150 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (BUTTE CITY.) 



an attractive feature. Ada County ranks first in 

 the State in the yield of fruit and vegetables, 

 second in hay, and third in grain. The city en- 

 joys terminal advantages of the Oregon Short 

 Line Railroad, by means of a branch line from 

 Nampa, 18J miles long, operated by the Union 

 Pacific. The business part of the city is of brick 

 and stone, and fire limits have been established. 

 There is an organized fire department, and 

 mountain water is carried through a complete 

 system of water works. There are electric 

 lights, a telephone exchange, a bank, with capital 

 of $100,000, flour, grist, saw, and planing mills, 

 2 breweries, a distillery, brick and marble works, 

 and a board of trade. Idaho was the first of 

 the Territories to provide itself with a perma- 

 nent Capitol building, which cost $85,000. It is 

 in the center of Capitol Square, and flanked on 

 one side by the court house, erected at a cost of 

 $68,000, and the school-house, which cost 

 $50,000. The United States Assay Office is of 

 stone, and cost $81,000. During 1890 gold and 

 silver to the amount of $537,397 were deposited. 

 Boise City has an altitude of 2.800 feet. In 

 summer the heat is tempered by mountain 

 breezes, while the " chinook," or warm winds 

 from the coast, in winter carry off a snow-fall 

 of from five to eight inches in the valley in 

 one day. 



Butte City, a city of Montana, county seat 

 of Silver Bow County, the largest mining city in 

 the world, on a cluster of hills 200 feet high, in 

 an amphitheatre surrounded by the Rocky 

 mountains, in the western part of the State. It 

 is named for a towering solitary peak (Big 

 Butte) half a mile west of the present limits. It 

 is the railroad center of the State, having the 

 Union Pacific, the Montana Central (connecting 

 with the Manitoba), and the Montana Union, 

 which last, at Garrison, 52 miles distant, con- 

 nects with the Northern Pacific. The Montana 

 Union ships about 1,500 tons of ore a day from 

 Butte to the smelters of Anaconda. By a cut- 

 off line from Gallatin, Butte City is placed on 

 the main line of the Northern Pacific, which 

 road has also a line from Laurel to the Rocky 

 Fork coal mines. Quartz mines were discovered 

 near Butte in May, 1864, and placer gold was 

 found on Silver Bow Creek in October of the 

 same year. Placer mining was carried on until 

 1869 (the greatest excitement being reached in 

 1867), and the total amount of placer gold mined 

 to that date was $8,540,000. In 1874-'75 a re- 

 vival of the district took place, and the total 

 product to 1880 is estimated at $3,000,000. The 

 product of that year was $1,000,000; of 1882, 

 $2,000,000; of 1884, $6,720,000; of 1886, $13,- 

 246.500: of 1888. $19,500,000; of 1889, $22,- 

 005.689 ; and in 1890, by report of the United 

 States Director of the Mint, the total product of 

 Silver Bow County was $26,084,504, or more 

 than half of the,total -product of the State 

 $40,695,723.77. Of the whole, 25,704 ounces 

 were fine gold, valued at $531.316; 7,500,000 

 ounces silver, valued at $9.696,750 ; and 112,700,- 

 000 pounds of copper, worth $16,623,250. Ten 

 companies at Butte City are the great producers, 

 operating about 40 mines, besides buying and 

 reducing the product \>f man^ more ; six pro- 

 duce copper matte carrying gold and silver (one 

 producing bar silver also), and 4 turn out bar 



silver only ; 75 mines employ 6,202 men, with an 

 aggregate monthly pay-roll of $651,210. The 

 present depth ranges from 80 to 1,500 feet, 

 and the capacity of hoist from 150 to 3,000 feet. 

 In November, 1889, a fire broke out in the 

 depths of two of the largest mines, and raged 

 for months among the wilderness of timbers in 

 drifts, slopes, and levels. The formation is 

 granite, with occasional porphyry, and the 

 trend of the veins due east and west. Their 

 dip is generally south, and the pitch of the ore- 

 shoots almost invariably west. The larger veins 

 "are from 10 to 100 feet, and seem to extend 

 through the granite like channels, filled with 

 argentiferous or cupriferous ores. The ore- 

 shoots (differing in their permanence from the 

 ordinary " pocket ") vary in length from 100 to 

 1,000 feet, and three compartment shafts are 

 often sunk 500 feet without cross-cutting to the 

 vein. No shaft sunk to the 300-foot station has 

 ever been abandoned, nor has a mine worked to 

 that depth ever been worked out. The ore in 

 sight is enough to last for fifty years. The first 

 smelter, a crude affair, was erected at Butte in 

 1866, and the first quartz mill in 1868. Prior 

 to 1878 the only stamps used were wet crushers. 

 The difference in the method of treating free 

 and base silver ores is, that the former are 

 crushed in water and the pulp placed in the 

 amalgamating pans for treatment directly, and 

 the latter are crushed dry and then roasted with 

 salt to cause ready union with the quicksilver 

 in the pans. A stamp is a bar of iron weighing 

 from 750 to 900 pounds, set vertically, lifted by 

 a revolving cam, and allowed to drop upon the 

 ore as it falls beneath. Five stamps compose a 

 battery. Five stamp mills in Butte City operate 

 300 stamps and crush more than 500 tons of ore 

 daily ; during 1890 they pounded out $4.000,000 ; 

 9,175 tons of Butte ore are smelted daily. The 

 population of Butte City (in 7 wards) in 1890 

 was 10,723, against 3.363 in 1880, In 1875 the 

 city site was removed from Dublin Gulch to its 

 present location. During 1890 the post-office 

 business of Butte consisted of 2,198,697 letters 

 received and 1,136,784 sent out ; five carriers 

 are employed. The city has 2 electric-light 

 plants valued at $40,000, and 1 gas company 

 with works worth $30,000, a perfect sewer sys- 

 tem, 3 lines of street railway (motor, cable, ami 

 electric) with capital of $100,000 each, 2 daily 

 and 1 semi-weekly newspapers, a telephone sys- 

 tem, 2 messenger service companies, 6 banks (2 

 national) with capital of $100,000 each, 2 fire 

 companies with electric alarm system, and a 

 good system of water works. In addition to the 

 public schools, there is a high-school building 

 and also a parochial school. The churches num- 

 ber 12. The Catholics have a hospital, and 

 there is a free public library. Exclusive of 

 mines and mining, 4.408 persons are employed 

 in industries which include 2 foundries, valued 

 at $150,000, and 3 machine shops, $60,000; 4 

 lumber companies, aggregating $1,500.000, and 

 3 planing mills, $300,000 ; 3 breweries. $150,000 : 

 6 brick yards, $150,000 ; 28 carpenter and 12 

 blacksmith shops, 1 lime kiln, 1 cigar factory, 

 and 1 stone works, 2 bottling works, etc. Three 

 railroad shops are valued at $300,000. The court 

 house cost $140,000. The altitude of Butte City 

 is 5,758 feet. 



