Butte
Butte names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Butte but, the seat of Silverbow County
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
but, the seat of Silverbow County, Montana. It is noted as the largest mining town in the world. There are ores of silver and gold, but the energy of the town is devoted almost exclusively to the mining of copper. The Anaconda Mine and others yield over half the copper produced in the United States . The mines are apparently inexhaustible. Lack of abundant water for washing ores is a great drawback. Otherwise the city would increase still more rapidly in population. There are many fine public buildings and handsome residences. There are few cities in the Union where money is more plentiful, especially when the mines are worked to their full capacity. The sulphur fumes kill off vegetation so that nothing green can grow for some distance around. The present population is about 30,000, depending entirely on the mines and miners. There are no nearby agricultural or grazing interests, but Butte is a commercial center, and does considerable business with the surrounding territory. See Copper ; Montana
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city and county-seat of Silverbow co., Mont.; on the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, and other railroad railroads. It is one of the largest largest mining towns in the world, the mining industry being principally confined to copper mining, although there are valuable gold and silver mines. The Anaconda copper mines are located here. The city is the trade and jobbing center for southern and western Montana; has an extensive trolley system; gas and electric lights; National banks; public State School of Mines, etc. Pop. (1910) 39,165; (1920) 41,611.
Butte a French word used in the United States for an abrupt
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a French word used in the United States for an abrupt, and usually isolated, eminence, sometimes appearing in the form of a lofty turret. They T occur in picturesque grandeur along the banks of the Columbia river, in Oregon, and in the neighborhood of Butte, Mont.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Aiton's wrote in 1910 that "the mines are apparently inexhaustible," Butte was still climbing; Collier's recorded 41,611 people in 1920. Underground mining gave way to the Berkeley Pit, opened by the Anaconda Company in 1955 and shut down in 1982, after which the pumps were turned off and the pit began filling with acidic, metal-laden groundwater; the Butte area was placed on the federal Superfund list in 1983 as one of the largest such sites in the country. Migrating snow geese that settle on the pit lake have died in large numbers, thousands of them in a single 2016 event. Butte merged with Silver Bow County in 1977 and now holds roughly 35,000 people, while the "public State School of Mines" Collier's listed is today Montana Technological University; limited copper mining continues at the neighbouring Continental Pit.
Written for this edition, 2026.