182-676: The Anaconda Copper Mining Company , known as the Amalgamated Copper Company from 1899 to 1915, was an American mining company headquartered in Butte, Montana . It was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century and one of the largest mining companies in the world for much of the 20th century. Marcus Daly bought the original silver mine, named the Anaconda, in 1880. Daly partnered with George Hearst , James Ben Ali Haggin and Lloyd Tevis in 1881 to develop it, and
364-404: A Democratic stronghold, owing to its union legacy. Likewise, Silver Bow County has historically been one of Montana's strongest Democratic bastions. In 1996, Haley Beaudry became the first Republican to represent Butte in the state legislature since 1950. In 2010, Max Yates was the next Butte Republican elected to the legislature; neither Beaudry nor Yates was reelected. In 2014, Butte became
546-465: A book entitled Lies about the Rothschilds abandoned it, saying: 'It was relatively easy to spot the lies, but it proved impossible to find out the truth.'" Johnson writes that, unlike the court factors of earlier centuries, who had financed and managed European noble houses, but often lost their wealth through violence or expropriation, the new kind of international bank created by the Rothschilds
728-468: A close friendship with a shrewd, intelligent businessman, John D. Ryan , who assumed the presidency of Daly's bank and management of his widow's fortune. The leaders of Amalgamated turned to Ryan, famous for his negotiation skills, for help in creating a monopoly at Butte. Control of the areas producing mines was a key to high income. Ryan convinced Heinze to walk away with abundant compensation, allowing Amalgamated to take over Heinze's properties as well as
910-570: A food inspector for Butte, and immediately began pressing for change to questionable practices by several county commissioners who had been keeping the community's cost of living artificially high by, among other things, allowing carloads of perishable foods to rot on unloaded trains at the railroad station. She also "was instrumental in getting senate bill No. 19 through the legislature" that year to ensure that 199 tubercular soldiers who had served in World War I would be given "preference of entry to
1092-657: A former brothel, is in Venus Alley , Butte's former historical red-light district . Another notable site is the Rookwood Speakeasy, a prohibition-era speakeasy that features an underground city , and the Mai Wah Museum , dedicated to preserving Asian heritage in the Rocky Mountains. The 34-room Copper King Mansion in uptown Butte was constructed in 1884 by William A. Clark , one of
1274-629: A hereditary baronet of the United Kingdom. In 1885, Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet , was granted the hereditary peerage title of Baron Rothschild in the Peerage of the United Kingdom . This title is currently held by the 5th Baron Rothschild . The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836), who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London. Nathan Mayer von Rothschild,
1456-484: A major shale-oil venture , but that the world oil glut and the declining price of petroleum made shale oil moot." At the time of the sale to ARCO, Anaconda had large working hard coal holdings in the Black Thunder mine at Thunder Basin, Wyoming . ARCO planned to diversify its energy business into coal. In June 1998, Arch Coal completed the acquisition of the coal assets of Atlantic Richfield. Closing down
1638-495: A mean maximum of 88.8 °F (31.6 °C), although the hottest day, reaching 100 °F (38 °C), was July 22, 1931. The coldest temperature recorded was −52 °F (−47 °C) on February 9, 1933, and December 23, 1983. As of the 2020 census , there were 34,494 people and 14,605 households residing in Butte-Silver Bow, giving a population density of 48.2 people per square mile (18.6 people/km ). Per
1820-417: A period of time in the 1990s the tap water was unsafe to drink due to poor filtration and decades-old wooden supply pipes. Efforts to improve the water supply have taken place in the early 2000s, with millions of dollars invested to upgrade water lines and repair infrastructure. Environmental research and cleanup efforts have contributed to the diversification of the local economy and signs of vitality, including
2002-690: A place where children and families could get away from the polluted air of the Butte mining industry." The city's rapid expansion was noted in an 1889 frontier survey: "Butte, Montana, fifteen years ago a small placer-mining village clinging to the mountain side, has now risen to the rank of the first mining camp of the world... [It] is now the most populous city of Montana, numbering twenty-five thousand active, enterprising, prosperous inhabitants." In 1888 alone, mining operations in Butte generated an "almost inconceivable" output of $ 23 million (equivalent to $ 779,955,556 in 2023) worth of ore. Copper ore mined from
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#17327806501332184-649: A provisional Italian government. Because of the family's close political connections with Austria and France, Adolphe Carl von Rothschild [ fr ] was caught in a delicate position. He chose to take temporary sanctuary in Gaeta with the last Neapolitan king, Francis II of the Two Sicilies . However, the Rothschild branches in London, Paris, and Vienna were not prepared nor willing to financially support
2366-544: A renewed interest in restoring property in Uptown Butte's historic district, which expanded in 2006 to include parts of Anaconda and is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the U.S., with 5,991 contributing properties. A century after the era of intensive mining and smelting, environmental issues remain in areas around the city. Arsenic and heavy metals such as lead are found in high concentrations in some spots affected by old mining, and for
2548-430: A reputation as a wide-open town where any vice was obtainable. The city's saloon and red-light district, called the "Line" or "The Copper Block", centered on Mercury Street, where the elegant bordellos included the famous Dumas Brothel . Behind the brothel was the equally famous Venus Alley , where women plied their trade in small cubicles called "cribs." The red-light district brought miners and other men from all over
2730-543: A silver mine in Park City, Utah , which consequently made Hearst many millions. Huge deposits of copper were soon developed and Daly became a copper magnate. When surrounding silver mines "played out" and closed, Daly bought up the neighboring mines, forming a mining company. In 1883, Daly built a smelter at Anaconda, Montana , building a company town to support the workers, and connected his smelter to Butte by his Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway . Butte became one of
2912-703: A small mine named the Anaconda. He was a part-owner, mine manager and engineer of the Alice, a silver mine in Walkerville, a suburb of Butte. While working in the Alice, he noticed significant quantities of high-grade copper ore. Daly obtained permission to inspect nearby workings. After his employers, the Walker Brothers, refused to buy the Anaconda, Daly sold his interest in the Alice and bought it himself. He asked San Francisco mining magnate George Hearst for additional support. Hearst agreed to buy one-fourth of
3094-529: A soaring demand for the metal. After World War I , Butte's mining economy experienced a downward trend that continued throughout the 20th century, until mining operations ceased in 1985 with the closure of the Berkeley Pit. Over the course of its history, the city's mining operations generated over $ 48 billion worth of ore, making it for a time the richest city in the world. Much of the city's economy since 2000 has been focused in energy companies (such as
3276-677: A stroke, but William Rockefeller brought in his son Percy Rockefeller to help with leadership. In 1912 and 13, the Pujo Committee investigated William Rockefeller and others for allegedly earning $ 30 million in profit through cornering of the copper market and "synchronizing with artificially enforced activity" in Amalgamated Copper stock in the New York Stock Exchange. During the 1920s, metal prices went up and mining activity increased. Those were really
3458-607: A suburb of Butte. While working in the Alice, he noticed significant quantities of high grade copper ore. Daly scouted the Anaconda and several other mines in the area and recommended the mine to the Walker brothers, who sent a professional geologist to inspect the Anaconda. The Walkers were not interested in the mine, and Daly sold his interest in the Alice to purchase it himself. Placer gold and silver lode mining had taken place at Butte, placer mining at Helena , Bannock and Virginia City , Montana territory respectively, and Butte
3640-481: A television pilot titled Butteification aired on HGTV , which focused on a couple restoring a Victorian home in Butte. Butte's South district, at a lower elevation than the hillside that comprises northern Butte, has historically been home to working-class neighborhoods. Gold mines originally populated south Butte before it was platted for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1881. The expansion of
3822-614: A toll in the mining industry; decline in demand led to the company making massive layoffs in both the United States and Chile (up to 66 percent unemployment rate in the Chilean mines). On March 26, 1931, Anaconda cut its dividend rate 40%. John D. Ryan died in 1933 and was buried in a copper coffin. His mighty Anaconda shares, once worth $ 175 each, had dropped to $ 3 at the low of the Great Depression. Cornelius Kelley became
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#17327806501334004-722: A violent strike in Coeur d'Alene . Although the BMU was experiencing relatively friendly relations with local management, the events in Idaho were disturbing. The BMU not only sent thousands of dollars to support the Idaho miners, they mortgaged their buildings to send more. There was a growing concern that local unions were vulnerable to the power of Mine Owners' Associations like the one in Coeur d'Alene. In May 1893, about 40 delegates from northern hard-rock mining camps met in Butte and established
