The Richest Hill on Earth
The small town of Butte began as a mining town in the late 19th century. Its peak years occurred between the late 19th century to the 1920s, becoming the largest mining town in North America. It became known as the “Richest Hill on Earth”, mining gold, silver and copper. It became famous for its saloons and red-light district. It attracted a diverse community of immigrants from Ireland, Wales, England, Canada, Finland, Austria, Serbia, Italy, China, Syria, Croatia, Montenegro and from all over the US.
To date over 48 billion dollars of wealth has been unearthed from this hill. This extraordinary phenomenon emerged at the height of the industrial revolution when the mining hill became the most concentrated area of industrial machines on Earth. The colossal machines spawned the most influential labor market anywhere, the most ethnically diverse population in the country, the largest red light district in the American West, nine railroads, the largest network of underground workings per square mile in the world (over 10,000 miles of tunneling), more wealth per citizen than any other comparable place up to that time, and a titanic struggle for the hill’s riches by both entrepreneurs and laborers.
