The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1922-11-30

stranger for Butte. Calm and proud,
warm-hearted and generous, Butte,
from its position at the top OF the
world, welcomes the casual guest by
night and by day. The men and wo-
men who made Butte, who founded
her industry, stayed with the city to
the end of their lives. But a few
still remain. The destinies of the
city and its industry are now in the
hands of a second generation. These
are the men to whom the founders
turned over the task. How insipid,
how ~slovenly must be the study of
him who refers as representative of
Butte "the casual engineer from the
Rand or French China or Peru Ii
such engineers are here, they come
for one purpose alone, to learn the
most advanced methods of mining,
for in all the world Butte is the
scene of greatest scientific develop
ment in the industry.
Following is an interesting extract
from Mr.. Hergesheimer's article:
"The cowboy-dallying a free
RATA on the saddle horn with his
pony solid at the gesture of a raised
hand-first became a reality to me
in a hotel at Butte. That city, itself,
was real, valid, beyond any other
place l had yet seen. The train came
upon it suddenly, after a depressing
waste, a crust of earth like verdigris;
and when Butte was, dramatically,
visible, 1 had the sensation of being
stopped by a murderous figure hid
den until then in the rocks. Butte
Low ~, @1a o,Io of a.. 1;11 -. farro ooo
of gray refuse, with, about its lower
walls, pools of copper-colored water;
above, the gallows frames of the
mines, the bare timbers and trestles
and dumps, were flung against the
sky between mountains sheathed in
snow; and at its foot a long narrow
plain was SCARED with arbitrary cuts
and roads treacherous with discolor-
ed ice.
There wasn't a tree to be seen, a
patch of winterkilled grass, the bare
wirelike tangle of a blasted bush.
There was rock and rubble, metal
and brick, a leaden sky and snow,
but no more. Gazing at Butte, /
wondered if it were worse now or,
heated and superheated, baked black
in summer. The mines were open
again after a period of ~idleness, but
there was no stir, no congregating
miners on streets sleeper than Kan
sas City's. At the hotel | was given
amazing rooms in red plush and gilt,
with the electric lights nodded in
the shape of lilies - a souvenir of
bonanza days and taste-and imme-
diately the pleasant surviving life of
Butte was unfolded for me.
at chung, like the tall frames for
the N skips and cages, to the mines
and to nothing else; it's industries,
its clubs, its memories, were all
drawn from copper; but-in the re-
mote improbability of the mines fail
ing-Butte saw itself as an indis-
pensable station of passage; as, defy
ing the fate of all other mining
towns, permanent. Perhaps! I was
not, fortunately, involved in any such
subsequent individual fate; I was
too happily situated in the present
Tor dark economic and industrial re-
Elections.
Butte, the truth was, still had a
trace, a flavor, of it's great days. They
certainly were gone, frowned as much
anything out of existence; but
there was a heartening echo on the
streets-as though from a door just
clOsed-and there were aspects large
ly unchanged; a famous bar merely
turned into a fruit stall, the floors
above banks, stores, where the pow
ers had lived. The people them
selves of that former existence were
still alive.
'They were older, naturally, their
active period lay largely behind
them; but they were unmistakable,
they had an air hat did not belong
to today. The surface that was mod
ern enough, the dinners, the dress in
films of black with pearls and of
with diamonds, we're universal
~ correct; financially the men were
constantly in connection with New
York; but the difference, the SO near
past, was evident in their talk, in
memories brushed with a smile at
Ieinze before he sold his copper
holdings. 1t was, they admitted
without apology. an unregenerate pei
'iod, morally perilous and physically
/ marvel of discomfort. The ore,
hen, was roasted in the open, and
3uCCo SUlOIuoTou III d yellow Sulpuui-
JUS smoke. The street lights, burn
ng day and night, showed only the
ed flicker of a match, and the gloom
required floods of strong
.,ounteragents within.
Past Linked to Present
1.-THE agents were marvelously well
provided, the cases of the faro deal
rs competing with the skill of bar
and p%rettiness displayed in
road windows. 1t was more urban
han Leadville and more permanent
han Silver City; it occupied, in real
ty, a place between them and the
resent; it touched them both. Play
ng poker there a pleasure almost
commemorative, 1 caught sentences,
Illusions, of what had been; and, los
ng very rapidly whatever money
ad with me, 1 saw that all was not
yer with Butte yet.
at was vigorously, characteristic
ally American, national in every
raft for which, as a people, we had
ecome famous; it was ~abSurdly SEN