4186-634: A year and only released after a substantial ransom was paid by his family. After Louis was allowed to leave the country in March 1939, the Nazis placed the firm of S M von Rothschild under compulsory administration. Nazi officers and senior staff from Austrian museums also emptied the Rothschild family estates of all their valuables. Following the war, the Austrian Rothschilds were unable to reclaim much of their former assets and properties. Later,
4368-596: A £5 million (equal to £440 million in 2023) loan to the Prussian government, and the issuing of bonds for government loans formed a mainstay of his bank's business. He gained a position of such power in the City of London that by 1825–26 he was able to supply enough coin to the Bank of England to enable it to avert a market liquidity crisis. Rothschild family banking businesses pioneered international high finance during
4550-604: Is a complicated business, mainly because of the fanatics and extremists – and I am talking about both sides. I think you have fanatics in Israel. ... In general I am not in contact with politicians. I spoke once with Netanyahu . I met once with an Israeli finance minister, but the less I mingle with politicians the better I feel." Due to a dispute with the Israeli tax authorities, the baron refused to visit Israel. But his widow Ariane de Rothschild often visits Israel where she manages
4732-527: Is dedicated to preserving the town's history. The library was created in 1894 as "an antidote to the miners' proclivity for drinking, whoring, and gambling," designed to promote middle-class values and to promote an image of Butte as a cultivated city. Additionally, the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives stores and provides public access to documents and artifacts from Butte's past. Several museums and attractions are dedicated to
4914-812: Is derived from the family house, Rothschild, built by Isaak Elchanan Bacharach in Frankfurt in 1567. The family rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Frankfurt , Holy Roman Empire, who established his banking business in the 1760s. Unlike most previous court factors, Rothschild managed to bequeath his wealth and established an international banking family through his five sons, who established businesses in Paris, Frankfurt, London, Vienna, and Naples. The family
5096-581: Is displayed the letter Dorothy de Rothschild wrote to then Prime Minister Shimon Peres expressing her intention to donate a new building for the Supreme Court. The Rothschilds also established the " Yad Hanadiv " philanthropic foundation in 1958. Interviewed by Haaretz in 2010, Baron Benjamin Rothschild , who was a Swiss-based member of the banking family, said that he supported the Israeli–Palestinian peace process : "I understand that it
5278-488: Is land and 0.57 sq mi (1.48 km ) (0.08%) is water. The city is on the U.S. Continental Divide . Every highway exiting Butte (except westbound I-90) crosses the Divide (eastbound I-90 via Homestake Pass; eastbound MT 2 via Pipestone Pass; northbound I-15 via Elk Park Pass and southbound I-15 via Deer Lodge Pass). The city was named for a nearby landform, Big Butte, by the early miners. Butte's urban landscape
5460-545: Is low and largely concentrated in the spring: the wettest month since precipitation records began in 1894 was June 1913, with 8.86 inches (225 mm), while no precipitation fell in September 1904. The wettest calendar year was 1909, with 20.55 inches (522 mm) and the driest was 2021, with 6.49 inches (165 mm). Snowfall is somewhat limited by dryness: the most in one month being 41.5 inches (1,050 mm) in May 1927 and
5642-406: Is notable for including mining operations set within residential areas, visible in the form of various headframes throughout the city. The concentration of wealth in Butte due to its mining history resulted in unique and ornate architectural features among its homes and buildings, particularly in the uptown section. Uptown, named for its steep streets, is on a hillside on the northwestern edge of
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5824-572: Is perhaps becoming most renowned for the regional Montana Folk Festival held on the second weekend in July. This event began its run in Butte as the National Folk Festival from 2008 to 2010 and in 2011 made the transition to a free-of-admission music festival. Also in the summer is Butte's Fourth of July Parade and Fireworks show. In 2008, Barack Obama spent the last Fourth of July before his presidency campaigning in Butte, taking in
6006-461: Is the oldest family-owned, continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the U.S. After the Berkeley Pit mining operation closed in 1982, pipes that pumped groundwater out of the pit were turned off, resulting in the pit slowly filling with groundwater, creating an artificial lake. Only two years later the pit was classified as a Superfund site and an environmental hazard site. The water in
6188-552: The Anaconda Road Massacre . Seventeen were shot in the back as they tried to flee, and one man died. Sparked by a tragic accident more than 2,000 feet (600 m) below the ground on June 8, 1917, a fire in the Granite Mountain mine shaft spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through the labyrinth of tunnels including the connected Speculator Mine. A rescue effort commenced, but carbon monoxide
6370-534: The Austrian nobility by Emperor Francis I of Austria , and they were all granted the Austrian hereditary title of Freiherr ( baron ) on 29 September 1822. The British branch of the family was elevated by Queen Victoria , who granted the hereditary title of baronet (1847) and later the hereditary peerage title of Baron Rothschild (1885). The Rothschilds already possessed a significant fortune before
6552-404: The Austrian nobility by Emperor Francis I of Austria . The remaining son, Nathan , was elevated in 1818. All of them were granted the Austrian hereditary title of Freiherr ( baron ) on 29 September 1822. As a result, some members of the family used the nobiliary particle de or von before their surname to acknowledge the grant of nobility. In 1847, Anthony de Rothschild was made
6734-820: The Berkeley Pit , which Anaconda Copper opened in 1954. When it opened, the Berkeley Pit was the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the nation. It grew until it began encroaching on the Columbia Gardens. After the Gardens caught fire and burned to the ground in November 1973, the Continental Pit was excavated on the former park site. In 1977, the ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) purchased Anaconda, and three years later started shutting down mines due to lower metal prices. In 1983, all mining in
6916-587: The Blessed Virgin Mary , dedicated to women and mothers everywhere, atop the Continental Divide . The statue was airlifted to the site on December 17, 1985, after six years of construction. Butte is also home to the U.S. High Altitude Speed Skating Center, an outdoor speed-skating rink used as a training location for World Cup skaters. Throughout uptown and western Butte are over ten underground mine headframes that are remnants from
7098-737: The British South Africa Company . Leopold de Rothschild (1845–1917) administered Rhodes's estate after his death in 1902 and helped to set up the Rhodes Scholarship scheme at the University of Oxford . In 1873, de Rothschild Frères in France and N M Rothschild & Sons of London joined with other investors to acquire the Spanish government's money-losing Rio Tinto copper mines. The new owners restructured
7280-597: The Butte Citizens Technical Environmental Committee was established in 1984. In the 21st century, efforts to interpret and preserve Butte's heritage are addressing both the town's historical significance and the continuing importance of mining to its economy and culture. The city's Uptown Historic District, on the National Register of Historic Places , is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in
7462-574: The Butte, Montana labor riots of 1914 , and resulted in the loss of union recognition by the mine owners. After the dissolution of the Miners' Union, the Anaconda Company attempted to inaugurate programs aimed at enticing employees. A number of clashes between laborers, labor organizers, and the Anaconda Company ensued, including the 1917 lynching of IWW executive board officer Frank Little . In 1920, company mine guards gunned down strikers in
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7644-687: The Caesarea Foundation . She says: "It is insulting that the state [Israel] casts doubt on us. If there is a family that does not have to prove its commitment to Israel, it's ours." Primarily due to the generosity and influence of Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, HaNadiv (the Benefactor), on the history of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel, a tradition exists of naming cities, towns and other settlements in Israel in honor of members of
7826-735: The Continental Divide , positioned on the southwestern side of a large mass of granite known as the Boulder Batholith , which dates to the Cretaceous era. In 1874, William L. Farlin founded the Asteroid Mine (subsequently known as the Travona), which attracted a significant number of prospectors seeking gold and silver . The mines attracted workers from Cornwall (England), Ireland, Wales, Lebanon, Canada, Finland, Austria, Italy, China, Montenegro , Mexico, and more. In
8008-589: The Holocaust , some of them moving to the United States, and returning to Europe only after the war. In 1999, the government of Austria agreed to return to the Rothschild family some 250 art treasures looted by the Nazis and absorbed into state museums after the war. The C M de Rothschild & Figli bank arranged substantial loans to the Papal States and to various Kings of Naples plus the Duchy of Parma and
8190-524: The Knights of Labor , and by 1886 the separate organizations came together to form the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, with 34 separate unions representing nearly all of the 6,000 workers around Butte. The BMU established branch unions in mining towns like Barker, Castle, Champion, Granite , and Neihart , and extended support to other mining camps hundreds of miles away. In 1892 there was
