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Copper Camp: The Lusty Story of Butte, Montana
Copper Camp is a Montana classic. First published in 1943 and long out of print, Copper Camp is available again, bigger and better than ever with 25 new historical photos chosen specifically for this edition.
Copper Camp contains hundreds of brawling, bawdy, over-the-top, laugh-out-loud stories about Butte during the height of the copper mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Each story is told with keen wit, love, and appreciation for the world’s greatest copper camp and the people who lived, loved, played, and worked there.
Writers for the Works Projects Administration compiled the stories. Their aim was to reveal “the wealth of human interest held within the folds of the ‘richest hill on earth.’ Instead of the Copper Kings, here are the kids and characters, ministers, miners, mothers, girls from the line, bankers, and barkeeps. Of such stuff as strikes, parades, politics and people – above all, of rawboned, lively, honest-to-God people – is a mining camp composed; and Butte, in the opinion of many experts, if THE mining camp.
Copper Camp has been described as “a roaring human document that is as strong, and important as the town of Butte, Montana.” If you want to understand Butte, then read this book. If you want to experience the sheer joy of a wonderful book that takes you to a totally different time and place, then Copper Camp is for you, too.
Copper Camp contains hundreds of brawling, bawdy, over-the-top, laugh-out-loud stories about Butte during the height of the copper mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Each story is told with keen wit, love, and appreciation for the world’s greatest copper camp and the people who lived, loved, played, and worked there.
Writers for the Works Projects Administration compiled the stories. Their aim was to reveal “the wealth of human interest held within the folds of the ‘richest hill on earth.’ Instead of the Copper Kings, here are the kids and characters, ministers, miners, mothers, girls from the line, bankers, and barkeeps. Of such stuff as strikes, parades, politics and people – above all, of rawboned, lively, honest-to-God people – is a mining camp composed; and Butte, in the opinion of many experts, if THE mining camp.
Copper Camp has been described as “a roaring human document that is as strong, and important as the town of Butte, Montana.” If you want to understand Butte, then read this book. If you want to experience the sheer joy of a wonderful book that takes you to a totally different time and place, then Copper Camp is for you, too.
- GenresHistory
336 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 1, 2020
Written in the 1940s, this book contains episodes from the turn of the century history of Butte, Montana, a town founded originally as a mining camp. We find a brief history of the discovery of the ore, the Copper Wars, but mostly scenes of the daily life in Butte and anecdotes about its most colorful residents, grouped by topic (the mine owners, the miners, ethnic groups and their customs, schools and children, sports, food, disasters, animals, the red light district, etc). It is well written, with humor and fondness, in a style which is partly story, partly journalistic article.
May 12, 2019
This book was given to me by a long-time classmate and good friend Jim McCarthy. We grew up in Anaconda, a smelter town founded by Marcus Daly, one of the Copper Kings (see below) where the copper ore from the mines in Butte 25 miles away was shipped by rail to be processed into almost pure copper. The context of this book is the history of Butte dating from just before the beginning of the 20th Century through about 1941. If you catch almost any episode of the HBO series “Deadwood,” you’ll get an idea of the semi-primitive, dangerous, dirty, violent life the miners lived. This story is in the shadow of its most important investors, Augustus Heinze and Marcus Daly, known as the Copper Kings. They were initial collaborators who became bitter rivals, both of them driven by the profit motive rather than any concern for the safety or welfare of the miners or their families. Any attempts at organization or unionization were met with beatings and murder. Graft/bribery, dirty political tricks and head-beatings were almost an accepted part of the political life in Butte.
This book was written in 1946 by the Writers Project of Montana as a way to “flesh out” the above context, by describing the everyday life of a rough-and-tumble town with its neighborhoods, ethnic groups, bars, brothels and above all unique characters. People came from many ethnic groups to work the mines and the related businesses, from Irish, Scottish, African, Chinese, African-American, Native American, Slavic, Italian, Mexican and Spanish among others. All brought their cultures and cuisines. Despite a good deal of tension and fights, the cultures blended, largely in the exchange of lunch food brought from home and exchanged by the miners. For example, the Irish/Cornish had “pasties,” small meat pies with beef, potatoes and at times other vegetables baked into a hand-held pie crust. The Serbians had “Povotica,” a sweet pastry with dough rolled thin, then rolled up over a mixture of honey and crushed nuts (usually walnuts or pecans), then sliced. My own Mom used to make both of these, lots of succulent memories.
In addition to the usual vices, there was also a brisk business in gambling, notably horse racing. The horses, of course, were owned by the town’s wealthy, most notably Marcus Daly. Indeed, his own horse, Tammany, was immortalized in a mosaic of multicolored hardwoods on the floor of Anaconda’s Tammany Lounge (well, a saloon, actually) in Anaconda’s Montana Hotel (now the Hotel Marcus Daly). I’ve seen it a couple times, pretty impressive.
And while we’re on the subject of horses, to quote the book, “Butte has never confined her interest to only human characters. There are many instances when dogs and horses became as well-known as two-legged characters.” Mules were used mostly for pulling the ore cars in the mines, and horses for both transportation and work. One of the more notable horses described in the book was “Old Jim,” a firehorse who over the course of 25 years had been to numerous fires and survived an explosion at the firehouse which killed several firemen. Old Jim had his own (unlocked) stall at the firehouse and basically had the run of the town, “begging” treats from the townspeople or following inebriates down the street. A large portrait of Old Jim hangs in the firehouse.
