900’s, Uptown Butte is now a fraction of that population yet is stirring with the optimism and pride which built this city on a hill.

Thousands of miles of tunnels beneath Butte remain as testament to the tremendous work ethic required to extract the copper ore. This incredible character placed Butte on the world map as ‘The Gibralter of Unionism’ where many struggles and stories of the union labor movement are legendary.

Me, I am a new-comer with hope and optimism, not much different from the immigrants 100 years ago coming to Ellis Island with a destination of ‘Butte, America’

It is a unique privilege to be living and working in the midst of such an incredible historic place. Uptown Butte is within a National Historic Landmark District which includes over 6,000 structures.  Plan a trip to Uptown Butte and say hello, if my front door is locked check for me in the studio.

See you Uptown!

Bryan Woodford

historic photos courtesy of the Butte-Silver Bow Archives

 

graphics by Lux