8372-532: The Nazis and flee the country. Their Rothschild palaces , a collection of vast palaces in Vienna built and owned by the family, were confiscated, plundered and destroyed by the Nazis. The palaces were famous for their sheer size and for their huge collections of paintings, armour , tapestries and statues (some of which were restored to the Rothschilds by the Austrian government in 1999). All family members escaped
8554-646: The Parc Edmond de Rothschild (Edmond de Rothschild Park), is also named after its founder. The Rothschilds also played a significant part in the funding of Israel's governmental infrastructure. James A. de Rothschild financed the Knesset building as a gift to the State of Israel and the Supreme Court of Israel building was donated to Israel by Dorothy de Rothschild . Outside the President's Chamber
8736-575: The Renewable Energy Corporation and NorthWestern Energy ) and healthcare. In 2014, NorthWestern Energy constructed a $ 25-million facility in uptown. In 1977, Butte consolidated with Silver Bow County , becoming a consolidated city-county . It operates under a city-county government. The office of the mayor was eliminated. Mario Micone was the last mayor of Butte. In 1977, he became the first Chief Executive of Butte-Silver Bow County. Politically, Butte has historically been
8918-491: The Russo-Japanese War . The London consortium's issue of Japanese war bonds would total £11.5 million (at 1907 currency rates; £1.11 billion in 2012 currency terms). The name of Rothschild became synonymous with extravagance and great wealth; and the family was renowned for its art collecting, for its palaces, as well as for its philanthropy. By the end of the century, the family owned, or had built, at
9100-590: The United Copper Company . Neither organization was able to monopolize copper extraction in Montana. In addition, although Butte was the most prolific copper-mining district in the world, Amalgamated could not control production from other copper producing districts, such as those in Michigan , Utah , Arizona , or countries outside the United States. Marcus Daly passed away in 1900. His widow began
9282-500: The Upper Clark Fork river basin and many associated areas as Superfund sites—the nation's largest. The EPA named ARCO as the "potentially responsible party." As a result, ARCO was obliged to remediate (clean up) the area. Since then, ARCO and BP have spent hundreds of millions of dollars decontaminating and rehabilitating the area, though the job is far from finished. ARCO merged with BP in 2000. BP in turn sold most of ARCO to Tesoro in 2010, but retains responsibility for cleanup of
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#17327806501339464-546: The Western Federation of Miners (WFM), which sought to organize miners throughout the West. The Butte Miners' Union became Local Number One of the new WFM. The WFM won a strike in Cripple Creek, Colorado , the following year, but in 1896–97 lost another violent strike in Leadville, Colorado , prompting the Montana State Trades and Labor Council to issue a proclamation to organize a new Western labor federation along industrial lines . In 1899, Daly, William Rockefeller , Henry H. Rogers , and Thomas W. Lawson organized
9646-418: The fall of France during the Second World War led to the seizure of the property of the French Rothschilds under German occupation. Despite having their bank restored to them at the end of the war, the French Rothschilds were powerless in 1982 as the family business was nationalised by the socialist government of newly elected President François Mitterrand . In addition, The New York Times wrote that
9828-664: The "miner's church", scheduling masses around miners' shifting schedules. Historically, the St. Mary's section of Butte had a prominent population of Slavic and Finnish immigrants in addition to Irish before the mid-20th century. Butte has a cold semi-arid climate ( BSk ) under the Köppen Climate Classification . Winters are long and cold, January averaging 20.0 °F (−6.7 °C), with 30.9 nights falling below 0 °F (−18 °C) and 53.8 days failing to top freezing. Summers are short, with very warm days and chilly nights: July averages 63.6 °F (17.6 °C). Like most areas in this part of North America, annual precipitation
10010-401: The Amalgamated Copper Mining Company. Not long after, the company changed its name to Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM). Over the years, Anaconda was owned by assorted larger corporations. In the 1920s, it had a virtual monopoly over the mines in and around Butte. Between approximately 1900 and 1917, Butte also had a strong streak of Socialist politics, even electing Mayor Lewis Duncan on
10192-409: The Anaconda Company in the 1960s and 1970s eradicated some of Butte's historic neighborhoods, including the East Side, Dublin Gulch, Meaderville, and Chinatown . The St. Mary's section, which borders uptown to the east, comprised the Dublin Gulch (an enclave for Irish immigrants) and Corktown neighborhoods. It takes its name from the eponymous Roman Catholic parish within it, historically known as
10374-587: The Anaconda Company owned several Montana newspapers including the Butte Post , Butte Miner , Anaconda Standard , Daily Missoulian , Helena Independent , and Billings Gazette . The Anaconda Company controlled the economic and political dealings throughout Montana well into the mid-1900s. As the state's largest employer, Anaconda dominated Montana politics. In the political arena the "copper collar" symbolized influence, wealth, and power. In 1894, Montana held an election to decide which city would be its capital. Marcus Daly, an Anaconda supporter, used his power over
10556-399: The Anaconda Company to switch its focus in Butte from underground mining to open pit mining . Since the 1950s, five major developments in the city have occurred: the Anaconda's decision to begin open-pit mining in the mid-1950s, a series of fires in Butte's business district in the 1970s, a debate over whether to relocate the city's historic business district, a new civic leadership, and
10738-410: The Anaconda Company. From the 1920s until 1959, journalists working at the newspapers could write nothing that clashed with the company's business enterprises. Journalists were thus not allowed to develop and exercise their professional skills through their news judgment - lawyers and accountants made news judgments, not journalists — and were frozen for decades in this pre-professional model. By 1920,
10920-424: The Anaconda Copper Company, and the Rothschilds appear to have had no further role in the company. By his death in 1900, Marcus Daly had just become president of the holding company valued at $ 75 million. Lawson later had a falling out with Rogers and Rockefeller, and wrote of the experience in a book Frenzied Finance (1905). Colored by Lawson's bitterness, the book offered insight into aspects of high finance. At
11102-415: The Anaconda operations and uses ARCO as a subsidiary to handle Anaconda-related lawsuits. Anaconda diversified into aluminum production in 1952, when they purchased rights to build an aluminum reduction plant in Columbia Falls . After two years of construction, the plant went online in August 1955. Following two expansions in the 1960s, the plant had a peak output capacity of 180,000 tons annually. ARCO kept
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#173278065013311284-455: The Berkeley Pit and shut off the deep pumps in 1982, allowing the pit and mines to fill with water. The Continental Pit, the last active Anaconda mining property in Butte, was closed in 1982, but resumed mining in the early 2000's. Six years after ARCO acquired rights to the "Richest Hill on Earth", Butte's mines were completely idle. ARCO founder, Robert Orville Anderson , stated "he hoped Anaconda's resources and expertise would help him launch
11466-412: The Berkeley Pit was suspended. The same year, an organization of low-income and unemployed Butte residents formed to fight for jobs and environmental justice ; the Butte Community Union produced a detailed plan for community revitalization and won substantial benefits, including a Montana Supreme Court victory striking down as unconstitutional state elimination of welfare benefits. After mining ceased at
11648-782: The Berkeley Pit, water pumps in nearby mines were also shut down, which resulted in highly acidic water laced with toxic heavy metals filling up the pit. Anaconda ceased mining at the Continental Pit in 1983. Montana Resources LLP bought the property and reopened the Continental Pit in 1986. The company ceased mining in 2000, but resumed in 2003. From 1880 through 2005, the mines of the Butte district produced more than 9.6 million metric tons of copper, 2.1 million metric tons of zinc, 1.6 million metric tons of manganese, 381,000 metric tons of lead, 87,000 metric tons of molybdenum, 715 million troy ounces (22,200 t) of silver, and 2.9 million troy ounces (90 t) of gold. Fourteen headframes still remain over mine shafts in Butte, and
11830-407: The British and French financial firms merged under the leadership of David René de Rothschild . There are two branches of the family connected to France. The first was the branch of James Mayer de Rothschild (1792–1868), known as "James", who established de Rothschild Frères in Paris; he married his niece Betty von Rothschild . Following the Napoleonic Wars, he played a major role in financing
12012-408: The British branch, plus Bank Rothschild AG, the Swiss branch, set up a representative banking office in Frankfurt. By the start of the 20th century, the introduction of national taxation systems had ended the Rothschilds' policy of operating with a single set of commercial account records, which resulted in the various branches gradually going their own separate ways as independent banks. The system of
12194-410: The Butte mining district in 1910 alone totaled 284,000,000 pounds (129,000,000 kg); at the time, Butte was the largest producer of copper in North America and rivaled in worldwide metal production only by South Africa . The same year, in excess of 10,000,000 troy ounces (310,000 kg) of silver and 37,000 troy ounces (1,200 kg) of gold were also discovered. The amount of ore produced in
