Wow! What an interesting little town! We arrived in the RV park yesterday afternoon and drove into the town this morning. First we visited the Visitor’s Center and bought a little book with a walking tour around the town. The town is famous for the Copper mining and smelting plant but all that is left since 1981 is the giant brick smokestack. It looms above the town like a silent sentry guarding what’s left of this little town.
We went into the city hall building – one of the buildings on the walking tour – and went downstairs to the museum. It appeared as a chaotic mismesh of just old stuff, scattered everywhere, only part of which had any semblance to an actual museum.
Out of a back room an old man appeared and asked if we had questions. Well, and hour and a half later we left the place with our ears ringing with the “true story of the demise of the town.” BTW, he really, really HATES Butte, Montana and personally blames them for ‘fixing’ the vote that lost the state capital decision between Anaconda and Helena. There were other issues that came to light as we talked and then he started on the ‘city government’ that was responsible for destroying most of the historic buildings in the town. Only a few remain, such as the city hall, post office, county court house, old theater…
As we left the building, I remarked to Bob that when he dies, most, if not all, of the accumulated ‘stuff’ in that ‘museum’ would probably be lost or packed away and forgotten. He said he receives no help at all to deal with it.
Earlier, while on the walking tour, we peered into the glass door of the theater just as two young men were coming into the lobby. They saw me and opened the door and asked if we would like to see the inside. We cheerfully accepted and were amazed by the beauty of the ceilings and walls and stage. They only receive second run movies and were just showing ‘Walle.’ The prices for drinks and popcorn were vintage – $1.00 for a small popcorn and $.90 for a small drink!! They were fun to talk to and seemed to enjoy our interest in their little town.
Just outside of town is the ‘Nation’s Smallest State Park. It is a replica of the base and the top of the smoke stack. That is to say, they built a replica of the top three feet of the stack onto a concrete walkway the size of the base of the smoke stake. Quite impressive.
We plan to stay in this area for a week but may find enough of interest to stay two weeks. we will see…