36 Hours in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana, known for its old but well-to-do copper mining facilities, is much more than just “The Richest Hill on Earth” to locals. The town bears the title for “America’s most Irish City” and each year hosts its annual An Rí Rá Irish Festival. The old, history-rich mining town rests just below the capital city, Helena, and directly atop the rowdy college town of Dillon, in the southwest corner of the Treasure State.
Friday, 3 p.m. — The World Museum of Mining
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work underground, sifting through dirt and hearing explosion after explosion while you mine for rare materials? If you’re curious about the culturally-rich world of copper mining and not claustrophobic, make sure to stop for a tour at The World Museum of Mining (155 Museum Way, $8.50 for adults, $7.50 for seniors, $5 for students). Not only will you be able to put on the gear that past and current miners wore, but add in the fact that the museum was built on the grounds of the Orphan Girl mine, which enables tourists to take a trip either 65 ft. or 100 ft. underground, and it will definitely be an experience you will never forget. Make sure to wear closed toe shoes and keep your eye out for falling rock.
Friday, 5 p.m. — Casagranda’s Steakhouse and Guido’s Bar
If you’re looking for a rustic, history-packed place to grab a drink in between exploring underground mines and gasping at the beautiful mountains that surround the town, Casagranda’s Steakhouse and Guido’s Bar (801 S. Utah Ave) is the place to be. Guido, the great-grandfather of the current owner, Kerry Leary, is the inspiration behind their infamous cocktails and premium liquors. Favorites of the locals include the Moose Drool Brown Ale and the Wild Berry Daiquiri (prices not listed). Don’t forget to set aside some time and room in your stomach for the Drunken Shrimp Compote appetizer (price not listed), which consists of five jumbo shrimp doused in cocktail sauce, served in a martini glass and finished with a splash of vodka.
Friday, 8 p.m. — Sparky’s Garage
Head a little further uptown and grab a seat in the bed of an old Chevy truck that’s been remodeled to act as a restaurant table at Sparky’s Garage (222 E Park St). Sparky’s has been a staple of Butte culture since 2002 when the Drew family decided to open a bar and grill decorated completely with classic memorabilia. The catch is that each piece of decoration was found on the side of a street or in trash cans around town. It goes to show that one man’s trash really is another man’s treasure. Many stereotypical Montanans seem to long for a sandwich skyscraper-ed with beef, cooked in cold smoke scotch ale, covered in sauerkraut, cheese and thousand island dressing, and that is exactly what they get with one of the house favorites, the Reuben Sandwich ($13.99). Sparky’s is also a local hot spot for their signature cocktails. If you’re lucky, you’ll be sitting in the back of the Chevy when they’re serving their seasonal Spiced Apple Butter Cake ($6.99) that is baked with homemade cake batter, fresh spiced apples and Montana-made Big Dipper Ice Cream that will have you writing home to your mother.
Saturday, 9 a.m. — Town Talk
Get up early, and I mean early, to be able to get your hands on a classic Town Talk maple bar. If you’re feeling up to it after those Sparky’s specialty cocktails last night, make your way downtown (611 E Front St) before the bakery’s opening at 7 a.m. and mingle with the other locals who are waiting in line for the bakery to open. Since 1919, this bakery has been open Tuesday-Saturday, selling out every day by 5 o’clock. It is an unwritten rule that you haven’t actually visited Butte until you have tried the povitica, an eastern European dessert bread, made from owner Bill’s grandmother’s recipe (price not listed), or one of their famous maple bars. Hint: a sneaky trick that enables you to sleep in, is to call the restaurant the afternoon before and ask for a custom baker’s dozen box. That way you’ll automatically be entitled to a maple bar and a cinnamon roll with your name on it. But hear me out. Do. Not. Leave. Without a pasty. Pasties are the number one staple of Butte, Montana, and consist of fresh seasoned ground beef, molded into a ball shape with finely chopped onions and potatoes, wrapped in fresh and flaky dough, baked until golden brown. This was the perfect food for miners who spent all day underground with no time to make the trip back up for a lunch break. I know you probably won’t want to eat one at nine in the morning, but do yourself a favor and please purchase twelve Town Talk cocktail pasties, put them in a travel cooler and thank me later. Don’t forget the ketchup.