As far as the “two-legged” characters, the book describes a good many of them. For example, one of the “girls of the line” was a biracial woman (Native American/Spanish) named Carmen self-proclaimed as “the original pioneer of the industry in Butte.” A writer is quoted as describing her as “a full-blossomed Spanish rose who would just as soon stick a stiletto in your gizzard as stand at the bar and have a drink with you.” Another woman was “Nickel Annie,” who panhandled around town asking for “Five cents please,” no more. There were also two well-known men named Callahan (though spelled slightly differently). One, a priest, was known for his kind works and tireless activism on the part of the unemployed; his frail nature led to his death at age 37. The other was known as “Callahan the Bum,” a notorious drunk who frequently ended up in jail for fighting, but who could also quote Shakespeare or Ecclesiastical Latin and known to have a generous nature, saying, “The shirt off my back if I had a shirt.” They both knew each other fairly well, and the story is told of Callahan the Bum helping Father Callaghan to come up with $200 for a bell for his new church, by some unconventional means to say the least. One more: A hack driver, John Jones, known ironically as “Fat Jack” as he was tall and reedy, who boasted of having ferried various national celebrities around. Yet another drunk and inveterate gambler, he often put his horse and hack in hock to pay his gambling debts. Many more unique and colorful characters are described, not the least of whom are Messrs. Heinze and Daly.
I have found out that this book has been republished in 1970 (my copy) and again in 2001, which I’m glad to see as readers of all generations would enjoy it. There are 24 photos, of Butte, the mines/miners, and individuals including the above-mentioned Nickel Annie and Fat Jack. There is also a timeline from the mid-19th Century through 1941. I would highly recommend this very readable, entertaining book, certainly for history buffs (this takes place in Butte but could well describe any mining community) or anyone looking for the more human, everyday side of the industrial age. Five enthusiastic stars.
This book was written in 1946 by the Writers Project of Montana as a way to “flesh out” the above context, by describing the everyday life of a rough-and-tumble town with its neighborhoods, ethnic groups, bars, brothels and above all unique characters. People came from many ethnic groups to work the mines and the related businesses, from Irish, Scottish, African, Chinese, African-American, Native American, Slavic, Italian, Mexican and Spanish among others. All brought their cultures and cuisines. Despite a good deal of tension and fights, the cultures blended, largely in the exchange of lunch food brought from home and exchanged by the miners. For example, the Irish/Cornish had “pasties,” small meat pies with beef, potatoes and at times other vegetables baked into a hand-held pie crust. The Serbians had “Povotica,” a sweet pastry with dough rolled thin, then rolled up over a mixture of honey and crushed nuts (usually walnuts or pecans), then sliced. My own Mom used to make both of these, lots of succulent memories.
In addition to the usual vices, there was also a brisk business in gambling, notably horse racing. The horses, of course, were owned by the town’s wealthy, most notably Marcus Daly. Indeed, his own horse, Tammany, was immortalized in a mosaic of multicolored hardwoods on the floor of Anaconda’s Tammany Lounge (well, a saloon, actually) in Anaconda’s Montana Hotel (now the Hotel Marcus Daly). I’ve seen it a couple times, pretty impressive.
And while we’re on the subject of horses, to quote the book, “Butte has never confined her interest to only human characters. There are many instances when dogs and horses became as well-known as two-legged characters.” Mules were used mostly for pulling the ore cars in the mines, and horses for both transportation and work. One of the more notable horses described in the book was “Old Jim,” a firehorse who over the course of 25 years had been to numerous fires and survived an explosion at the firehouse which killed several firemen. Old Jim had his own (unlocked) stall at the firehouse and basically had the run of the town, “begging” treats from the townspeople or following inebriates down the street. A large portrait of Old Jim hangs in the firehouse.
As far as the “two-legged” characters, the book describes a good many of them. For example, one of the “girls of the line” was a biracial woman (Native American/Spanish) named Carmen self-proclaimed as “the original pioneer of the industry in Butte.” A writer is quoted as describing her as “a full-blossomed Spanish rose who would just as soon stick a stiletto in your gizzard as stand at the bar and have a drink with you.” Another woman was “Nickel Annie,” who panhandled around town asking for “Five cents please,” no more. There were also two well-known men named Callahan (though spelled slightly differently). One, a priest, was known for his kind works and tireless activism on the part of the unemployed; his frail nature led to his death at age 37. The other was known as “Callahan the Bum,” a notorious drunk who frequently ended up in jail for fighting, but who could also quote Shakespeare or Ecclesiastical Latin and known to have a generous nature, saying, “The shirt off my back if I had a shirt.” They both knew each other fairly well, and the story is told of Callahan the Bum helping Father Callaghan to come up with $200 for a bell for his new church, by some unconventional means to say the least. One more: A hack driver, John Jones, known ironically as “Fat Jack” as he was tall and reedy, who boasted of having ferried various national celebrities around. Yet another drunk and inveterate gambler, he often put his horse and hack in hock to pay his gambling debts. Many more unique and colorful characters are described, not the least of whom are Messrs. Heinze and Daly.
I have found out that this book has been republished in 1970 (my copy) and again in 2001, which I’m glad to see as readers of all generations would enjoy it. There are 24 photos, of Butte, the mines/miners, and individuals including the above-mentioned Nickel Annie and Fat Jack. There is also a timeline from the mid-19th Century through 1941. I would highly recommend this very readable, entertaining book, certainly for history buffs (this takes place in Butte but could well describe any mining community) or anyone looking for the more human, everyday side of the industrial age. Five enthusiastic stars.
March 5, 2020
Interesting with some lots of side stories.
May 3, 2025
Enjoyed reading Copper Camp. Text book like reading.
Took it slow and payed attention.
Took it slow and payed attention.
January 29, 2011
Colorful, but has a creative way with the truth. Gets a lot of Mary MacLane's life silly-wrong.
September 18, 2012
Loved loved loved this book!!! I adore Butte and all its history.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews