The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-07
BUTTE; A HE'LL ON EARTH.
UNRIVALED MINING CITY, WHERE
NO VEGETABLE WILL GROW.

Heinze and the Late MarcusIDaIy
Its Three Powerful Characters.
An Election That Cost $40 a Vote.
Butte, Mont, Letter in Philadelphia
Record.
There is a hell on earth; it is Butte,
Mont.
Since four prospectors from Nevada
struck this town little more than
forty years ago miners have dug from
the mountain side on which Butte
stands nearly one-half a billion dollars
worth of gold, silver and copper-more
than has come from any other camp
in the world.
1t is not strange, then, that John
D. Rockefeller and Henry H. Rogers
have their names linked with this city
of riches. In Butte three mining mag
mates have made their fortunes-Ma-
rcus DAILY, Senator w. A. Clark and
August Heinze.
But why do they call Butte the
earthly realm of Satan? Chiefly be-
cause roasting ores give off fumes of
sulphur This smoke-Lthe color of
watered milk-sometimes gets as thick
as a London fog. 1t kills all Vegeta-
ton. Not one green leaf ever f1utters
in Butte; nor does "a sprig of grass
grow there. Bleak, indeed, are the roll
ing masses of sand and rock over
which Mary McLane trod while wait
ing for the coming of the devil"
To this place, so barren of verdure
yet so fruitful in rich metals, the
winds of fortune have blown people
from every cline. Stand any hour of
the day or night on a street corner in
Butte and there will brush against
Jacks, I-tank-sos, Windmillers, Par
lez-vous, Wacht am Rheims, Rags
Old-Iron-R Rags, Vodkas, Bohemians,
Roumanfans, Wallachians, Turks, some
from the Piraeus, banana peddlers,
bull-fighters, Arabs, Armenians Per-
SLAMS, Indians-both East and Ameri-
cans-Singalese, Portuguese, Chinese,
japanese.
People Are Ala Plungers.
Not one of the $4,000 miners of Butte
earns less than $3.50 day, and they
all spend their money like prodigal
sons. In the old open gambling days,
not long gone by, drill-drivers wearing
flannel shirts have bet stacks of silver
and gold slugs with the recklessness
of royal rakes at Monte Carlo.
The, people are all plungers. Two men
came up to cigar case. Let's shake
the box said one.
AS they lit their cigars the other
asked: How much do you want for
that mine, anyway. En- ,-s y
"Thirty-five thousand" was the an
swer.
Give you twenty-five" said the
other.
''Wpn't take twentv-fve,' replied
his friend, but I'll just shake dice
whether you give me twenty-five
thousand or fifty
AN right. First flop or horses?"
First flop" came back the answer.
They each rolled the dice out only
once. The man who lost wrote his
check for $4,000 with a lead pencil.
The Mayor of Butte is Patrick Null
Inns. Years ago Pat" as everybody
calls him, ran a clearinghouse in the
camp. Once the mines shut down.
Some of Pats boarders got out of
money. He rose up in the dining
romo one morning at breakfast time
and made a speech:
The Winning of a MayOraIty.
"Bys," said he, they've shut down
the mines and some of yez is out of
dough. But, I'll tel. yez, we've sthuck to
Pat Whin we've had the stuff and now
Pat will sthick to yez Dive got two
carr loads of pertates and wan cair
load of hams in the cllar. AS long as
they's spud and pace of matt lift
ye can ate wild me. Pay whin We git
the COIN
So when Pats party were afraid of
losing the election they put him up for
Mayor. AS one of the miners said to
me: He won hands down"
Soon after taking his oath of office
II was the duty of the Mayor to well
come President Roosevelt, who visited
Butte. The Mayor put on his first dress
suit. At a banquet, as soon as the
guests sat down the Mayor arose. rap
ped on the table and said: "Gintlemin.
Ol Will inthrodooce to yez a mon who
maids no introduction He's the hav-
dow of Santyaigo. B'ys Ito the wait
ers), bring on the grub"
Three Great Characters
The history Of Butte is the history of
its three great mining men-Daly.
Clark, Heinze. Take the Characters of
these men. DAILY was playing poker
one night in a Butte club. Another in
the game was a man of small means.
DAILY held four aces and drew one card.
Inc other drew one card also. and
made king full.
full.
"I'll see the $500 and raise We a white
chip" said DAILY; but. my friend,
uont raise me for I've got ye bait"
The other man, who had lost 81, 500,
put his checks on the table for $4,000.
Had he lost he would have been a ruin
ed man. DAILY knew this.
And what have We got?" said DAILY,
seeing the raise.
"A king full" replied the other play
er. raking in the money.
ITS good, Jerry" said DAILY, throw
ing down his winning hand, thinking
no one had seen IL.
That man Heinze." said one gentle
man. lis the greatest plunger that ever
struck Butte. Why, do you know,
saw him playing poker the other night
and he would always flip a 500 gold
piece to see whether or not he should
call a raise"
Born in Ireland. Marcus DAILY, when
Is, came to America, working first at
Brooklyn as a dock hand. Later he
went to California, where he did placer
mining. Haggln and Tevis, mining
men of Frisco sent him to Utah. Here
he met the Walker brothers, who had
him go to Butte i'm 1876 to inspect the
old Alice mine. DAILY went into Butte
carrying a blanket on his back; he
died worth S15,000,000.
The Victory of the Anaconda.
They tell that after selling his share
in the Alice, DAILY went in with Hag-
gin and Tevis and bought the Ana
conda. The Californians sent an eX-