D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 1
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When I made one of my first inspections of the pit,
the workers acted like they'd seen a ghost. I guess they
weren't expecting their new guardian would be a dog.
The metals mined from Butte's rocky heart supplied most of the
copper used in North America, and helped the United States win two
world wars. That's why they called it "The Richest Hill on Earth."
That relentless demand for copper, and the profits that came with
it, made mining more and more important, finally resulting in
this huge pit that consumed thousands of old houses in Butte.
But the market for copper slowed, and the mine
closed in 1982. When the mining shut down, so did
the pumps that kept groundwater out of the giant
pit that had been scoured out of the earth.
