Much of today’s 200+ mile drive from Kalispell to Butte, MT was through the Flathead National Forest and, although nothing compared with yesterday’s glory, it had a few nice views of lakes along the way. I don’t have any photos, however, because a slow breakfast meant I ended up having to hurry to be sure I would make my one o’clock tour in Butte. The map and road video are here.

Butte is the fifth largest city in Montana, even though it only has a population of 34,200, and it is known for mining.  The headframes (see photos) of 12 of its copper, zinc, silver and magnesium mines remain standing although the last mine closed in the 1980s and it is part of the largest US Superfund (environmental cleanup) site in the country. The major attraction for me was the pretentiously named World Museum of Mining which is an interesting mix of ghost mine, museum, historic site and junk yard but it works well. I had forgotten that I was visiting on a Sunday and so, when I called, I discovered the only underground tour they had open was at 1 PM – hence my rush. In addition to the tour there were all sorts of artifacts, places and exhibits to explore and plenty to learn and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The mines in Butte went as deep as one mile and you can see several of the headframes, used to haul miners, equipment and ore up and down the shaft, around town.

You could go all the way to the top level of the headframe and it appeared to be left the way it was when the mine closed in 1975. Here you see the ore carts and the environmental mess left by mining operations.
The underground tour was great. Unlike other mine tours I’ve taken they have not installed any lights underground so we had to take our own. This effectively prevented any photography (I tried and failed) but the experience made up for that.
There is also an extensive collection of historic buildings that have been moved to the site and give a good feel for early Butte.