12376-444: The Copper Collar, but these hoots and catcalls he contemptuously ignored, reiterated his freedom from all cliques, factions, and corporations and that his purpose had been purely and simply to prove or disprove unlawful practices, and sat down." Even the suggestion that a person wore the "copper collar" created pandemonium from the crowd. Ivan Doig refers to the "copper collar" in his novel Work Song (2010). In 1919, Gracie resists
12558-495: The Galen hospital", and that the legislature would authorize $ 20,000 to build additional dormitories at the hospital to make that care possible since hospital admissions were already at capacity. In 1921, she became the first female prohibition inspector in the city. Disputes between miners' unions and companies continued through the 1920s and 1930s, with several strikes and protests, one of which lasted for ten months in 1921. On New Year's Eve 1922, protestors attempted to detonate
12740-411: The Grand Duchy of Tuscany. However, in the 1830s, Naples followed Spain with a gradual shift away from conventional bond issues that began to affect the bank's growth and profitability. The Unification of Italy in 1861, with the ensuing decline of the Italian aristocracy who had been the Rothschilds' primary clients, eventually brought about the closure of their Naples bank, due to a forecasted decline in
12922-417: The Hibernian Hall on Main Street with dynamite . Further industrial expansions included the arrival of the first mail plane in 1928, and in 1937, the city's streetcar system was dismantled and replaced by bus lines. After the 1920s, the ACM began to reduce its activities in Butte due to the labor-intensivity of underground mining, as well as competition from other mine holdings in South America. This led
13104-650: The Metal Mine Workers Union; about 15,000 workers abandoned their jobs in the disaster's wake. Between 1914 and 1920, the U.S. National Guard occupied Butte six times to restore civility. In 1917, copper production from the Butte mines peaked and steadily declined thereafter. By WWII, copper production from the ACM's holdings in Chuquicamata , Chile, far exceeded Butte's production. In 1919, women's rights activist Margaret Jane Steele Rozsa became
13286-691: The Paris Rothschild family remained involved in the family business, becoming a major force in international investment banking. The Paris Rothschilds have since led the Thomson Financial League Tables in Investment Banking Merger and Acquisition deals in the UK, France and Italy. James Mayer de Rothschild 's other son, Edmond James de Rothschild (1845–1934), was very much engaged in philanthropy and
13468-492: The Rothschild family. Six of these places are grouped in the same vicinity, on the Sharon plain , while the others are scattered throughout the country. They are, listed in order of founding: Since the late 19th century, the family has taken a low-key public profile, donating many famous estates, as well as vast quantities of art, to charity, and generally eschewing conspicuous displays of wealth. Today, Rothschild businesses are on
13650-536: The Rothschilds "grossly misjudged the opportunities directly across the Atlantic" and quoted Evelyn de Rothschild as saying that despite the accomplishments made by the various branches of the family in international high finance for over 200 years, "we never seized the initiative in America and that was one of the mistakes my family made." In 1816, four of the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild were elevated to
13832-537: The Rothschilds of having several brothers of a firm establish branches in the different financial centres was followed by other Jewish financiers, like the Bischoffsheims , Pereires , Seligmans , Lazards and others, and these financiers by their integrity and financial skill obtained credit not alone with their Jewish confrères, but with the banking fraternity in general. By this means, Jewish financiers obtained an increasing share of international finance during
14014-485: The Rothschilds provided £9.8 million (equivalent to about £850 million in 2023) in subsidy loans to Britain's continental allies. The brothers helped coordinate Rothschild activities across the continent, and the family developed a network of agents, shippers and couriers to transport gold across war-torn Europe. The family network was also to provide Nathan Rothschild time and again with political and financial information ahead of his peers, giving him an advantage in
14196-537: The Rothschilds, French and British, bought out the stock in Anaconda held by Hearst's widow, Phoebe Apperson Hearst , for $ 7.5 million. By the late 1890s the Rothschilds probably had control over the sale of about forty percent of the world's copper production. The Rothschilds' role in Anaconda was brief. In 1899, Daly teamed up with two directors of Standard Oil to create the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company which grew to become one of
14378-621: The Socialist ticket in 1911, and again in 1913; Duncan was impeached in 1914 for neglecting duties after a bombing in the city's miners' hall in 1914. Butte also established itself as "one of the most solid union cities in America." After 1905, it became a hotbed of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or the "Wobblies") organizing. Rivalry between IWW supporters and the WFM locals culminated in
14560-537: The U.S., containing nearly 6,000 contributing properties. The city is also home to Montana Technological University , a public engineering and technical university. Before Butte's formal establishment in 1864, the area consisted of a mining camp that had developed in the early 1860s. The city is in the Silver Bow Creek Valley (or Summit Valley), a natural bowl sitting high in the Rockies straddling
14742-559: The US Census' 2019 American Community Survey , the racial makeup of the city was 94.3% White , 0.6% African American , 2.3% Native American , 0.8% Asian , 0.0% Pacific Islander , and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race accounted for 4.6% of the population. Of ethnic groups in Butte, the Irish make up a significant portion, with over one-quarter of the city's population claiming Irish descent, exceeding
14924-400: The United States government, and the successor government of Augusto Pinochet paid Anaconda compensation of $ 250 million. Losses from the Chilean takeover however, had seriously weakened the company's financial position. Later in 1971, Anaconda's Mexican copper mine Compañía Minera de Cananea , S.A. was nationalized by president Luis Echeverría Álvarez 's government. An unwise investment in
15106-510: The actions were not illegal and took place frequently. Anaconda was producing copper at such a rate they had tremendous stockpiles. To control prices, the company only sold the requested supply. Under the pressure of a "joint account" set up by Ryan and Rockefeller of nearly a million and a half shares of Anaconda Copper Company, prices fluctuated from $ 40 in December 1928, to $ 128 in March 1929. Selling large volumes of shares rather quickly causes
15288-416: The apparent jump in the 1980 census was due to the city's consolidation with all of Silver Bow County except Walkerville . As a mining boom town, Butte's economy was historically powered by its copious mining operations. Silver and gold were initially the primary metals mined in Butte, but the abundance of copper in the area further invigorated the local economy with the advent of electricity, which created
15470-638: The arts, and he was a leading proponent of Zionism . His grandson, Baron Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild , founded in 1953 the LCF Rothschild Group , a private bank. Since 1997, Baron Benjamin de Rothschild chairs the group. The group has €100bn of assets in 2008 and owns many wine properties in France ( Château Clarke , Château des Laurets ), in Australia, or in South Africa. In 1961, the 35-year-old Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild purchased
15652-589: The assets of all other copper companies operating in Butte. In 1922, Anaconda bought mining operations in Mexico and Chile ; the latter hosted the largest mine in the world and for a time yielded two-thirds of the company's profits. The company added aluminum reduction to its portfolio in 1955. In the 1950s, the company switched over from underground to open-pit mining . In 1960 its operations employed 37,000 employees in North America and Chile. Anaconda Copper
15834-513: The bank was able to supply enough coin to the Bank of England to enable it to avert a liquidity crisis. Nathan Mayer's eldest son, Lionel de Rothschild (1808–1879), succeeded him as head of the London branch. Under Lionel, the bank financed the British government's 1875 purchase of Egypt 's interest in the Suez Canal . The Rothschild bank also funded Cecil Rhodes in the development of
16016-449: The beginning of the 1900s, due to electrification (and Amalgamated's maintenance of an artificially high copper price), copper was very profitable, and copper mining expanded rapidly. Between 1899 and 1915, Anaconda, controlled by Standard Oil insiders, stayed under the name of Amalgamated Copper Company. Amalgamated was in conflict with powerful copper king F. Augustus Heinze , who also owned mines in Butte; in 1902 he consolidated these as
16198-542: The bonds on the crest of a short bounce in the market in 1817 for a 40% profit. Given the sheer power of leverage the Rothschild family had at their disposal, this profit was an enormous sum. Nathan Mayer Rothschild started his business in Manchester in 1806 and gradually moved it to London, where in 1809 he acquired the location at 2 New Court in St. Swithin's Lane, City of London , where it operates today; he established N M Rothschild & Sons in 1811. In 1818, he arranged
16380-418: The bottom to fall out of the market; investors lose confidence and dump their shares, causing a domino effect. Small investors would purchase blocks of shares on credit, and when they could not sell at or above the given price, had to sell the shares at a loss when the banks called on their loans for the purchase of said shares. Smaller investors were completely wiped out. The results are still considered one of
