In the late nineteenth century, copper was in great demand because of new technologies such as electric power that required the use of copper.
Three industrial magnates fought for control of Butte's mining wealth.
These three "Copper Kings" were William A. Clark, Marcus Daly, and F. Augustus Heinze.

The Anaconda Copper Mining Company began in 1881 when Marcus Daly bought a small mine named the Anaconda.
 He was a part-owner, mine manager and engineer of the Alice, a silver mine in Walkerville, a suburb of Butte.
While working in the Alice, he noticed significant quantities of high grade copper ore.
Daly obtained permission to inspect nearby workings.
After Daly's employers, the Walker Brothers, refused to buy the Anaconda, Daly sold his interest in the Alice and bought it himself.
Daly asked George Hearst, San Francisco mining magnate, for additional support.
Hearst agreed to buy one-fourth of the new company's stock without visiting the site.
While mining the silver left in his mine, huge deposits of copper were soon developed and Daly became a copper magnate.
When surrounding silver mines "played out" and closed, Daly quietly bought up the neighboring mines, forming a mining company.
Daly built a smelter at Anaconda, Montana (a company town) and connected his smelter to Butte by a railway.
Anaconda Company eventually owned all the mines on Butte Hill.

Between 1884 and 1888, W.A. Clark constructed the Copper King Mansion in Butte, which became his second residence from his home in New York City.
He also, in 1899, purchased the Columbia Gardens, a small park which he developed into a full amusement park, featuring a pavilion, rollercoaster, and a lake for swimming and canoeing.
Clark's expansion of the park was intended to "provide a place where children and families could get away from the polluted air of the Butte mining industry."
The city's rapid expansion was noted in an 1889 frontier survey: "Butte, Montana, fifteen years ago a small placer-mining village clinging to the mountain side, has now risen to the rank of the first mining camp of the world... [It] is now the most populous city of Montana, numbering twenty-five thousand active, enterprising, prosperous inhabitants."
In 1888 alone, mining operations in Butte had generated an "almost inconceivable" output of $23 million (equivalent to $654,477,778 in 2019) worth of ore.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, prosperous mining had generated considerable wealth in Butte, and at the time was the largest city between Chicago and San Francisco.
Copper ore mined from the Butte mining district in 1910 alone totaled 284,000,000 pounds (129,000,000 kg); at the time, Butte was the largest producer of copper in North America and rivaled in worldwide metal production only by South Africa.
The same year, in excess of 10,000,000 ounces (280,000 kg) of silver and 37,000 ounces (1,000 kg) of gold were also discovered.
The amount of ore produced in the city earned it the nickname "The Richest Hill on Earth."
With its large workforce of miners performing in physically dangerous conditions, Butte was the site of active labor union movements, and came to be known as "the Gibraltar of Unionism."

By 1885, there were about 1,800 dues-paying members of a general union in Butte.
That year the union reorganized as the Butte Miners' Union (BMU), spinning off all non-miners to separate craft unions.
Some of these joined the Knights of Labor, and by 1886 the separate organizations came together to form the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, with 34 separate unions representing nearly all of the 6,000 workers around Butte.
The BMU established branch unions in mining towns like Barker, Castle, Champion, Granite, and Neihart, and extended support to other mining camps hundreds of miles away.
In 1892 there was a violent strike in Coeur d'Alene.
Although the BMU was experiencing relatively friendly relations with local management, the events in Idaho were disturbing.
The BMU not only sent thousands of dollars to support the Idaho miners, they mortgaged their buildings to send more.

Ther
In the late nineteenth century, copper was in great demand because of new technologies such as electric power that required the use of copper. Three industrial magnates fought for control of Butte's mining wealth. These three "Copper Kings" were William A. Clark, Marcus Daly, and F. Augustus Heinze.
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company began in 1881 when Marcus Daly bought a small mine named the Anaconda.  He was a part-owner, mine manager and engineer of the Alice, a silver mine in Walkerville, a suburb of Butte. While working in the Alice, he noticed significant quantities of high grade copper ore. Daly obtained permission to inspect nearby workings. After Daly's employers, the Walker Brothers, refused to buy the Anaconda, Daly sold his interest in the Alice and bought it himself. Daly asked George Hearst, San Francisco mining magnate, for additional support. Hearst agreed to buy one-fourth of the new company's stock without visiting the site. While mining the silver left in his mine, huge deposits of copper were soon developed and Daly became a copper magnate. When surrounding silver mines "played out" and closed, Daly quietly bought up the neighboring mines, forming a mining company. Daly built a smelter at Anaconda, Montana (a company town) and connected his smelter to Butte by a railway. Anaconda Company eventually owned all the mines on Butte Hill.
Between 1884 and 1888, W.A. Clark constructed the Copper King Mansion in Butte, which became his second residence from his home in New York City. He also, in 1899, purchased the Columbia Gardens, a small park which he developed into a full amusement park, featuring a pavilion, rollercoaster, and a lake for swimming and canoeing. Clark's expansion of the park was intended to "provide a place where children and families could get away from the polluted air of the Butte mining industry." The city's rapid expansion was noted in an 1889 frontier survey: "Butte, Montana, fifteen years ago a small placer-mining village clinging to the mountain side, has now risen to the rank of the first mining camp of the world... [It] is now the most populous city of Montana, numbering twenty-five thousand active, enterprising, prosperous inhabitants." In 1888 alone, mining operations in Butte had generated an "almost inconceivable" output of $23 million (equivalent to $654,477,778 in 2019) worth of ore.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, prosperous mining had generated considerable wealth in Butte, and at the time was the largest city between Chicago and San Francisco. Copper ore mined from the Butte mining district in 1910 alone totaled 284,000,000 pounds (129,000,000 kg); at the time, Butte was the largest producer of copper in North America and rivaled in worldwide metal production only by South Africa. The same year, in excess of 10,000,000 ounces (280,000 kg) of silver and 37,000 ounces (1,000 kg) of gold were also discovered. The amount of ore produced in the city earned it the nickname "The Richest Hill on Earth." With its large workforce of miners performing in physically dangerous conditions, Butte was the site of active labor union movements, and came to be known as "the Gibraltar of Unionism."
By 1885, there were about 1,800 dues-paying members of a general union in Butte. That year the union reorganized as the Butte Miners' Union (BMU), spinning off all non-miners to separate craft unions. Some of these joined the Knights of Labor, and by 1886 the separate organizations came together to form the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, with 34 separate unions representing nearly all of the 6,000 workers around Butte. The BMU established branch unions in mining towns like Barker, Castle, Champion, Granite, and Neihart, and extended support to other mining camps hundreds of miles away. In 1892 there was a violent strike in Coeur d'Alene. Although the BMU was experiencing relatively friendly relations with local management, the events in Idaho were disturbing. The BMU not only sent thousands of dollars to support the Idaho miners, they mortgaged their buildings to send more.
Ther
Butte, Montana