iLfl 321 .88 fl2 h fuMtr luttp Public irljoolH Ow the Conthtental Divide \ / / ^niro^nir lutt? jpubltr ^rI|O0ls The Public School System of Butte^ Montana Historical, Descriptive and Illustrative By ROBERT G. YOUNG Published by Order of the Board of Education Nineteen Hundred and Four IN A CKNO WLEDGMENT Acknowledgments are due Mr. J. R. Wharton of the Butte Elec- tric Transit Company for the use of cuts of the Gardens, and their environments, that have been used in this booklet; also to pupils of the public schools of the city, -who made the drawings of initial let- ters and head and tail pieces found on the succeeding pages. — R. G. Y. R. I<. Clinton C. H. tane BOARD OF EDUCATION I'. J. ISiopliy W. McC. Wliite, Fre<. K. A. l-"ord H. A. Gallwey E. B. Weirick Historical and Descriptive Sketch of the Public School System of Butte and Its Environments* EARLY HISTORY T WILL doubtless be a matter of some interest to those wht) have watched the development in com- mon school education in Montana, and especially in Butte, to know that the first public school on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, and probably one of the very first in the territory to be main- tained from a public school fund, was established in September, 1866, at Deer Lodge, the county seat of Deer Lodge county. At this time Deer Lodge county included what is now Silver Bow county. The school house, a cut of which through the courtesy of George Irvin, our present postmaster, we give on another page, was a little log structure with a dirt roof — a very common type of architecture in those early days. The school was presided over by Dallas P. Newcommer, who had an enrollment of fourteen pupils, several of whom are still residents of the state. Among them is Mr. Nathaniel Evans, now a prosperous business man and a brother of judge John Evans of Missoula. • The membership of the school was about evenly divided between whites and half breeds, a fact which, because of the different com- plexions, caused this and other similarly composed schools to be known as "checker board" schools. In the winter of the same year the first public school was opened in what is now the City of Butte. Colonel J. G. Wood, who will be remembered by many of the old timers as a splendid type of western manhood, was the teacher, and an excellent one he was. He taught, among other branches, calisthenics, music, phonetic spelling, and presented his work by methods that were effective in securing the best of results. The enrollment in the first school of the district was be- tween ten and fifteen pupils. The school house was a log cabin on what is now East Broadway. Seats were arranged around the wall and the stove was located in the center of the room. A bench was placed near the stove for the pupils to occupy when they were cold, and many a day during that cold winter it was occupied most of the time. Books were not free then as today, but were furnished by the parents while the teacher was paid by subscription. Books were obtained from Virginia City at a very great expense as will be realized when it is known that postage be- tween Virginia City and Butte was 50 cents a letter. Wood was donated by the patrons of the school who took turns at hauling it and having it cut. Mr. Wood taught two other terms, '67 and '68. The school was taught at this time in a frame building located where the Beaver block now stands and was then known as Oatman hall. Every Saturday evening a spelling school was held in this hall and it was well attended by the school children and also by the miners of the camp. A great deal of enthusiasm was manifested in these old fashioned spelling matches. There can be no doubt that in these early davs Butte was a typical, wild, western place, and yet it will be interesting to know that the spelling book and dictionary were as common in the miner's cabin as were the Sharp's rifle and the Colt's revolver. In 1869 a school was taught by a Mr. Brown, commonly known as "Commissary Brown," who was succeeded by Thomas Porter, who taught two terms, '71 and '72, each term continuing for a period of three months. A Mrs. Cline taught one term in 1872. and following 12 ' I. :/.. her Miss Ella Wright, who was afterwards Mrs. James H. Mills of Deer Lodge, taught three months in 1873. Mr. Pat Talent taught in 1874 in a little log school house on the lot where the splendid public library is now located on the corner of Broadway and Academy streets. For ten years the camp did not grow beyond the point where one school was sufficient to meet its needs, and so, as late as 1875, one teacher, J. H. Saville, was teaching the only school held in the district. The first trustees of the organized school district were David Meiklejohn, Joe Ramsdell and William W. Thomas. Among the first pupils in the old school of Butte in '66 were young ladies who after- wards became Mrs. A. W. Barnard, Mrs. James Talbott, Mrs. Roach, Mrs. Noyes, Mrs. Sisley, and Mrs. Brown. Frank and Clayton Rams- dell and some others whose names have been