There are two routes to get from West Glacier to Butte – the more direct Interstate route that takes you through the city of Missoula … or a slightly more meandering highway that takes you through the countryside. Easy decision for us – countryside it is! This route took us along Swan Lake on MT 83 South – it is a BIG lake. It was a lovely, peaceful drive through some beautiful countryside surrounded by mountains and forest. As we continued on MT-200, the scenery changed ever so slightly – mountains, foothills, sagebrush, Ponderosa Pine. As we approached Butte, we encountered heavy rain for about 10 minutes. Then back to pleasant weather.
We still had lots of time before checking into our accommodation and we were HUNGRY. Our destination: Matt’s Place! Matt’s Place opened in 1930 at the peak of the copper mining boom in Butte, and is the oldest drive-in restaurant in Montana. It has been given a place in the National Register of Historic Places. It still retains its 1936 counter and 1950’s lighting fixtures. But what is truly special about Matt’s is the food – yes, burgers!!! Real burgers with no filler cooked on top of the original 1930 cast-iron griddle, real fries (I ate every one of them and I am not a fries fan), and their milk shakes … made with ice cream that they make on-site, served in the tall glass with the other half still in the tall silver beaker. So. Freakin’. Good. Matt’s Place is a gem.
With full bellies, we were off to explore Butte. Butte is a mining town and like most mining towns, has seen better days. It’s also rich with history. Mining towns, whether it’s my hometown of Glace Bay or the towns of Frank and Hillcrest in the Crowsnest Pass, are no strangers to large-scale tragedy and like those towns, Butte too has seen its share.
In 1895, there was a spectacular explosion and fire that ripped through Butte’s downtown. A fire had begun in the Royal Milling company’s warehouse and Butte’s fire department (the first professional fire department in the US) was on hand to battle it. This warehouse was adjacent to the Kenyon Cornell warehouse, and unknown to the fire fighters, explosive powder was being stored there. As they thought they almost had the original fire under control, there was a horrible explosion and pretty much the entire fire department, plus many by-standers, were killed. The fire destroyed much of the downtown, and I wonder if all the red brick buildings in the downtown area are as a result of that.
Another tragedy that hit Butte was the Granite Mountain Disaster of June 8, 1917 when an accident 2,000 feet underground resulted in the deaths of 168 miners. We visited the Granite Mountain Memorial and there we learned a great deal of the history of mining in that area and about the rise of the labour movement in that area.
Butte, in better times, was known as “The Richest Hill on Earth” because of the silver and copper mines, copper being especially valuable. There are still signs of old, closed mines, but now there is a great deal of open-pit mining being done.
From the Granite Mountain Memorial, you also get one of the best views of Our Lady of The Rockies. Now, she is impressive! The statue sits on top of the Continental Divide and is 90 feet high, and is 3,500 feet above the town.
The story of the Lady is fascinating: In 1979, Bob O’Bill’s wife was seriously ill with cancer. Bob was a religious man, and prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, vowing that he would make a 5 foot statue of her in his back yard if his wife recovered. Happily she did, and Bob began to make good on his promise, but the vision changed – instead of a 5 foot statue in his back yard, it became a mountain top statue nearly the size of the Statue of Liberty. The statue was built by volunteers using donated materials. The Lady is a monument to women everywhere, especially mothers. She is lit up at night and is very visible.
Now, our accommodation in Butte! What can I say? Toad Hall Manor is without a doubt one of the most incredibly beautiful homes we’ve ever been in. Elegant, yet whimsical. The hosts, Glenn and Jane (aka Mr. Toad and Lily -- from Wind in the Willows) are hosts extraordinaire.
Glenn is a retired architect and it shows in every tiny detail throughout the house. He’s also a damn fine foodie and a gadget inventor/collector – knocked my socks off. Some of the lovely services that they provided were little stations of port and sherry throughout the house, complimentary for guests. Before dinner, they open “the bar” serving drinks at no charge to guests, along with great conversation. Glenn drove us to a nearby restaurant and gave us his phone number to call for a drive home … so that we could enjoy our dinner & drinks, worry-free.
Our lovely room even had its very own, private patio. I should point out that the beautiful patio tiles … well, our host Glenn, cast four molds in concrete, different colours, and set out the design himself. Ummm … a little intimidating? Yes. But incredibly cool.
The house is next to a lovely golf-course, and the next door neighbor was Evil Knievil. I did try to take a picture of the house, which seemed quite grand, but the Private Property / Beware of Dog signs on the gate scared me away.
We will definitely return to Butte but for a longer period of time. So much we didn’t see, like the infamous (and haunted!) Dumas Brothel. Butte is an amazing place!
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