A Great Day Trip to Butte!

We killed a lot of BUGS yesterday on our exciting road trip to go pick up Colby in Butte, Montana after a 3 week stay with his dad. I really researched Butte before we left so I could learn a little about where we were going. You might wonder--WHY did Adrienne get so excited about going to BUTTE?? Well I'll tell you why...I live in Blackfoot and I don't get out much.

Butte began as a mining town in the late 19th century. At first only gold and silver were mined in the area, but the invention of electricity caused a soaring demand for copper, which was abundant there. The small town soon became one of the most prosperous cities in the country, especially during World War I, and was often called "the Richest Hill on Earth". It was the largest city for hundreds of miles in all directions.

Although the population has dwindled to a third of it's max, Butte still has a lot of charm and history to offer any visitor. I personally enjoy those little bits of culture from around the world that made America the melting pot it is today. So here's a little recap of some of the things we got to do!

If you know me, you would also know that it was important for me to research the food options in Butte too. I narrowed it down to 2 places for the day. The first place was Joe's Pasty Shop (pronounced Passtee). It's basically a meat pie filled with beef, potatoes and onions.

The pasty originated in Cornwall where it was made by Cornish housewives and put in the miner's lunch bucket. The pastry-wrapped meal was wrapped into an airtight waterproof oilcloth package and placed in a small steel churn which was then filled with hot tea. Down in the mines, the churns were placed next to the fires at the vent shafts which forced the air upwards to circulate fresh air around the mine. These fires kept the churn and all its contents hot for mealtime. They were a fun and delicious bit of history smothered in gravy!

Here's Brett strolling through the Farmer's Market with Jolie. We happened upon it while we were exploring and thought--why not! It was such a beautiful day.

Colby met us at the Transportation Museum. It was cool too! There were a lot of neat things to see but nothing was better than seeing Colby! I was so relieved and happy.

Here's Colby outside on Main Street. I thought the buildings and architecture were really cool., and I noticed in Uptown that everything was really clean and maintained. It was easy to imagine what it would have been like a hundred years ago when Butte was booming.

The influx of miners gave Butte the reputation as a wide-open town where any VICE was available. This nasty brothel was open until the 1980's--sick!

Don't worry, we skipped the tour because we didn't want to explain to Colby what a prostitute is. That talk can wait!

This was our second food stop......John’s Original Pork Chop Sandwich was founded in Butte, Montana in 1924. The original Pork Chop John, John Burklund, sold his pork chop sandwiches from the back of a wagon located on the corner of Mercury and Main Streets. He then opened this little shop in 1934 and it's still there today with the same original window and 10 barstools inside.

This is the original Pork Chop John's. We ordered from this little window, and These two nice sisters who work together there let me take a picture of them working on our pork chop sandwiches! They were really nice, so if you make it to Butte go see them and tell them Adrienne sent ya'.

This is the sandwich...a little mayo, mustard, onions pickles, lettuce, tomato, and a breaded and fried piece of pork chop. Even though I went to Pork Chop John's just to eat a little piece of history, it was actually pretty tasty!

After lunch we went to the Berkely Pit. It was an open copper pit mine until 1982.

Here's Brett and Colby getting ready to go down the tunnel to the pit. We had to borrow $3.00 from Colby so we could go in! Thank goodness Colby was carrying cash!

When mining shut down at the Berkeley pit in 1982, water pumps in nearby mines were also shut down, which resulted in highly acidic water laced with toxic heavy metals filling up the pit. In the 1990's 342 migrating geese picked the pit lake as a resting place, resulting in their deaths. Can you believe that!

This is the Our Lady of the Rockies Statue. She is a 90 ft statue of the Blessd Virgin Mary, dedicated to women and mothers everywhere, on top of the continental divide overlooking Butte.

We had a great day, and I am so glad that Colby is home!