forgotten were also mem- bers of this school. GROWTH OF THE SCHOOLS From the year 1876, the camp began to grow and with it the school system till, in 1886, ten years late", the population of the camp had increased to ten thousand, and the schools to a system in which twenty teachers were employed. Previous to this time the schools had had but little in the way of systematic organization though much eflFective teaching had been done under the direction of R. B. Hassell in '80, '81 and '82, by E. B. Howell in '83 and '84, and by J. F. Davies in '85 and '86. ORGANIZATION OF THE HIGH SCHOOL About this time, 1884 or 1885, the high school was organized, and, in 1886, the first pupil, P. W. Irvin, was graduated from it, the exer- 15 cises being held in Miner's Union hall, at which time R. B. Smith, afterwards governor of the state, and now a resident of the city, made ihe address which was the main feature of the commencement exer- cises. Since that time the growth of the city, and with it the growth of the schools, has been the pride and wonder not only of the people who have resided in the district, but of the whole state as well. This can better be shown by taking a bird's eye view of the school system as it is at the present time. PRESENT MAGNITUDE OF THE SYSTEM U ACCOMMODATE the schools of the district T today (1904), there are required twenty build- ings, having in the aggregate 190 rooms, and a seating capacity of over 8,000. A conservative estimate of the valuation of the school property is here given : Sites, $80,900 ; furniture, $50,600 ; buildings and heating plants, $680,000; text- books, (owned by the city) $20,000; apparatus. $4,500; libraries, $5,000, making a total valuation of $849,000. To properly heat, clean, and care for those buildings requires the labor of 26 janitors, while the supervision and instruction of the army of over 7,500 children who daily attend these schools, requires 200 teach- ers. To conduct the business connected with the public school system of the city, requires, therefore, the services of over 230 persons. The following tabulation shows the number of school buildings, the number of rooms, and the total number of sittings in the district : o p I I— I g o S CO Q I— I D pq O O U (O d 'S o O O lo in o lo lO O o o o o o in o in in in o in o o lO CD CD CO C 05 tJ* LO CD CD » in CO CO rjH t}( Tf* Tj< t- 00 05 t- t- t:- CD l> Tf lO Tf( CO CO CM GO rH tH «-i . 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H rH r^ 2:z 2- _^ o CO o o o OJ O 'f* in rH in ® 9 o CO H in in '^ ^ in ^ 10 CO ^ CM CM CM in i-{ T^ •r< in Hz T-( CI iH r-( 1-1 c^ tH tH C^l iH CM CM rH T^ rH ■<-{ CM CM CO rH Q ^ 'A M M X X X (< CM H 3 3 O a Ph O V-i W O w .y o 'V cS u o 'o o B i3 'a PL, 73 tfi ci +J +-" 3 pq 4i 1; C < en IS +-> Oj > cq tn CD : - PQ >^ 1 Id i" Q i? o -a s c ^, be a '-3 ■3 pq o 'o T3 1 V4 a cd S (72 S 5 -a < tn a; c C e ■53 "en cd PQ 'tn cd pq ij +3 ■^4 tn u T3 1-1 r-t pq £ Henry M. Hart Ada Madden Mary Moran Atlanta Birdseye Winnie Squires Miss H. I". Downey B. C. Hastings T. E. Spiers l,izzie Pettibone Mary K. Kyan Kittic- O'Donnell Mary MuUins Mamie Burt Lizzie Boland Win. t,. Soper Nettie E. ODonnell As we have already stated, this g^reat system has grown up chiefly during the past seventeen years from its small proportions in 1886. The growth from year to year may be seen from the following state- ment: GROWTH OF CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM SINCE 1886 Year. Teachers. Enrollment. (School Age), . Increas 1886-87 20 196 .... 1887-88 24 1967 2934 1888-89 28 2157 3292 358 1889-90 29 2201 3881 589 1890-91 36 2696 4400 510 1891-92 48 3045 4680 280 1 892-D ec. 77 3447 ■ 5037 357 1893-Dec. 80 3624 5145 108 1894-Dec. 87 3794 5325 178 1895-Dec. 93 3800 5685 362 1896-Dec. 98 4019 6354 669 1897-Dec. 112 4855 6894 540 1898-Dec. 121 5547 8447 1553 1899-Dec. 151 6748 9347 900 1900-Dec. 166 7007 10600 1253 1901-02 180 7320 1 1 247 647 1902-03 185 7583 1 1 249 2 1903-04 200 7980 10923 -326 SUPERINTENDENTS Since 1880 the following persons have held the position of super- intendent : R. B. Hassell, E. B. Howell, J- F- Davies, J. R. Russell, J. A. Riley, J. P. Hendricks, F. L. Kern, and R. G. Young, the present incumbent. It should be noted, however, that the term superintendent was not used in Montana previous to the administration of J. P. Hen- dricks. EQUIPMENT There are few school systems, east or west, that are more perfect in their equipment than are the schools of Butte. The buildings are large, modern, generally heated by steam, well ventilated, and are sup- 26 plied with the best furniture than can be procured. The equipment inckides maps, globes, charts, supplemental reading, primary and kindergarten material, etc. Books, pencils, pens, etc., are furnished free to the pupils, while each ward school is provided with encyclo- paedias, and such reference books as are necessary to make the work in the grades effective. Special teachers are employed to supervise and direct the work in music and drawing. and and GENERAL