16562-424: The chairman in 1940. Butte mining, like most U.S. industry, remained depressed until the dawn of World War II , when the demand for war materials greatly increased the need for copper, zinc, and manganese. Anaconda ranked 58th among United States corporations in the value of World War II-military production contracts. That relieved some of the economic tensions. The end of World War II brought another depression in
16744-453: The city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow . The city covers 718 square miles (1,860 km ), and, according to the 2020 census , has a population of 34,494, making it Montana's fifth-largest city . It is served by Bert Mooney Airport with airport code BTM. Established in 1864 as a mining camp in the northern Rocky Mountains on the Continental Divide , Butte experienced rapid development in
16926-597: The city earned it the nickname "The Richest Hill on Earth." With its large workforce of miners performing in physically dangerous conditions, Butte was the site of active labor union movements, and came to be known as "the Gibraltar of Unionism." By 1885, there were about 1,800 dues-paying members of a general union in Butte. That year the union reorganized as the Butte Miners' Union (BMU), spinning off all non-miners to separate craft unions . Some of these joined
17108-476: The city still contains thousands of historic commercial and residential buildings from the boom times, which, especially in Uptown, give it an old-fashioned appearance, with many commercial buildings not fully occupied; according to a 2016 estimate, there were "hundreds" of unoccupied buildings in Butte, resulting in an ordinance to keep record of owners. Preservation efforts of the city's historic buildings began in
17290-690: The city's mining history, including the MBMG Mineral Museum (on the Montana Tech campus), and the World Museum of Mining, at the Orphan Girl mine in uptown Butte, which features "Hell Roarin' Gulch", a mockup of a frontier mining town. The Berkeley Pit , a gigantic former open pit copper mine, is also open to the public for viewing. Other museums are dedicated to preserving cultural elements of Butte: The Dumas Brothel museum ,
17472-559: The city's three Copper Kings . The mansion functions as a bed-and-breakfast and local museum, and is often reported to be haunted . The Art Chateau, at one time home to Clark's son, Charles, was designed in the image of a French château , and houses the Butte-Silver Bow Arts Foundation. Above Butte on the northeast edge of the city is the Our Lady of the Rockies statue, a 90-foot (27 m) statue of
17654-514: The close involvement of the Rothschilds in the occasion. Major 19th-century businesses founded with Rothschild family capital include: The family funded Cecil Rhodes in the creation of the African colony of Rhodesia . From the late 1880s onwards, the family took over control of the Rio Tinto mining company. The Japanese government approached the London and Paris families for funding during
17836-474: The company Club Med , after he had visited a resort and enjoyed his stay. His interest in Club Med was sold off by the 1990s. In 1973, he bought out the Bank of California , selling his interests in 1984 before it was sold to Mitsubishi Bank in 1985. The second French branch was founded by Nathaniel de Rothschild (1812–1870). Born in London, he was the fourth child of the founder of the British branch of
18018-720: The company and turned it into a profitable business. By 1905, the Rothschild interest in Rio Tinto amounted to more than 30 percent. In 1887, the French and British Rothschild banking houses loaned money to, and invested in, the De Beers diamond mines in South Africa, becoming its largest shareholders. The London banking house continued under the management of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882–1942) and his brother Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (1887–1961), and then to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (1931–2022). In 2003, following Sir Evelyn's retirement as head of N M Rothschild & Sons of London,
18200-430: The company expanded dramatically in 1882 with the discovery of huge copper deposits. In 1883, Daly began building a smelter and the town of Anaconda to process copper mined in Butte. In 1899, with Hearst and Tevis deceased, Haggin retired and Daly restructured the enterprise into the Amalgamated Copper Company, bringing in H H Rogers and William Rockefeller . By 1910, Amalgamated had expanded its operations and bought
18382-399: The company switched to open-pit mining , a very area-consuming method. The Berkeley Pit kept expanding and ate away at the older parts of Butte. In 1971, Chile's newly elected Socialist president Salvador Allende confiscated the Chuquicamata mine from Anaconda, stripping Anaconda of two-thirds of its copper production. Allende was overthrown violently in 1973 in an operation backed by
18564-423: The construction of railways and the mining business that helped make France an industrial power. By 1980, the Paris business employed about 2,000 people and had an annual turnover of 26 billion francs (€4.13 billion or $ 5 billion in the currency rates of 1980). — Wilhelm I , Emperor of Germany, on visiting Château de Ferrières . However, the Paris business suffered a near death blow in 1982, when
18746-400: The copper industry because of a decline in demand after war production ended. During the post-war years, demand and prices for copper dropped. At the same time mining costs had risen precipitously. As a result, copper production from Butte's underground vein mines dropped to only 45,000 mt annually. Anaconda tasked its engineers with devising new techniques to keep mining profitable. The answer
18928-452: The course of its history, Butte's mining and smelting operations generated more than $ 48 billion worth of ore , but also resulted in numerous environmental implications for the city: The upper Clark Fork River , with headwaters at Butte, is the largest Superfund site in the nation, and the city is also home to the Berkeley Pit . In the late 20th century, the EPA instated cleanup efforts, and
19110-599: The creation of a network of agents, couriers and shippers, the bank was able to provide funds to the armies of the Duke of Wellington in Portugal and Spain, therefore funding the war. The providing of other innovative and complex financing for government projects formed a mainstay of the bank's business for the better part of the century. N M Rothschild & Sons' financial strength in the City of London became such that, by 1825–26,
19292-530: The deceased began; many of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, leaving many unidentified. The disaster claimed a total of 168 lives. As of 2017, the event remained the largest hard rock mining accident in history. The Granite Mountain Memorial in Butte commemorates those who died in the accident. Protests and strikes began after the Speculator Mine disaster, as well as the establishment of
19474-538: The deposed king. With the ensuing unification of Italy , and the mounting tension between Adolph and the rest of the family, the Naples house closed in 1863 after forty-two years in business. In 1901, the German branch closed its doors after more than a century in business following the death of Wilhelm Rothschild with no male heirs. It was not until 1989 that the family returned to Germany, when N M Rothschild & Sons,
19656-491: The end of copper mining in 1983. In response, Butte looked for ways to diversify the economy and provide employment. The legacy of over a century of environmental degradation has, for example, produced some jobs. Environmental cleanup in Butte, designated a Superfund site, has employed hundreds of people. Thousands of homes were destroyed in the Meaderville suburb and surrounding areas, McQueen and East Butte, to excavate
19838-783: The ethnic neighborhoods, young men formed gangs to protect their territory and socialize into adult life, including the Irish of Dublin Gulch, the Eastern Europeans of the McQueen Addition, and the Italians of Meaderville. Among the migrants were many Chinese who set up businesses that created a Chinatown in Butte. The Chinese migrations stopped in 1882 with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act . There
20020-407: The family's rural architecture exist across northwestern Europe. The Rothschild family has frequently been the subject of conspiracy theories , many of which have antisemitic origins. The first member of the family who was known to use the name "Rothschild" was Isaak Elchanan Rothschild, born in 1577. The name is derived from the German zum rothen Schild (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "at
20202-553: The family, Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836). In 1850 Nathaniel Rothschild moved to Paris to work with his uncle James Mayer Rothschild. In 1853 Nathaniel acquired Château Brane Mouton, a vineyard in Pauillac in the Gironde département . Nathaniel Rothschild renamed the estate Château Mouton Rothschild , and it would become one of the best known labels in the world. In 1868, Nathaniel's uncle, James Mayer de Rothschild, acquired
20384-402: The five brothers and their successor sons all but disappeared by World War I . The rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s led to a precarious situation for the Austrian Rothschilds under the annexation of Austria in 1938 when the family was pressured to sell its banking operation at a fraction of its real worth. While other Rothschilds had escaped the Nazis, Louis Rothschild was imprisoned for
20566-489: The five dynasties established by the five sons of Mayer Rothschild, in a reference to Psalm 127: "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth." The family motto appears below the shield: Concordia, Integritas, Industria (Unity, Integrity, Industry). Paul Johnson writes "[T]he Rothschilds are elusive. There is no book about them that is both revealing and accurate. Libraries of nonsense have been written about them... A woman who planned to write
