Butte in Silver Bow County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)

Butte Mining Through the Years

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 6, 2022

1. Butte Mining Through the Years Marker

Inscription.

Butte Mining Through the Years. . Placer Mining 1864- 1875 . Early pioneers used placer mining, or gold panning, which relied on water to separate waste rock from the gold (placer ore). Gold is heavier and sinks to the bottom. Placer mining tools generally include the rocker box, the sluice, and the dredge, the shaker table, and of course the pan. Besides placer mining, another early form of mining was hydraulic mining which used high-pressure water to wash away wast and expose the valuable gold. In the Butte area, the easy to get ore using placer mining methods ran out quickly, and Butte almost became a ghost town in 1875. , Vein Mining 1875- 1979 . Vein mining in Butte was used to extract silver, copper, lead, zinc and manganese. Common tools used for vein mining include picks, shovels, drills, and dynamite. Horizontal stations were cut every 100, 135, or 200 feet below the surface. Drifts were driven from each station and crosscuts were excavated to intersect the ore vein. Ore was hoisted to the surface using vertical shafts attached to massive iron head frames and 13 frames remain today as monuments to underground mining. Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology research shows there are approximately 10,000 miles of underground workings in the Butte area.-- 4,200 miles of vertical shafts and 5,600 miles of main horizontal openings. The are now filling up with returning groundwater. , Block Cave Mining 1948- 1967 . Block cave mining in Butte was a low-cost way of extracting pockets of ore that were too small to recover with vein mining. Miners divided the ore body into 80' X 120' zones called blocks that were undercut from below until caving began, crushing the ore into removable fragments. The ore flowed by gravity through chutes into ore cars or concrete-lined slasher drifts. Compressed air-operated motors pulled buckets of ore to a central point where it could be loaded into ore cars, transported to the shaft and hoisted to the surface. Daily production levels reached 15,000 tons of ore at the Kelley Mine, northwest of the Berkeley Pit. , Open Pit Mining 1955 - 2000 . Open pit mining in Butte was done by stripping off the wast to expose the ore. Dynamite blasting broke up and loosened the material, which was then loaded by electric or diesel shovels into haul trucks. In 1963, the Weed Concentrator (southeast of the Berkeley Pit) was built to process the ore. The main types of ore recovered from open pit mining in Butte were copper and molybdenum, with by products of gold, silver, lead, and zinc. After the Berkeley Pit closed in 1982, mining was resurrected in 1986 at the Continental Pit, east of the Berkeley. Operations there were suspended in 2000, and resumed in fall 2003

Placer Mining
1864- 1875 Early pioneers used placer mining, or gold panning, which relied on water to separate waste rock from the gold (placer ore). Gold is heavier and sinks to the bottom. Placer mining tools generally include the rocker box, the sluice, and the dredge, the shaker table, and of course the pan. Besides placer mining, another early form of mining was hydraulic mining which used high-pressure water to wash away wast and expose the valuable gold. In the Butte area, the easy to get ore using placer mining methods ran out quickly, and Butte almost became a ghost town in 1875.

Vein Mining
1875- 1979 Vein mining in Butte was used to extract silver, copper, lead, zinc and manganese. Common tools used for vein mining include picks, shovels, drills, and dynamite. Horizontal stations were cut every 100, 135, or 200 feet below the surface. Drifts were driven from each station and crosscuts were excavated to intersect the ore vein. Ore was hoisted to the surface using vertical shafts attached to massive iron head frames and 13 frames remain today as monuments to underground mining. Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology research shows there are approximately 10,000 miles of underground workings in the Butte area.-- 4,200 miles of vertical shafts

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and 5,600 miles of main horizontal openings. The are now filling up with returning groundwater.

Block Cave Mining
1948- 1967 Block cave mining in Butte was a low-cost way of extracting pockets of ore that were too small to recover with vein mining. Miners divided the ore body into 80' X 120' zones called blocks that were undercut from below until caving began, crushing the ore into removable fragments. The ore flowed by gravity through chutes into ore cars or concrete-lined slasher drifts. Compressed air-operated motors pulled buckets of ore to a central point where it could be loaded into ore cars, transported to the shaft and hoisted to the surface. Daily production levels reached 15,000 tons of ore at the Kelley Mine, northwest of the Berkeley Pit.

Open Pit Mining
1955 - 2000 Open pit mining in Butte was done by stripping off the wast to expose the ore. Dynamite blasting broke up and loosened the material, which was then loaded by electric or diesel shovels into haul trucks. In 1963, the Weed Concentrator (southeast of the Berkeley Pit) was built to process the ore. The main types of ore recovered from open pit mining in Butte were copper and molybdenum, with by products of gold, silver, lead, and zinc. After the Berkeley Pit closed in 1982, mining was resurrected in 1986

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 6, 2022

2. Butte Mining Through the Years Marker

at the Continental Pit, east of the Berkeley. Operations there were suspended in 2000, and resumed in fall 2003

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features • Natural Resources. A significant historical year for this entry is 1875.

Location. 46° 0.705′ N, 112° 31.073′ W. Marker is in Butte, Montana, in Silver Bow County. It can be reached from Continental Drive near Madison Street, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 300 Continental Drive, Butte MT 59701, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in andspecifically outhwest Montana, in Gold West Country, in Mining Country. It is also in the American Mountain West

and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land

and also the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Berkeley Pit Threatens the Water (here, next to this marker); Mining The Berkeley Pit 1955-1982 (here, next to this marker); The Berkeley Pit: The Water Returns (here, next to this marker); James Naughten Residence (approx. 0.6 miles away); Butte's Underground Mines (approx. 0.7 miles away); Butte (approx. 0.7 miles away); St. Joseph's Catholic Church (approx. ¾ mile away); Salvation Army Building (approx. ¾ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Butte.

Credits. This page was last revised on September 10, 2022. It was originally submitted on September 10, 2022, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 330 times since then and 46 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 10, 2022, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.