INFORMATION HE SCHOOLS are organized on the same general plan as are most of the progressive schools of the east. The promotions in both the grades and the high school occur semi-annually, in June and Janu- ary. It is the policy of the present administration to give the schools a reputation for rational organiza- tion, a high order of discipline, and a most rigid thoroughness in teaching the branches necessary to a broad and practical education, rather than by the introduction of novelties that appeal to the fancy whose tendencies are to give an apparant rather than a real culture discipline. There are, at the present time, no kindergarten schools connected with the school system, though much kindergarten work is done in the primary grades in connection with the various Hnes of construction work. The course of study is modern and covers all the work usually included in the best graded school systems. The school year covers a period of ten months which, however, includes the county teachers' institute and two weeks vacation. The standard of qualification required of teachers is high, but, on the other hands, the schedule of salaries is as liberal as is found in most cities of the country. Teachers are paid for the ten months at the following rates : First and eighth grades, $90.00 per month ; second and seventh grades, inclusive, $80.00 per month ; ward principals from $100.00 to $130.00 per month; supervisors of music and drawing, $105.00 per month; teachers in the high school — principal, $210.00, assistants from $100.00 to $125.00 per month. THE HIGH SCHOOL THE HIGH SCHOOL is one of the largest and most thoroughly equipped to be found in the great Northwest. As we have already stated, it was organized in 1884 or '85 and in 1886 the first pupil graduated from it. Since that time the high school has graduated 435 pupils, including those in the present senior class. During the eighteen years since 1886 there has been a class to gradu- ate each year save that of 1887. Of the eighteen classes that have gone out from the high school, the class of 1899 was the largest, having in it fifty-seven members. The average for the dif- ferent years is 24. The science department is large, occupying four commodious rooms consisting of a lecture and demonstration room seated in amphitheatre style and containing a thoroughly equipped demonstration table and cases for specimens and materials. The physi- cal and biological room is lighted on two sides and is equipped with 32 two Crowell cabinets, a large amount of standard physical apparatus, including twelve compound microscopes, a fine barometer, and in fact all the apparatus usually found in a first class physical and biological laboratory. The chemical laboratory is one of the finest and most complete in the entire country. The tables are of fine quarter-sawed oak provided with the necessary drawers and cupboards, while the tops and shelves for re-agent bottles are of French plate glass, the latter supported by frame work of solid copper. The laboratory is provided with gas and water by being connected with the gas and water systems of the city. The facilities are ample to provide for a class of thirty or forty pupils. Connected with the ■ chemical laboratory is a large, dark room for storing supplies. Tables, a system of hoods with gas heaters, cases for storing specimens and apparatus, complete this excellent and neces- sary department of the high school. The library is one of the most attractive and useful departments of the school. It is located in a large, beautifully furnished room, lighted from two sides and is furnished with library tables of uniform design. The shelving consists of the Wernicke adjustable cases finished in golden oak. Nearly, or quite, 3,000 volumes of carefully selected books are here accessible to the pupils of the high school. The library is strictly a collection of reference books, none of which are taken out for home reading, except in special instances. All books are cata- logued according to the Dewey system. The department is in charge of a competent librarian who devotes her entire time to caring for the The Argonatcts books, assisting the pupils in looking up references, and directing them in their special and miscellaneous read- ing. The art depart- ment is modern and up to date, and is equipped with all necessary appliances for doing ef- fective work. Its courses include free- hand, perspective and mechanical draw- ing; work in charcoal, water color and pyrography ; and practical and artistic designing. The commercial department, with over 200 pupils enrolled, is located in ample quarters and includes in its course of study, English, mathematics, book-keeping, business practice, commercial law, type- writing and stenography. The high school ofifers four courses of study : English, scientific, classical, and commercial, in each of which quite a line of selections are permitted after completing the first year. All courses in the high school cover a period of four years and are so broad in their scope and so rigid in their requirements as to the qualitv and character of the work done, and so in harmonv with the highest standards demanded of secondary schools, that the high school is placed on the accredited lists of the following colleges and universi- ties : The state universities of Michigan, Illinois. California, Montana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, also, Leland Stanford Jr., Northwestern University, Cornell University and several others. The enrollment and the number of graduates since 1886 is shown in the following exhibit : ENROLLMENT. GRADUATES. Tears. Girls. Boys. Total. Year. Girls. Boys. Total. 