20748-623: The golden years for Anaconda. The company was managed by the Ryan-Kelley team and was growing fast, expanding into the exploitation of new base metal resources: manganese and zinc . In 1922 the company acquired mining operations in Chile and Mexico ( Cananea ). The mining operation in Chile ( Chuquicamata ), was acquired from the Guggenheims in 1923. It cost Anaconda $ 77 million and was
20930-408: The greatest depth on the ground 27 inches (690 mm) on December 28 and 29, 1996. The coldest month was January 1937, with a daily mean temperature of −5.5 °F (−20.8 °C), while the coldest complete winter was 1948–49, with a three-month mean of 6.69 °F (−14.06 °C), and the mildest 1925–26, which averaged 29.21 °F (−1.55 °C). July 2007 was easily the hottest month, with
21112-556: The greatest fleecings in Wall Street history. The United States Senate held hearings on the stock manipulations, concluding that those operations cost the public at the very least, $ 150 million. A 1933 Senate banking committee called these operations the greatest frauds in American banking history, a leading cause of the 1929 stock market crash and 1930s depression. In 1929 Anaconda Copper Mining Co. issued new stock and used some of
21294-556: The head of the house, is the true king of Judah, the prince of the captivity, the Messiah so long looked for by this extraordinary people. He holds the keys of peace or war, blessing or cursing. ... They are the brokers and counselors of the kings of Europe and of the republican chiefs of America. What more can they desire? The Neapolitan Rothschilds was the first branch of the family to decline when revolution broke out and Giuseppe Garibaldi captured Naples on 7 September 1860 and set up
21476-483: The industrialisation of Europe and were instrumental in supporting railway systems across the world and in complex government financing for projects such as the Suez Canal . From 1895 through 1907 they loaned nearly $ 450,000,000 (equivalent to $ 14,700,000,000 in 2023 ) to European governments. During the 19th century, the family bought up a large proportion of the property in Mayfair , London. The Rothschild family
21658-584: The introduction of a multimillion-dollar polysilicon manufacturing plant nearby in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, Butte was recognized as an All-America City and as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2002. According to the United States Census Bureau , Butte-Silver Bow has an area of 716.82 sq mi (1,856.55 km ), of which 716.25 sq mi (1,855.07 km )
21840-451: The knowledge would have given him; he and his courier immediately took the news to the government. That he used the news for financial advantage was a fiction then repeated in later popular accounts, such as that of Morton . The basis for the Rothschilds' most famously profitable move was made after the news of British victory had been made public. Nathan Rothschild calculated that the future reduction in government borrowing brought about by
22022-466: The largest Superfund site in the country; CERCLA liability passed to BP upon its acquisition of ARCO. Marcus Daly , a self-taught miner, engineer and geologist, bought a small silver mine called Anaconda in 1880. At the time, Daly was working for the Walker brothers , mining investors and bankers from Salt Lake City, Utah . He was a mining superintendent of the Alice, a silver mine in Walkerville,
22204-597: The largest copper mine in the world. It produced copper yielding two-thirds to three-fourths of the Anaconda Company's profits. The same year ACM purchased American Brass Company , the nation's largest brass fabricator and a major consumer of copper and zinc. In 1926 Anaconda acquired the Giesche company, a large mining and industrial firm, operating in the Upper Silesia region of Poland . This nation had gained independence after World War I. At that time Anaconda
22386-563: The largest trusts of the early 20th century. The leading roles were played by Henry Huttleston Rogers ( John D. Rockefeller 's friend and a key man in his Standard Oil businesses) and William Rockefeller (John's brother). They were aided by company promoter Thomas W. Lawson . Although Rogers and William Rockefeller were Standard Oil directors, the company of Standard Oil did not have a stake in this business, nor did its founder and head, John D. Rockefeller , who disliked such stock promotions. By 1899 Amalgamated Copper acquired majority stock in
22568-432: The late 1990s. As with many industrial cities, tourism and services, especially health care (Butte's St. James Hospital has Southwest Montana's only major trauma center), are rising as primary employers, as well as industrial-sector private companies. Many areas of the city, especially those near the old mines, show signs of urban blight, but a recent influx of investors and an aggressive campaign to remedy blight has led to
22750-483: The late 19th century, and was Montana's first major industrial city. In its heyday between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was one of the largest copper boom towns in the American West . Employment opportunities in the mines attracted surges of Asian and European immigrants, particularly the Irish ; as of 2017, Butte has the largest population of Irish Americans per capita of any U.S. city. Butte
22932-561: The late 19th century, however, almost all Rothschilds had started to marry outside the family, usually into the aristocracy or other financial dynasties. His sons were: The German family name "Rothschild" is pronounced [ˈʁoːt.ʃɪlt] in German, unlike / ˈ r ɒ θ ( s ) tʃ aɪ l d / in English. The surname "Rothschild" is rare in Germany. Families by country: The five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild were elevated to
23114-451: The locally brewed lagers, bocks, and other types of beer. In the late 19th century, copper was in great demand because of new technologies such as electric power that required the use of copper. Industrial magnates fought for control of Butte's mining wealth. These " Copper Kings " were William A. Clark , Marcus Daly , James Andrew Murray and F. Augustus Heinze . The Anaconda Copper Mining Company began in 1881 when Marcus Daly bought
23296-561: The lowest estimates, 41 palaces, of a scale and luxury perhaps unparalleled even by the richest royal families. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George claimed, in 1909, that Nathan, Lord Rothschild was the most powerful man in Britain. Niles' Weekly Register , Volume 49 had the following to say about the Rothschilds' influence on international high finance in 1836: The Rothschilds are
23478-652: The management of the family bank and was the most active in support for Eretz Israel . The Rothschild family archives show that during the 1870s the family contributed nearly 500,000 francs per year on behalf of Eastern Jewry to the Alliance Israélite Universelle . Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (known in Israel simply as "the Baron Rothschild" or "the Benefactor" (Hebrew: "HaNadiv")), youngest son of James Jacob de Rothschild,
23660-453: The markets and rendering the house of Rothschild still more invaluable to the British government. In one instance, the family network enabled Nathan to receive in London the news of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Waterloo a full day ahead of the government's official messengers. Rothschild's first concern on this occasion was not to the potential financial advantage on the market which
23842-401: The median income for a household in the city was $ 45,797, and 17.3% of families were below the poverty line . Some sources say that Butte had a peak population of nearly 100,000 around 1920, but no documentation corroborates this, though it has been reasoned by local journalists based on city directory data. The city's population sank to a minimum around 1990 and has stabilized since then;
24024-532: The middle and last quarter of the 19th century. The head of the whole group was the Rothschild family..." It also says: "Of more recent years, non-Jewish financiers have learned the same cosmopolitan method, and, on the whole, the control is now rather less than more in Jewish hands than formerly." Mayer Rothschild successfully kept the fortune in the family with carefully arranged marriages , often between first- or second- cousins (similar to royal intermarriage ). By
24206-611: The mines on Butte Hill. Between 1884 and 1888, W. A. Clark constructed the Copper King Mansion in Butte, which became his second residence from his home in New York City . In 1899, he also purchased the Columbia Gardens , a small park he developed into an amusement park , featuring a pavilion, roller coaster, and a lake for swimming and canoeing. Clark's expansion of the park was intended to "provide
24388-582: The mines was not the end of the new owner's problems. The areas of Butte , Anaconda , and the Clark Fork River in this vicinity became highly contaminated by a century of mining and smelting operations. Milling and smelting processes produced wastes with high concentrations of arsenic , as well as copper, cadmium , lead , zinc, and other heavy metals. Beginning in 1980s, the Environmental Protection Agency designated
24570-468: The money to buy shares of speculative companies. When the market crashed on October 29, 1929, Anaconda suffered serious financial setbacks. At the same time, copper prices started dropping dramatically. During the winter of 1932–33, as the Depression expanded, copper prices dropped to 10.3 cents per pound, down from an average of 29.5 cents per pound only two years earlier. The Great Depression took
24752-615: The most prosperous cities in the country, often called "the Richest Hill on Earth." From 1892 through 1903, the Anaconda mine itself was the largest copper-producing mine in the world. It produced more than $ 300 billion worth of metal in its lifetime. In 1889 the Rothschilds tried to gain control of the world copper market. In 1892 the French Rothschilds began negotiations to buy the Anaconda mine. In mid-October 1895
24934-550: The neighbouring Château Lafite vineyard. In Vienna , Salomon Mayer Rothschild established a bank in the 1820s and the Austrian family had vast wealth and position. The crash of 1929 brought problems, and Baron Louis von Schwartz Rothschild attempted to shore up the Creditanstalt , Austria's largest bank, to prevent its collapse. Nevertheless, during the Second World War they had to surrender their bank to
