28 
THROUGH WONDERLAND. 
Alice mines treat ioo tons of ore per day, and their bullion product approaches 
$100,000 per month. 
The great Lexington property, which has produced $1,000,000 per annum 
for four years, is owned by a French company. It claims to be the most 
complete mine in the entire West, and it is certainly one of the richest and most 
extensive. 
The Moulton and Silver Bow have a daily capacity of forty and thirty tons of 
ore respectively. They are magnificent properties, welLdeveloped and exceed¬ 
ingly productive. The former makes the proud boast of working its ore to a 
higher percentage of its value than any other mill in the district. 
But it is the copper mines and smelters that represent the largest capital; 
give employment to the greatest number of men ; have the largest production, 
both in tonnage and aggregate value; and, it may be added, make the most 
smoke. 
At the head of the rich and powerful companies' engaged in this, industry, 
stands the Anaconda,—its mine at Butte, the greatest copper property in America; 
its smelting works, at the neighboring town of Anaconda, the largest of their 
kind in the world. Sold, five years ago, for an amount that would not now be 
more than sufficient to pay its employes a week’s wages, its property is roughly 
estimated to be worth $15,000,000. With certain contemplated additions to its 
smelting capacity, it will handle daily 1,200 tons of ore, yielding 180 tons of 
matte, or 108 tons of pure copper. Its entire machinery run by water-power, 
it yet requires for its furnaces no less than 180 cords of wood per day ; in view 
of which enormous consumption it is stated to have recently let a contract for 
300,000 cords, representing upward of $1,000,000. Second only to this 
gigantic concern, is the Parrott Company, whose total matte output for 1884 
was 14,856,323 pounds, containing 9,324,805 pounds of pure copper, valued, 
including its silver contents, at about $1,250,000. With largely increased 
capacity, its production of pure copper will probably have reached 15,000,000 
pounds in the year just drawing to a close. Among other leading companies, 
may be mentioned the Montana, owning some of the richest and most steadily 
productive mining property in process of development ; Clark’s Colusa, said 
to have in sight, above the 300-foot level, at least 150,000 tons of valuable 
ore ; and the Bell and Colorado, two of the richest copper-silver mines in 
the district. 
So much for the mines and smelting works of Butte. What of the city 
itself ? Briefly, it may be said to be a typical Western town, as seen in flush 
times ; nothing too big for it, nothing too good ; its quivering energy finding 
expression, now in the erection of a $150,000 court house, and now in that of 
the finest opera house on the Pacific slope, outside of San Francisco ; its busi¬ 
ness enterprise filling magnificent stores with costly goods, suited to the tastes, 
pocket-books and spending proclivities of a community that on last Christmas 
eve spent $6,000 in presents in a single one of its stores. 
There are several good trout streams in the vicinity of Butte, and it is 