1886 I I 1886 I I 1888 4 2 6 1888 4 2 6 1889 4 3 7 1889 4 3 7 I 889- I 890 32 ^7 59 1890 5 6 II I 890- I 89 I 38 31 69 189I 4 5 9 189I-1892 76 47 123 1892 5 5 10 I 892- I 893 102 65 167 1893 12 3 15 I 893- I 894 121 73 198 1894 15 8 23 1894- I 895 136 99 235 1895 22 7 29 1895-1896 175 99 274 1896 12 19 3T I 896- I 897 208 124 332 1897 25 10 35 I 897- I 898 221 136 357 1898 19 13 32 I 898- I 899 293 138 431 1899 42 14 56 I 900- I 90 I 280 180 460 1900 22 8 30 I9OI-I902 285 189 474 I90I 16 II 27 I 902- I 903 308 200 508 1902 24 8 Z'2 I 903- I 904 348 220 568 1903 28 13 41 1904 29 16 45 Observing the Zoological Collection 40 COMPULSORY EDUCATION N 1902 the legislature enacted a very stringent compul- Isory education law in which it provided that all cities of 25,000 population and over should establish and maintain an Industrial School for the reception '^ and detention of all pupils of compulsory school age, who refuse or neglect to attend the public or private schools of the district. In accordance with the provisions of this act. the Board of Education of the city of Butte estab- lished an Industrial School which was opened for the reception of pupils on Nov. 2, 1903. In this institution pupils are housed, boarded, and taught for the period of their commitment. The school is provided with gymnasium, manual training department, school rooms, and all necessary appliances looking to the health, comfort, intellectual and physical training, together with that strict but rational discipline necessary to the reformation of youthful offenders. Though the school has been established less than a year, its effect in the city in the decrease of truancy and the improvement in the con- duct of troublesome pupils attending the ward schools, has been little less than marvelous. Pupils who have been chronic truants and sources of great annoyance to their teachers are regular in their attend- ance and respectful to their teachers. The experiment, but really it is not an experiment, shows that regular attendance at school can be 43 j . i a| y » , ' ''^ y secured, that truants can be taken from the street and its pernicious environment and brought under the wholesome influence of the culture and discipline of the public schools. The Butte Industrial School has accommodations for about forty pupils. It is believed this will be ample for the needs of the city, but if not the Board will promptly enlarge the building. So far as the writer knows, this is the only school of its kind west of Chicago, but in the eastern states such schools are not uncommon. The industrial, parental or truant school as it is called in dif- ferent states, is an intermediate step between the ward school and the reform school. It is for children, who, by reason of their truancy and incorrigibility, are headed toward lives of criminality, but who have not yet entered upon a criminal career. Its mission is to reform the wayward, to save the lost, and to serve as a constant reminder to others that the authorities will not permit the children of the district to grow up in idleness, ignorance, and crime. 'M^ The City of Butte ^^' aggregation of comparatively UTTE, as a city, is unique in that it has no rivals ; it imitates no other municipality ; it leads all other cities in those distinguishing characteristics which have made its name a household word where men think and speak of strenuous activities, and gigan- tic business enterprises, God has created but one Yosemite, one Mat- terhorn, and one Niagara Falls; man has built but one London, one Venice and one Butte. London is known throughout the world as the great cen- ter of Anglo Saxon influence, Venice for its fair skies and liquid streets, and Butte as the seat of the greatest mining enterprises ever developed within the limits of one industrial center. Butte, like the city of Constantinople, is an municipalities. The city proper is an incorporation of small area, but surrounding it and separated from it 46 only by the lines of the surveyor are Centerville, Walkerville, North Walkerville, Meaderville, East Butte, South Butte, Williamsburg, Sil- ver Bow Park, and West Butte. These are all joined into one com- pact city by a peculiar oneness of occupation, similarity of purpose, and a loyalty to the common interests of the community. They are joined together, too, by those institutions of modern city life such as systems of