25116-435: The new company's stock without visiting the site. While mining the silver left in his mine, huge deposits of copper were soon developed and Daly became a copper magnate. When surrounding silver mines "played out" and closed, Daly quietly bought up the neighboring mines, forming a mining company. He built a smelter at Anaconda, Montana (a company town), and connected it to Butte by railway. Anaconda Company eventually owned all
25298-417: The newspapers, bribed the legislature, set the wages, murdered union organizers, exported the earnings, and finally shut down, leaving Butte and Anaconda the poorest cities in the states and the largest EPA Superfund site in the country. Butte, Montana Butte ( / b juː t / BEWT ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana , United States. In 1977,
25480-914: The organization and transferred his Palestinian land holdings as well as 15 million francs to it. In 1924, he reorganized the Palestinian branch of the ICA into the Palestine Jewish Colonisation Association (PICA), which acquired more than 125,000 acres (50,586 ha) of land and set up business ventures. In Tel Aviv , the Rothschild Boulevard is named after him, as are a number of localities throughout Israel which he assisted in founding, including Metulla , Zikhron Ya'akov , Rishon Lezion and Rosh Pina . A park in Boulogne-Billancourt , Paris,
25662-501: The other Rothschild dynasties, including James Mayer de Rothschild in Paris, Carl Mayer von Rothschild in Naples and Amschel Mayer Rothschild in Frankfurt. Another essential part of Mayer Rothschild's strategy for success was to keep control of their banks in family hands, allowing them to maintain full secrecy about the size of their fortunes. In about 1906, the Jewish Encyclopedia noted: "The practice initiated by
25844-424: The papers to further his cause. While campaigning, "Anaconda's supporters portrayed Helena as a center of avarice and elitism while promoting their choice as the pick of the working man. In return, Helena's backers claimed that if the victory should go to their opponent the entire state would be strangled by the "copper collar" of Daly's Anaconda Copper Mining Company." Daly's campaign was unsuccessful and Helena became
26026-430: The parade led by the Ancient Order of Hibernians . Also, local descendants of Finnish Americans celebrate St. Urho's Day every year on March 16. A larger annual celebration is Evel Knievel Days, held on the last weekend of July, celebrating Evel Knievel (a Butte native). The weekend-long event, held in Uptown Butte, features various stunt performances, sporting competitions, fundraisers, and live music. Butte
26208-462: The parade with his family, and celebrating his daughter Malia Obama 's 10th birthday. Butte's legacy of immigrants lives on in the form of various local cuisine, including the Cornish pasty , popularized by mine workers who needed something easy to eat in the mines, the povitica —a Slavic nut bread pastry which is a holiday favorite sold in many supermarkets and bakeries in Butte —and the boneless porkchop sandwich. The Pekin Noodle Parlor in Uptown
26390-402: The peace would create a bounce in British government bonds after a two-year stabilisation, which would finalise the post-war restructuring of the domestic economy. In what has been described as one of the most audacious moves in financial history, Nathan immediately bought up the government bond market, for what at the time seemed an excessively high price, before waiting two years, then selling
26572-461: The people of Butte. In the early 20th century, Butte's culture with its perverse pride in its wide open character was a response to the people's belief in the all-encompassing power of the company. Butte's bars, gambling dens, dance halls, and brothels were among the few public institutions not owned or controlled by Anaconda. It was not only the hazards of mining and the grim environment of Butte that propelled men and women to frenzied gaiety, but also
26754-400: The percentage of Irish Americans in Boston . Per capita, Butte has the highest percentage of Irish Americans of any city in the United States. Per the 2019 American Community Survey, the average household size was 2.24 persons, 6.0% of the population is under the age of 5, 20.1% under the age of 18, and 18.7% are 65 years of age or older. 49.3% of residents were female. From 2015 to 2019,
26936-404: The pit is contaminated with various hard metals, such as arsenic , cadmium , and zinc . Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( / ˈ r ɒ θ ( s ) tʃ aɪ l d / ROTH(S) -chylde German: [ˈʁoːt.ʃɪlt] ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt . The family's documented history starts in 16th century Frankfurt; its name
27118-425: The plant due to high electricity costs and low market prices. On March 3, 2015, the closure became permanent. Dashiel Hammett's 1929 novel Red Harvest was based on Hammett's experience as a Pinkerton Detective working at the Anaconda Mine in Butte and the Anaconda Road massacre in 1920. The term copper collar , coined in the late 1800s, was a metaphor used to describe a person or company directly controlled by
27300-440: The plant open after Butte copper operations ceased in 1982, and sold the plant to a group of investors led by a former ARCO executive in 1985, due to high electricity costs and low market prices. As Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC), the plant continued operations as an independent company until it was purchased by Swiss metals giant Glencore in 1999. Glencore continued CFAC operations through 2009, when it temporarily shuttered
27482-432: The powerful Anaconda Company as they try to force her to sell her property. She says, "Leave this house at once, Whoever-You-Are Morgan. I'll not have under my roof a man who wears the copper collar." The workers who are under the "copper collar" are referred to as "snakes" and the Anaconda Company is referred to as an "ogre". The "copper collar" symbolized different things to different people but "the Anaconda Company used
27664-466: The properties of William A. Clark (another Butte copper magnate). Amalgamated gained almost complete control of Butte's copper as they merged with these companies. The reorganized company was again named Anaconda. Ryan made its president and rewarded with a significant package of Amalgamated shares. The "right hand" of John Ryan was Cornelius Kelley, a young attorney, who soon was given the position of vice-president. Henry Rogers died suddenly in 1909 of
27846-417: The red shield", in reference to the house where the family lived for many generations (in those days, houses were designated not by numbers, but by signs displaying different symbols or colours). A red shield can still be seen at the centre of the Rothschild coat of arms. The family's ascent to international prominence began in 1744, with the birth of Mayer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main , Germany. He
28028-542: The region and remained open until 1982 after the closure of the Dumas Brothel; the city's red-light was one of the last such urban districts in the country. Commercial breweries first opened in Butte in the 1870s, and were a staple of the city's early economy; they were usually run by German immigrants, including Leopold Schmidt, Henry Mueller, and Henry Muntzer. The breweries were always staffed by union workers. Most ethnic groups in Butte, from Germans and Irish to Italians and various Eastern Europeans, including children, enjoyed
28210-438: The socialist government of François Mitterrand nationalised and renamed it as Compagnie Européenne de Banque. Baron David de Rothschild , then 39, decided to stay and rebuild, creating a new entity named Rothschild & Cie Banque , with just three employees and €830,000 (US$ 1 million) in capital. Today, the Paris operation has 22 partners and accounts for a significant part of the global business. Ensuing generations of
28392-450: The start of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), and the family had gained preeminence in the bullion trade by this time. From London in 1813 to 1815, Nathan Mayer Rothschild was instrumental in almost single-handedly financing the British war effort, organising the shipment of bullion to the Duke of Wellington's armies across Europe, as well as arranging the payment of British financial subsidies to their continental allies. In 1815 alone,
28574-426: The state's capital. Flexing its political muscle again in 1903, the Anaconda Company closed down operations within all of Montana, putting 15,000 men out of work until the legislature enacted the regulations it demanded. Montanans were angered by this decision and from that point forward, to suggest a politician "wore a copper collar", could cost him the election. The copper collar symbolized oppression and control to
28756-467: The struggle admits of no neutrals. Since the territory's admission to statehood in 1889 the struggle has continued." The term "copper collar" was used in historical novels set in that period. In The Old Copper Collar (1957), a tale of the course of a senatorial election in Helena in the early 20th century, Dan Cushman refers to the "copper collar": "At this point the galleries packed with Bennett sympathizers commenced heckling him with suggestions he wore
28938-465: The sustainability of the business over the long-term. However, in the early 19th century, the Rothschild family of Naples built up close relations with the Holy See , and the association between the family and the Vatican continued into the 20th century. In 1832, when Pope Gregory XVI was seen meeting Carl von Rothschild to arrange the 1832 Rothschild loan to the Holy See (for £400,000, worth €43,000,000 in 2014), observers were shocked that Rothschild
29120-414: The tactics of an authoritarian state to quash a legitimate labor movement within its corporate fiefdom. That the press, an elemental part of democracy, was used in the assault marks a black period in the history of American journalism." In Homelands: A Geography of Culture and Place across America, John B. Wright writes that for decades, the Anaconda Company: mined and smelted metal, leveled forests, owned
