Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21
BUILDING OPERA
TONS IN BUTTE
THE CITY IS SHOWING A MARKED
IMPROVEMENT EACH YEAR
IN NUMBER OF sUBSTAN-
TIAL STRUCTURES
ERECTED.

Prior to 1880 Butte was not much of u
town as viewed from Il standpoint Of
size, but with the of that
year it's progress was rapid. Between
1877 and 1850 the center of population was
practically confined to a few hundred
yards in either direction from the pres
ent city hall. At that time the extent Of
the ore bodies had not been fully dem~
onstrated to the satisfaction of the inc
habitants, and consequently the build
ings already erected were of the class
common to all new mining camps. They
had been thrown together with a rip saw
and an ax-specimens of them can still
be found lining the south side of Park
street between Main and Wyoming On
the east and Main and Montana on the
west. Some of the original old ShackS
along Park street have been replaced
by structures of a more substantial ma
ture.
After the permanency of the mineral
resources of the district had been es-
tablished things began to come Butte's
way. Among these things was the Utah
Northern railroad, which bore about the
same relation to a real road as Il jack
rabbit does to a mule-it was narrow
gauge. This was in 1880. If there is one
lIlllS llUEe lHd dlolllcI ludl Will give
a mountain town a start it is the APP
proach of a railroad. and this case
proved no exception to the rule. The
stampede for Butte. however, did not
get fully on it's stride until 1881. In that
year it broke out in earnest and by fall
the town was in the meshes of a full
grown boom. People We're coming in
from all directions. some walking and
some riding on stages and prairie
schooners. About September the narrow
gauge road reached Melrose. There
We're two stage lines operating between
that point and Butte. but before they
had been in business long a merry rate
war broke out between them and pas
sengers rode to Butte for a dollar. Every
stage was loaded. Before the railroad
began to head for Butte real estate could
be bought very reasonable. but the rush
of people afterwards sent the prices fly
ing upward and by the time the line was
completed it was being held at a pretty
stiff figure. This figure, though. ap-
piled only to property in what is at pres
ent the center of the city. No one seemed
to want anything in what is now the
residence and business part of the dist
riot. There was not a house west OF
Missoula gulch and very few between
the gulch and Montana street. AL of the
other suburbs We're just as sparsely set
tied, and the houses that had been
erected ever in the center of the district
We're of the ramshackle pattern. Within
the last ten or twelve years a great
change has taken place in the character
of buildings erected. People who have
been here continuously have seen sub
stantial brick, iron and stone struc-
ures take the place of apologies for hous-
es in all parts of the city, buildings in
the erection of which hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars We're expended by their
owners. They have also seen the city
spread in all directions and it's outposts
coupled to the business center by such
modern metropolitan conveniences as the
electric light, telephone. street railway.
fire department protection and numerous
others of less pretentious proportions;
have seen the district west of Missoula
gulch (once considered too far out for
building purposes) blossom into one
grand residence bulb studded with
homes equal in comfort and durability
to any that can be found in the west.
They have witnessed the extension of
these homes even farther in other direc-
tions: have witnessed the building pro-
cession march south, north and east and
up into the shadow of the Big butte and
the School of Mines. In the center of the
city they have seen such structures as
the Owsley block, Hennessy building,
Mantle block, Butte hotel, Thornton ho-
tel, Lenox block. Oppenheimer block,
Beaver block, Silver Bow block, Lew
issohn block. Dorothy block, Inter Noun
lain block, library building, Columbia
block, Council block. Olsen block, Man.
tie block, Cohn and Bielenberg blocks.
and many others take the place of one
story affairs, and are now witnessing the
erection of Knights of Pythias Castle
and a new block for the accommodation
of the Miner newspaper In the erection
of some of these buildings an enormous
amount of money was expended. The
Hennessy block alone cost about a quar-
ter of a million dollars, the OWsley block
nearly 500, 900, and each of the others
from $40, 900 to $50, 1000. bringing the hotel
cost of the structures enumerated up to
something like 81, 500, 900. The end is not
in sight. Recent developments in the
mines have proven that the ore supply
is virtually inexhaustible, and as a re-
suit property owners who have money to
expend in the erection of metropolitan
buildings do not feel the same as they
once did over the future of the city.