Butte is (how do I say this) a dirty, old mining town. There are nice areas in the town but a lot of it is run-down, seedy, and just plain dirty. Even the mall looks worn out.
When I was growing up in Montana, Butte was always know as the armpit of Montana. But it has an amazing and risqué history.
There are lots of things to see and do in Butte. One of those things is Our Lady of the Rockies. She is a 90-foot statue of Mary who sits atop the Continental Divide. She began as an idea in 1979 and was created by volunteers from all walks of life. The base was poured with 400 tons of concrete in September of 1985 and on December 17, 1985, the National Guard used a Ch-54 Sikorsky Sky Crane and final head section was placed atop the statue. She weighs 80 tons and is 48 feet wide.
You can take a tour up to the statue but it takes 2 1/2 hours and we just didn’t have the time. So here are a couple of pictures from her website.
We also did an Underground Tour of Butte. This tour includes:
the Roarin' 20’s Rookwood Speakeasy. Carrie Nation made a stop in Butte but was put on a train and escorted out of town before she had a chance to even make a speech.
the 1950’s Hirbour Barber Shop,
the 1890 Old City Jail. The arrow is pointing to Evel Knievel’s signature. He spent quite a bit of time down here for reckless driving. Gee – can you imagine that? This jail was used until 1971.
This was not part of the tour but he was just too cute to pass up.
He is sitting on top of this bar: 
We didn’t stop in Maloney’s but headed out for pasties. For those of you who aren’t familiar with pasties, they are a meat/potato/onion pie that was brought to Butte by the Cornish/Welsh miners. In Butte, the place to get your pasty is at Joe’s. The miners crimped the edges so they could hold onto it with their dirty hands and then they wouldn’t eat the crimped portion. I like mine with gravy. Jim had chili, cheese, and onions on his.
I have a pasty with gravy to go please!
ReplyDeleteI love those ads on the side of the brick building.. K
Make mine with gravy too. The gravy looked good. Now that you're back in vacation mode you'll probably be hitting a lot of new restaurants.
ReplyDeleteYou describe Butte just as I remember it though it's probably been a decade since I was there.
ReplyDeleteI remember the statue. Had all but forgotten about her.
Let me know if the font is any better on my blog if you get a chance to visit.
We've never visited Butte, MT, but I had a pasty in Grass Valley, CA, which is also a town of Cornish mining descendants. Theirs weren't served with gravy or cheese, however.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I'd be a big fan of pasties. Never much cared for pot pies either.
ReplyDeleteCatching up with you guys! Lived in Butte 9 years, never saw the tourist things you talk about (we did come back years later and saw the statue). But pasties --- that's pure manna from Heaven. Never had them with chili, cheese and onions, just with gravy or with ketchup. Then there were the pork chop sandwiches, another wonderful Butte specialty.
ReplyDeleteI always thought I should try a pasty some day but, like Judy, not being fond of pot pies I don't expect to like them so I keep putting it off. Gravy would help, I'm sure. Gravy helps everything. :)
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