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Steel headframes still stand over the old shafts on Butte Hill, black silhouettes against the Montana sky that mark what was once called the Richest Hill on Earth. From the 1880s, copper from these mines wired much of America, and the boomtown drew Irish, Cornish, Chinese, Serbian and Finnish miners who gave Butte a rough, proud, deeply ethnic character that survives today.
Uptown Butte forms part of one of the largest National Historic Landmark districts in the country, packed with ornate brick commercial blocks, mansions built by the Copper Kings and the remains of a once-thriving Chinatown. Below town, the flooded Berkeley Pit, an open-pit copper mine closed in 1982, is now a vast and eerie lake you can view from a platform.
Visitors tour underground speakeasies, the World Museum of Mining and the Copper King Mansion, and eat pasties and noodles in century-old dining rooms. The 90-foot Our Lady of the Rockies statue watches from the Continental Divide, and Butte's St. Patrick's Day party is legendary. Yellowstone and Glacier are each a few hours' drive away.
A former open-pit copper mine about a mile across, worked from 1955 to 1982 and now filled with acidic, metal-laden water hundreds of feet deep. A tunnel leads to a viewing platform on the rim with exhibits on mining and cleanup. The platform opens seasonally from spring to fall for a small fee.
A 90-foot white statue of the Virgin Mary standing on the Continental Divide high above Butte, lifted into place by helicopter in 1985. It is lit at night and visible across the valley. Seasonal bus tours from town drive up to the base, where a small chapel and huge views over the mountains await.
An outdoor museum on the site of the Orphan Girl Mine, with its headframe still standing, plus Hell Roarin' Gulch, a recreated mining town of shops, a church and a schoolhouse. Hard-hat underground tours go into the old mine levels in summer. Allow at least two hours and dress warmly for the tour.
Housed in two historic buildings, the Mai Wah noodle parlor and the Wah Chong Tai mercantile, this museum tells the story of the Chinese and other Asian communities who lived in Butte's once-busy Chinatown. Exhibits include the old store shelves and artifacts. It keeps summer hours, so check before visiting.
A free museum on the Montana Tech campus with more than a thousand mineral specimens on display, including large gold nuggets, quartz crystals, glowing fluorescent minerals and rocks from Montana's mining districts. It is compact and easy to see in under an hour. Hours vary between school terms.
The 34-room red-brick home built in the 1880s for copper baron William A. Clark, filled with frescoed ceilings, hand-carved woodwork, stained glass and period furnishings. Guided tours run in season, and the mansion also operates as a bed and breakfast, so you can sleep in a Copper King's room.
A hilltop memorial overlooking the Granite Mountain mine headframe, honoring the 168 men killed in the 1917 Speculator Mine fire, the deadliest hard-rock mining disaster in American history. Panels tell the miners' stories and quote their final notes. The views over Butte and the mountains are sweeping.
Guided walking tours of Uptown that descend beneath the sidewalks into a Prohibition-era speakeasy, an old jail and underground passages. Guides bring Butte's miners, bootleggers and Copper Kings to life with plenty of stories. Tours run most of the year, last around 90 minutes and should be booked ahead in summer.
The historic heart of Butte, part of a National Historic Landmark district, with Victorian brick office blocks, ornate theaters, old hotels, bars and painted ghost signs on steep streets beneath the headframes. Take a trolley tour or simply walk Main, Broadway and Park streets, stopping for a pasty along the way.
Open since 1911 and often called the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the United States, this upstairs dining room still seats guests in small curtained booths painted in bright colors. The menu leans on chow mein and classic American-Chinese dishes. It keeps limited evening hours.
Butte's strong Irish heritage turns March 17 into one of the biggest St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the West, with a parade of pipe bands, Irish dancers and crowds filling Uptown's streets and bars. Visitors arrive from across Montana, so book lodging months in advance and dress for cold weather.
A free outdoor festival held in Uptown Butte each July, with several stages of traditional and world music, dance, crafts and food from many cultures. Performers range from bluegrass and blues to Celtic and African bands. Bring a camp chair and layers, as summer evenings in Butte cool down quickly.
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