New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-21

Not only those who go to the churches, out thou-
sands who never saw the inside OF them nor heard
TIE Deum in their lives, are proud. Butte Is u
liberal community and II is n matter OF profound
satisfaction TO the entire town that its outht OIL
churches is equal TO the demand. And DO noO
fear. Butte will raise the money Tor ano.her
church in ten minutes If it appears TO be neeoeu'
She will raise il anyhow, needed or not, 80 soon
as Helena starts TO build new one Butte wouIu
never consent 10 he ou;stripped by Helena III
churches or anything else, and she VIII nave her
steeples sweeping as high q cloud rs ever Helena
dares aspire to.
Sunday however, is not very quiet day IN
Butte. II is the miners pay-day. They num-
fish and 60 picnics. The bands parade OH
Sundays. The saloons esteem 1t their best anu
busiest opportunity The hurdy-gurdes arc
open and dances run on necessarily. All thn
stores do business, all the mills and smeiIers
run. Many people work hnrder on Sundays thnh
on any other day. The chief evil of TINS "hoic
Northwestern country is the tendency oil every
body TO work himself to death. You must keep
going as the crowd goes. You can't lag pehinu
while those around you competing WIN you' "r'
hurling themselves forward Everybody acknowl-
edges that this is a foolish mistake. EveryoouS
would infinitely prefer not TO make H. buo ho
body feels able to check the current. III moves
and you must go along. too. or find yourself leiV
Butte is 1878 feet above the level OF the sea-
and the air is all oxygen. 1t keeps ones he"rV
humping away at great rate. one docs aS
much living in ten years in Butte as he can 40
in twenty in the East.
The city takes it's name from lofty solitary
hill which stands apart from the main range OF
the Rockies. 1t is a picturesque hill, but noo
a productive one. The great mines OF Buttc
are in another lower hill, and upon and between
these tvo cmncnces stands the town. Usually
camps are at a considerable distance from the
mines, and even then they are apt to lie upon
such rugged heights as TO require OF their nhho'-
tants the greatest possible amount of climbing
for the least possible amount of getting
there But Butte possesses sight altogether
remarkable Its mines lie only a rifle shot away
and its hills are low and gentle in their slope
1t is not an old camp. It's population has been
almost wholly acquired since 1880. only httic
more than 81 900. 900 was recovered from the
ores of Butte in 1881. The product now, elght
wears later. has reached the enormous total OF
22,000,0O0.
To enumeratc thr mines of Butte would be
nroNtable only as a means of showing how remark
able a concentration of silver and copper veins
has been made in this spot. Before claim can
be laid to new mine the prospector must show
the discovery of new ven and the hundreds oil
mines here are testimony of Just as many separate
lodcs as there are claims on file. The mining
companies are not so very numerous and the cHOrC
Is to keep them down. All that enormous capital,
lodged in a few hands, can do TO discourage
new mining enterprises is naturally done. Pros
pect claims are bought up as quickly as they are
shown 10 be worth buying. One company III
Butte is said to be operating no less than twenty
two mines, and it owns even more. Individual
miners conceal their holdings under different COM
pany Names though they possess controlling
interests in each company. SO far as the country
is concerned, this is an excellent scheme. II brings
about far greater production than would other
wise be possible. The investment of the Anaconda
company, the largest of all mining associations,
is said to exceed $4,000. 900 They own score
of mines milling and smelling plants of capacities
almost incredibly great and all they do is upon
a grand scale There are full dozen OF other
companies, smaller than the Anaconda. but still
representing millions of expended capital, and
they are pulling the from under Buttc's noun
tains at the rate OF g, 900 tons day. The out
side Of a mine is not, Of itself especially impress
sivc Seen in its best shape, it shows only
a machine shop, pair of engines supplying power
for the drills, another pair running the elevators,
q lumber mill, n supply store and an office build
ing 1t is noticeable that everything is always
the best of its kind, and when the spectacle is
presented of number Of these establishments each
with a gigantic chimney lifted into the clouds,
each with its buzz-saws tearing huge Oregon tim
bers into logs and planlIs, each putting and blow
ing frantically, and all grouped upon and around
a single hill, il does look animated and busy. The
clement of power in mining machinery appeals more
than anything else TO the eye. The pumps that pull
the water from the tunnels far underground the
great, thick dvnamos that illuminate the mines
rcmOtest corners: the long, heavy engines that
drive bars Of steel into solid rock thousand feet
below the spot where they stand and swiftly,
silently rcvOlve: the tall thick engines built high
into the air, with cnigmatical adjustments that
show where every car is and what those at work
half mile away and 500 feet below the surface are
doing-these are all splendid machines magnifi
Gently masculine. They do their work easily.
quietly, gracefully, lifting masses of timber and
ore and driving hundred drills with as little
seeming effort rs a draught stallion would exhibit
pulling u sulky. But IL Is only when one gets
down into the mine and then of at the smelter
that he begins to realize what a stupendous work
is involved in getting metals from the earth. He
goes down, down, down until his heart seems to
be humping in his ears. The descent is made in
utter darkness, for the sudden flashes of light
that for an instant break in and are in another
instant shut off, marking the various levels or
floors. At ast,-it seems an hour, but II has been
only eighty seconds since he started the elevator
stops, and he alghts in room with timbered
walls and ceilings. He finds Railways leading here
there, everywhere, all brilliantly illuminated.
In lrst-class American mine there is no cropping
around in damp and filthy gloom, clad in a musty
oilsldn and holding a sad and feeble tallow dip.
You walk erect through halls and chambers
brightly lighted by Tncandescent wires, on
rleaa board floors, with an atmos-
phere around yOu as cool and pure
as that You left on the mountains above. There