telephones, rapid transit, sewerage, messenger service, electric light, paved streets, waterworks, firm alarm system, a paid fire department, and in fact all those modern organized conveniences which are desirable and necessary to a modern, progressive, and prosperous city. POPULATION Butte, as reported in the last national census returns, is a city of between 32,000 and 33,000 population, but as it stands, surrounded by its many suburbs, on the southern, sunny slope of the Rocky Moun- tains, as it is known throughout Montana and the great Northwest, it is a strenuous, pulsing city of between 50,000 and 60,000 of the keen- est, most active, and most self-reliant people to be found between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. As we have intimated, the city lies on the southern and western slope of the mountains and has an altitude varying from 5,400 feet on the south where it reaches out into the valley, to 6,600 feet at North Walkerville, fully two miles up the continuous slope of the barren, rock-ribbed mountain. if r- CLIMATE The much mahgned cHmate is, in fact, unsurpassed in a section of the country famed for its deUghtful summers and its mild and in- vigorating winters. Barring its sulphur smoke for some thirty or sixty days of the winter, there is no place where the sunshine is more genial or the air more invigorating than in this "Pittsburg of the West." There are few cities where the health conditions are better or where people enjoy a greater degree of vital and physical energy. PAST AND PRESENT Twenty years ago Butte was a typical western mining camp, but out of that camp with its untold wealth in gold, silver, and copper, with its crude machinery and rude dwellings, with its throngs of surging, determined, and enterprising humanity has grown up a city of splendid homes, palatial business blocks, and imposing public buildings. And vet the city is unique in that by the side of the modem business block or handsome dwelling stands the little, old, log cabin with its single door and window, and dirt roof — a striking reminder of the good, old days when only men with strong arms and brave hearts ventured inta this then far away country in search of gold and adventure. INDUSTRIES As Washington is a city of politics, Lynn of factories, and New York of commerce, so Butte is a city of mines and mining. Its first mines were placer diggings yielding gold ; then came a period in which silver was the chief mineral output, and later copper came to be the principal product of its mines which have grown richer and richer as ihey have been more fully developed. During these years untold millions have been taken from the very ground upon which the city now stands. 52 . • Scene in Colimihia (jardeiis The famous Anaconda Hill in the eastern part of the city is prob- ably the richest piece of mining ground that has ever been developed. It is honey-combed in every direction ; all over its bleak, barren, and rocky surface are innumerable gigantic hoists ; hundreds and hundreds of stacks standing like grim sentinels pour out dense volumes of black, sulphurous smoke telling of the unceasing activity going on far below where there is no night nor day, no siunmer nor winter, but where the glimmer of the miner's lamp, the sound of his pick, and the dull rumble of the ore car are seen and heard on and on, like Tennyson's brook, forever. Not onlv in and about the wonderful hill of which we have spoken, but in every part of the city are mines where innumerable tun- nels and cross cuts ramify in every direction beneath the business thoroughfares. One may see on one corner a splendid business block or modern home and on another corner of the same block a grim un- sightly hoist standing over a shaft out of which the ore is being de- livered and borne away on immense wagons, or by cars on the electric car line to the numerous smelters located on the outskirts of the city. It has been said there are two Buttes, one above ground, one under the ground, and, as the army of miners and smeltermen work in three shifts of eight hours each, this is particularly true, for there is no time in the day or night when the city is not alive with men standing about the street corners or hurrying to or from their places of business or labor. As a result of this ceaseless activity, eating houses, saloons, and other resorts are always open giving rise to the saying that "Butte knows neither day nor night." 55 "fc; K^ w ^^^^^H|^?7v 1 i •w-^ 1 1 1 B^^B . .'.^.^v^mjIhHHIHBBP jss.' W: :- r,.=aB ■K£ ~ri m HI Ik .