AfriGeneas Western Frontier Forum
Re: What routes did they take?
In Response To: What routes did they take? ()
This is part of an article on the history of Butte, MT, that might help explain why your ancestors and lots of other folks decided to give a go at living there:
"Butte began as nothing more than a bunch of mining camps back in the early 1870’s. Then, silver and copper was discovered. This discovery began to bring in a flood of new companies and new people to Butte. By the late 1870’s, a large and bustling city center had emerged – and was growing larger literally by the day. Then, as fate would have it, a fire in 1879 burned down the entire central business district. Following this disaster, the Butte city council passed a law that required all new buildings downtown (known as "uptown Butte") to be built from brick or stone – most of which still stand today and what help make Butte such a historic and unique city.
While silver and gold were actively mined in Butte, it was copper that truly put Butte on the map. Following the development of electricity, the demand for copper mushroomed. The demand for copper continued to increase – and really spiked during World War I, where copper was used in every single rifle bullet (much of which came from Butte). Indeed, it is estimated that Butte supplied around 1/3 of the copper for the United States in the late 1800’s and the early part of the 1900’s..."
Full story: Butte, MT : History of Butte, Montana