29302-469: The third city in Montana to pass an anti- discrimination ordinance protecting LGBT residents and visitors from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Butte is home to numerous museums and other educational institutions chronicling its history. In 2002, Butte was one of only 12 U.S. towns to be named a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation . The Butte Silver Bow Public Library, at 226 W. Broadway,
29484-429: The third son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), first established a textile jobbing business in Manchester and from there went on to establish N M Rothschild & Sons bank in London. During the early part of the 19th century, the Rothschild family's London bank took a leading part in managing and financing the subsidies that the British government transferred to its allies during the Napoleonic Wars . Through
29666-436: The thought that here were arenas of self-expression denied them elsewhere in a city ringed by the ' copper collar ' . Choosing sides in this battle was unavoidable. According to Author Fisher's article, "Montana: Land of the Copper Collar," "Six months is the longest one may live in Montana without making the decision whether one is 'for the Company' or 'against the Company.' The all-pervading and unrelenting nature of
29848-458: The town and characterized by its abundance of lavish Victorian homes and Queen Anne style cottages built in the late 19th century. Several of Butte's " painted ladies " homes were featured in Elizabeth Pomada's 1987 book Daughters of Painted Ladies . Butte-Silver Bow County has an established Urban Revitalization Agency that works to improve building façades to "enhance and promote the architectural resources of historic uptown Butte." In 2017,
30030-591: The town's mining industry. These include the Anselmo, the Steward, the Original, the Travona, the Belmont, the Kelly, the Mountain Con, the Lexington, the Bell/Diamond, the Granite Mountain, and the Badger. As part of a community project started around 2004, several headframes were repainted and outlined with LED lights which are illuminated at night. Butte's longstanding Irish Catholic community (the largest per capita of any U.S. city) has been celebrated annually on St. Patrick's Day since 1882. Each year, about 30,000 revelers converge on Butte's Uptown district to enjoy
30212-459: The unsuccessful Twin Buttes mine in southern Arizona further weakened the company. In 1977 Anaconda was sold to Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) for $ 700 million. However, the purchase turned out to be a regrettable decision for ARCO. Lack of experience with hard-rock mining, and a sudden drop in the price of copper to sixty-odd cents a pound, the lowest in years, caused ARCO to suspend all underground mining operations in Butte in 1980. ARCO closed
30394-470: The wonders of modern banking ... we see the descendants of Judah, after a persecution of two thousand years, peering above kings, rising higher than emperors, and holding a whole continent in the hollow of their hands. The Rothschilds govern a Christian world. Not a cabinet moves without their advice. They stretch their hand, with equal ease, from [Saint] Petersburgh to Vienna, from Vienna to Paris, from Paris to London, from London to Washington. Baron Rothschild,
30576-442: Was a patron of the first permanent settlement in Palestine at Rishon-LeZion (1882). He also provided funding for the establishment of Petah Tikva as a permanent settlement (1883). Overall, he bought from Ottoman landlords 2–3% of the land. After Baron de Hirsch died in 1896, the Hirsch-founded Jewish Colonisation Association (ICA) started supporting the settlement of Palestine (1896), and Baron Rothschild took an active role in
30758-429: Was also the site of various historical events involving its mining industry and active labor unions and socialist politics, the most famous of which was the labor riot of 1914 . Despite the dominance of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company , Butte was never a company town . Other major events in the city's history include the 1917 Speculator Mine disaster , the largest hard rock mining disaster in world history. Over
30940-403: Was anti-Chinese sentiment in the 1870s and onward due to the white settlers' racism, exacerbated by economic depression, and in 1895, the chamber of commerce and labor unions started a boycott of Chinese-owned businesses. The business owners fought back by suing the unions and won. The history of the Chinese migrants in Butte is documented in the Mai Wah Museum . The influx of miners gave Butte
31122-553: Was called the "Greater Butte Project" (GBP). The project would exploit lower-grade underground reserves by the block-caving method. Anaconda sank a new shaft, the Kelley, and the mine began producing in 1948. The new method was successful, although short-lived. They also began stripping ground for what was to become the Berkeley Pit . In 1956 Anaconda netted the largest annual income in its history: $ 111.5 million. After that year, ore grades continued their decline, mining costs were rising each year, and profits were diminishing. To survive,
31304-415: Was contaminating the air supply. Several men barricaded themselves against bulkheads to save their lives, but many others died in a panic to try to escape. Rescue workers set up a fan to prevent the fire from spreading. This worked for a short time, but when the rescuers tried to use water, it evaporated, creating steam that burned those trying to escape. Once the fire had been extinguished, recovery of
31486-463: Was directly involved in the independence of Brazil from Portugal in the early 19th century. Upon an agreement, the Brazilian government should pay a compensation of two million pounds sterling to the Kingdom of Portugal to accept Brazil's independence. N M Rothschild & Sons was pre-eminent in raising this capital for the government of the newly formed Empire of Brazil on the London market. In 1825, Nathan Rothschild raised £2,000,000, and indeed
31668-496: Was elevated to noble rank in the Holy Roman Empire and the United Kingdom. During the 19th century, the Rothschild family possessed the largest private fortune in the world, as well as in modern world history. The family's wealth declined over the 20th century, and was divided among many descendants. Today, their interests cover a diverse range of fields, including financial services, real estate, mining, energy, agriculture, winemaking , and nonprofits. Many examples of
31850-565: Was impervious to local attacks. Their assets were held in financial instruments, circulating through the world as stocks, bonds and debts. Changes made by the Rothschilds allowed them to insulate their property from local violence: "Henceforth their real wealth was beyond the reach of the mob, almost beyond the reach of greedy monarchs." Johnson argued that their fortune was generated to the greatest extent by Nathan Mayer Rothschild in London; however, more recent research by Niall Ferguson indicates that greater and equal profits also were realised by
32032-401: Was nearing the end of its silver lode mining phase. Lacking capital to develop the mine, Daly sought financing from San Francisco mining magnate George Hearst and his partners, James Ben Ali Haggin and Lloyd Tevis , of Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Co. and the Anaconda Company was born in 1881 with Daly as a 25% partner in the enterprise. Daly had recommended Hearst purchase the Ontario Mine ,
32214-449: Was not required to kiss the Pope's feet, as was then required for all other visitors to the Pope, including monarchs. The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia described the Rothschilds as "the guardians of the papal treasure". Jewish solidarity in the family was not homogeneous. Many Rothschilds were supporters of Zionism , while other members of the family opposed the creation of the Jewish state. In 1917 Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
32396-423: Was probably discreetly involved in the earlier tranche of this loan which raised £1,000,000 in 1824. Part of the price of Portuguese recognition of Brazilian independence, secured in 1825, was that Brazil should take over repayment of the principal and interest on a £1,500,000 loan made to the Portuguese government in 1823 by N M Rothschild & Sons. A correspondence from Samuel Phillips & Co. in 1824 suggests
32578-433: Was purchased by the Atlantic Richfield Company ( ARCO ) on January 12, 1977. ARCO halted production at the Anaconda smelter in 1980, and mining ceased completely in 1982 when the deep pumps draining the Berkeley Pit and the underground mines were shut off, allowing the Pit and mines to fill. The company presently only exists as a major environmental liability for BP , who bought out ARCO in 2000. Its former operations are now
32760-402: Was the addressee of the Balfour Declaration to the Zionist Federation , which committed the British government to the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. His nephew , Victor, Lord Rothschild was against granting asylum or helping Jewish refugees in 1938. After the death of James Jacob de Rothschild in 1868, his eldest son Alphonse Rothschild took over
32942-402: Was the fourth-largest company in the world. These heady times, however, were short-lived. In 1928, Ryan and Rockefeller aggressively speculated on Anaconda shares by manipulating the supply of copper (reducing supply to corner the market), causing shares to go up at first; at which point they sold, which caused stocks to fall; then buying them back. Known today as a " pump and dump ", at the time
33124-416: Was the son of Amschel Moses Rothschild (born circa 1710), a money changer who had traded with the Prince of Hesse . Born in the " Judengasse ", the ghetto of Frankfurt , Mayer developed a finance house and spread his empire by installing each of his five sons in the five main European financial centres to conduct business. The Rothschild coat of arms contains a clenched fist with five arrows symbolising
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