^* ■ n \ LIGHT AND WATER The city is lighted by electricity. The street cars, running over twenty-six miles of track, and carrying annually more than five million passengers, are run by the same wonder-working agency while much of the vast machinery used in the mines and smelters are kept in cease- less motion by mighty currents of this same invisible power brought to the city over a system of wires from a distance of seventy-five miles or more. No city in the west is better supplied with water either as to quality or quantity than is Butte. Its supply is brought chiefly from the Big Hole river twenty-seven miles to the south. In its journey it flows through huge mains which pass over the main divide of the Rockv Mountains and is finally emptied into a spacious reservoir high upon the mountain (5,960 ft.) from which it is distributed through a net work of sixty miles of mains to every home, business block, mine, and smelter in and about the city. It mav be of interest to know that from an altitude of 5,400 feet where the water is taken from the Big Hole river it is pumped by an enormous 600 horse power engine to a reservoir located at an altitude of 6,176 feet from which it is carried to the reservoir in the city as before stated. PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS Among its public institutions are the free public library containing over 30,000 volumes, two large and modern hospitals, a home for the reception and care of friendless children, an imposing city hall, large and elegantly equipped theatres, sixteen modern and commodious public school buildings, innumerable churches representing all the principal religious societies, the state school of mines, elegant and luxuriously furnished temples for the accommodation of the principal secret and fraternal societies, and last but not least the Columbia Gar- dens, that delightful pleasure resort which through the liberality and courtesy of Senator W. A. Clark is open to the citizens of Butte and the state from the first of May till the first of November. The daily and other papers of the city are among the very best to be found in the country. They are metropolitan in character, bold and outspoken in the expression of opinion and in every way are con- ducted with an enterprise and vigor that leaves but little to be desired. ITS PEOPLE But as in every city that has succeeded in stamping its individu- ality, upon the country at large, it is in the people that we find the great- est center of interest. And first of all they are truly cosmopolitan. They have come from every state in the Union, and from nearly every country on the face of the earth bringing with them an aggressive in- dustry, unsatisfied ambitions, an eager desire to better their condition, and withal a pluck and energy that laugh at impossibilities and that will not recognize such a word as failure. In the old home from which they came, the long hours of spirit- less toil were equalled only by the meager wages they received and the cruel economy necessary to provide against absolute want. It is little wonder that on coming to this country where the hours of labor admit of adequate rest and recreation and where the wages paid, by com- parison, assume a princely proportion, that their daily activities take on an intensitv that is known in few other localities. Scene in Columbia Gardens 61 a 2 5'- Q ^ O ^ M It has been said that the Butte laboring man is the best paid, the best fed, and the best dressed of his class to be found in the world. However this may be, those who know recognize him to be a strong, intelligent, and fearless son of toil who lives well, dresses well, works hard, lives hi a comfortable home and has a good time when "off shift." We speak here of the t3^pical laboring man — him of "the bucket brigade," for it must be understood that Butte has her share of the shiftless, of the loafer, of the dead beat, and possibly more than her just share of the criminal class. It is, however, the strong, sub- stantial, middle class of society — the knights of labor — that give the real tone and character to a community, and it is this class that so strongly predominates in this "city on the hill." It is sometimes assumed that in a city made up so largely of labor- ing people the children are inferior in the matter of intelligence and general deportment. However this may be in other localities, it is not true in Butte. There are no brighter or better behaved children to be found in the entire country east or west, than attend the Butte public and private schools. This is chiefly owing to the high character of the Butte laboring classes, of their respect for law and order, and their desire to see their children become intelligent, self-reliant, and law- abiding citizens. Taking it all in all, this mountain engirdled city, its striking com- bination of elegant homes, imposing business blocks, and public build- ings standing side by side with the rude cabin of the olden days, its hundreds upon hundreds of mines and smelters with their never ceas- ing activities, the wonderful mixtures of nationalities, the public spirit of the people, their renowned hospitality and courtesy to strangers, the absence of all politics save that which grows out of rival corporate in- terests — all these combine to make up a city, modern, aggressive and unique, the like of which cannot be found elsewhere, though one travel the wide world over. There is but one Butte. !*!**fc LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 019 885 271 5