The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-06-03

Butte, Mont, Nay 30.-Butte is one
gof the most interesting cities on this
Western continent, for not only is it
the greatest mining camp in the world.
but it is also the favotite resort of the
western gambler The knight of the
green cloth is omnipresent in Butte
and he finds the hardy miner an easy
and willing victim. A round half mil
lion in wages is paid out monthly to
the men employed in the mines in and
about Butte, and it is no exaggeration
to say that the greatest part Of this
vast sum finds its way into the pockets
of the professional gambler. Many Of
the. miners spend all their leisure time
at Ne gaming table and no man is
so careless or prodigal of his earnings
as a miner. except it be d sailor. The
gambling houses OF Butte are licensed
and run faro games and round the
table poker. Roulette, red and black,
wheel Of fortune, hazard, or any game
with a kitty or percentage drawback
ire forbidden. Day and night shifts
of dealers are worked. Faro bank
dealers work for wages, Sc per day,
and eat out of the drawer" The
proprietorS allow their patrons or vic
TINS to bet as high as they wish. From
t@aWn to dawn the clicking of the chips
IS heard; there is hardly any cessation.
Butte is essentially an all-night town.
1t is day all day in the daytime and
there is no night in Butte.
Net me. describe life in Butte as
have found it. 1t is Il O'clock, on a
beautiful starlight night. The street
crowds have gradually ebbed away and
the life of the camp is indoors. Step
from Main street into a prominent
resort. On the left, as one enters. is
the drinking bar. Facing it, at two
sit the dealers; by each a keen-eyed
lookout in a high spiral chair. Around
these tables sometimes two or three
deep and playing over each others
shoulders and under each others arms
are young men, middle aged men,
miners working for 81 a day, and mine
owners who may make a. cool 100000
out of the years output. From the
faro tables to the bar, back and forth
the players circulate as they please,
the white chips Of the game being each
good for a, % cent drink-the cheapest
sold-to the white-aproned and grave
looking bartender. Back of the faro
tables are poker tables on either side
of the room. Further back still at the
other end Of the long apartment, is a
refreshment counter and an open fire
At which one may have a steak, or a
&hop, or an omelet cooked before ones
eyes. with small dining tables scattered
opposite. There are no deadly weapons
visible. save now and then the glimpse
of a pistol in the dealers drawer and
general good order prevails. Further
down the hill. around the corner on
Park street, are the variety theatres
long wooden buildings, with wooden
oh Il a iy-S
communicating generally with the
stage. Some of the best variety
.troFlpes in the country play in Butte.
anA audience smokes and drinks as it
chooses, and pays excellent attention.
A particularly taking act will often
bring down a shower of silver quarters
and halves from the boxes to the stage,
gratuity not at all unwelcome to
many a song and dance artist. Excel
lent performances are given, prolonged
sometimes till after midnight, as they
begin late But there are none of the
low concert saloons or dance houses
which once -disgraced the Michigan tim
Der peninsula, and even the pretty
waiter girl saloons are few and far be-
tween.
While the scenes have described are
nsing enacted in the mining camp prop
W. dozens Of quartz mills are pounding
away with ceSeleSS roar and scores of
shelters are belching forth thick vol
un1es of smoke. The day shift of min
erSss at play, but the night shift is at
work hundreds of feet below the sur
face of the shaft-house, digging, haul
ting and blasting for silver and copper.
The miners of Butte are never at rest,
save for a cleanup or repairs at long
Intervals. Physically they are a fine
body of meI made up of all elements
The English, Welsh and Irish predomi-
mates butt there are many Italians and
not few representatives from the
Slavic provinces of the Austro-Hun-
garian Empire. They generally dress
in long boots. SLOUGH hats, wooden shirts
and blue overails.
II must be a very cold day that in
ouces a miner to bother with such a
1rife as an overcoat. They are the most
careless OF mortals, and never take pre-
cautions against catching cold. They
come out reeking with perspiration
item the bowels of the earth and brave
the nipping blast with bare breasts
and necks. Pneumonia has been do
ing its deadly work among them since
the advent of the grip, four or five years
ago, and the past season has been no
exception in the way Of mortality. The
patient breathing thin and vitia ted air
has little hope of shaking off pneu-
1lionia in Butte, and in consequence the
average of fatal cases is large. It is
Asid that men who abstain from
I0An
those who drink heavily, and nearly all
seem to agree that alcohol in some
form, is an absolutely needed mode Of
of treatment under such conditions as
exist here. My personal observation
has been that a good-sized majority of
the male denizens Of Butte seem to
live in constant dread of pneumonia.
and thoroughly believe in terrifying
themselves spiritually, against all evil
chances. AT the same time l must say
that a more kindly disposed. pleasantly
behaved community does not exist any
where Hospitality is a municipal
watchword in the mountain city, and
nearly everybody goes wearing an eX-
preston Of peace an earth. to
men good will" If any man of bad will
should, however, happen along he can
fird plenty of accommoda ton in Butte
Ten thousand tons a day is no I'M
usual output of ore for the mines of
Butte The camp lies on an easy slope
Of the mountains. with mines above
below and all around it. Look which
way you may from the heart of the
cf&y. you will see shaft house. a stamp
ma or a snelter. And Butte has her
fun share of mining romances. There
is. the Lexington, for which the French
stockholders are said to have paid So
o1o.000 to theman who purchased from
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