The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-18
MAKING SMOKE NO MORE
The Old Parrots Stacks Serving
Merely as Monuments.
IT'S HAD ITS USEFUL DAY
Facts Relating to the Life and Times of
a Butte Shelter = Not the Old
est, but One of the
Old Ones

mining camp on earth stands a smelt-
| ing plant whose dozens of brick and
| IRON stacks have ceased to pour forth
their quota of the smoke and noxious
| fumes that have given Butte a black
| eye. In discussions that have been rec
orded in the pages of local history the
| Parrot smelter has been cited as an
| instance" they said, in smoky seasons,
that the Parrot furnished the great
bulk of the offensive fumes. Since the
| plant ceased to operate it has been said
| that Butte Will never again witness
another season similar to that in winch
so many deaths and prostrations &C.
| CURED just before Christmas of last
year.
| Now that the big smelter Is closed
and it's furnaces chilled, the spectacle
| OF great plant lying idle. compare
| lively death-like stiffness prevailing the
scene of former activity, strikes the av
erage person in Butte as decidedly
unique. The observer notes at glance
the conspicuous absence of the huge
| volumes of smoke that for Is wears
| rose from the stacks of the Parrot
smelter. Now there's a void midway be-
| tween the Colorado smelter on the west
| and the Meaderville plants on the east.
and this void was occasioned by the
| closing down of the Parrot smelter two
| weeks ago.
The Parrot is not the oldest smelter
in Butte. The old plant built by Mea-
| der and that operated by the Colorado
| company were turning out matte VIII IN
the plans for the little 1O0-ton Parrot
smelter We're drawn. However, the lat
! ter has been, for years. regarded as one
| of the camps first reduction plants. 1t
is composite affair in several senses
| In its entirety it numbers the results
| of at least a dozen architects study
| and drawings as it experienced a grad
| ual growth from small one-room fur
| mace house to proportions required in
| the successful handling and treatment
of 400 tons of ore daily 1t is in itself
cluster of buildings ranging in size
| from 10x20 to 120X250.. In this respect,
| as well as in other later-day essentials,
it is a back number has-been. But
! it was a smelter for all that.
! The Parrot Smeter was built in 1881
and fired up early in June of that year.
| The company of which Franklin Far
| rell is president built ii and its ca
pacty was about 100 tons per day. 1t
was built to treat the ores of the Par
rot mine. George F. Bartlett. now of
| Neihart, superintendent the construC-
I
Thomas Wallace was acting in the ca
pacity of superintendent for the COM
pany, but j. f. Gaylord was from the
beginning of operations by the Parrot
company in Butte the general manager.
This position he held for many years.
| w. @. Benham was chief clerk and for
| years he held responsible position
with the company. When the smelter
was first fired the company's pay roll
contained rs names. This, like the
plant, increased until more than 500
| names We're enrolled.
| The first wagon load of ore that was
| dumped in the roasters of the new
| smelter was hauled from the mine
| Decoration day, 1881. For more than
| two years wagons We're used to haul
| the ore to the smelter. AS development
of the mine progressed the value of the
ore and the vastness of the ledge DEM
| onstrated the advisa bility of increas-
| ing the facilities of handling the ore
| and treating it. This suggested to an
| enterprising trio of business men of
| Butte the idea of building a tramway
| or railroad from the mine to the smell
| ter. P. A. Largely, Geoff Lavell and
| Alex Tarbet associated themselves into
| a company and built the narrow guage
| railroad which is known as the Sum-
nit Valley road. This proved to be
| one of the richest things that ever ap-
! peared on the surface in Butte. 1t has
|
| Summit Valley railroad was the best
paying road of its size in the world. 1t
| is little more than a mile in length
| The expense of operating 1t was small
| a bagatele when compared to it's earn
ings The cars made the descent to
| the smelter by means of brakes They
| were draw back to the mine by mules.
! Five hundred tons have passed down
| the slope in one day, but the average
| was 400 tons.
While there IL no record to prove 1t,
| the statement is made with a degree
of authenticity that the Parrot mine
| was discovered in 1864 by the Parrot
brothers. This might be true, even If
| the discovery shaft was on what is
| now the Anaconda or on some other
| claim west within 1,500x600 bounds. 1t
| is known, however, that no consider
able amount of work had been done on
| the famous hill as early as 1864. Ben
| libby, until Dec. Is, 1897 superintend-
ent of the mine, directed the mining of
the first ore treated from the Parrot
ground. He opened the shaft that 'old
Bill Parks" dug in 1879, and Dave
Steele built the gallows frame for the
hoisting apparatus. John Essenger, de-
ceased, set up the first engine on the
Parrot. This same hoist is now on the
Bellona, an adjoining claim. Matthew
Dodge was foreman of the miners, who
We're James Stride, E. M. Bowen, John
Powell. Tom Killing, Capt. l.. S. Bracey,
Bill Kennedy, John and Joseph Reilly
| and Joe Prentiss. The mine has al
ways been regarded as one of the rich
est In the camp. For years 1t was
known that every per cent of copper
represented an ounce of silver. In later
years the ore has averaged 6 per cent
copper and eight ounces silver. The
ledge averages in width from six feet
to so feet, and the shaft is 1,122 feet
deep. Among the mines acquired by
the Parrot company in Butte are the
Minah, Rialto, Virginius. Moscow, Orc
Butte. Autocrat and others.
While the smelter was built princi-
pally by Eastern capital, the idea of
building originated in the fertile brain
of s. T. Hauser of Helena. Mr.. Hauser
induced Franklin Farrell and his asso-
ciate in business and brother-in-law
A. Midgeon. of Connecticut, to come
out here and test the values of the ores
which had just begun to attract capital
and men to Butte from every part of