Saturday, 11 a.m. — The Lady of the Rockies
No matter where you’re coming from or how you’re getting there, it is virtually impossible to enter Butte, Montana without seeing the Lady of the Rockies. The Lady is a 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary that sits right above the Continental Divide and is visible for 100 miles in almost any direction. In 1979, after local Butte family the O’Bill’s found out that Mrs. O’Bill was nearing death from her cancer diagnosis, her husband sent a prayer to God that if his wife were to be healed, he would build a 5-foot statue of the Virgin Mary in his yard. After his wife miraculously recovered, O’Bill, his friends and many volunteers decided to erect a 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary on top of the Continental Divide in 1985. Now, thousands of people travel up the mountain every year to take a tour of the inside of the structure, which is dedicated to women around the world, and look at the list of more than 13,000 women who have passed away around the world. (Tour cost: $16 for ages 62+, $18 for adults, $14 for ages 12–17, $10 for ages 5–11, $4 for ages 4 and under.)
Saturday, 1 p.m. — El Taco
Stop by the greasy, fast food tex-mex, El Taco (2300 Harrison Ave), to really start feeling like you’re becoming one of the locals. Either walk in the south side of the restaurant to get a little bit more of a sit-down feel, or enter in through the north side and walk into their “walk-through and go” ordering system. It’s hard to explain what exactly it is that makes their greasy, oozing, cheesemelt ($2) just so hard to pass up. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s literally exploding with cheddar cheese, or maybe it’s because it’s just so damn simple and cheap. Put aside your diet for the day and try dipping your cheesemelt into a side of their nacho cheese sauce like the rest of the locals. Or if that isn’t really up your alley, go for their famous Spicy Spuds ($1). Not only are they incredibly cheap, but the spiced round tater-tots covered in nacho cheese and sour cream will having you craving them for weeks after. If you look around and see others dipping their spicy spuds or their tacos into a side of steaming hot salsa, you’re not hallucinating, it’s just a local quirk.
Saturday, 4 p.m. — Cavanaugh’s County Celtic
Take a trip back into historic uptown Butte America to immerse yourself into arguably the most Irish part of the “Most Irish City in America,” according to Forbes. Cavanaugh’s County Celtic (131 W. Park St.) is the main hub for many Butte families to get their graduation gifts, wedding presents or Catholic confirmation gifts. The entire store is decorated in green four-leaf clovers, Irish flags and porcelain dolls. Its ever-expanding inventory includes traditional Irish dance clothing, touristy t-shirts, Celtic books, homemade jewelry and even home decor for your Irish man cave.
Saturday, 7 p.m. — Lydia’s Supper Club
While the rest of Butte is either sleeping already or the college kids are having a giant kegger on the ‘M’ on the mountain, take advantage of the luxurious experience that Lydia’s Supper Club has to offer. It is rare nowadays for many people to have the chance to dine at a supper club, but you would be doing yourself a real disservice if you passed up the opportunity to try Lydia’s famous homemade ravioli. Since it’s a supper club, your meal is served in four courses. First, each guest gets a house salad with Lydia’s homemade Roquefort-Style salad dressing and a traditional Italian antipasto, which includes a small plate of anchovies, a plate of wine-cured salami and cheese, a few fresh green onions, a bowl of various kalamata olives and, for the table, a bowl of crisp breadsticks. Then comes your choice of appetizer, most notably the homemade fried ravioli that locals often buy multiple orders of to take home and stock in their freezer. Third, you’ll get your entree, most popularly the Porterhouse ($40.75), a 21 oz filet in addition to a hearty New York strip. Be wary of that much meat, mainly because they have a $13 “split the plate” fee. Lastly, you have your choice of either a free dish of a chocolate/caramel sundae, huckleberry, spumoni, or their rotating flavor of ice cream, or their rich and creamy deep-fried Oreos for a little extra ($5.50). Helpful tip: don’t plan any heavy exercise for the rest of the night.
Saturday, 9 p.m. — Butte Brewing Company
After you feel that you have recovered enough from your food coma at Lydia’s, waddle on over to the Butte Brewing Company (465 E Galena St) way up on the hill next to one of the infamous Gallows Frames. Founded in 1885, the Butte Brewing Company quickly acquired a massive following largely due to one of their signature beers, The Butte Special (price not listed). After the original Butte Brewing Company closed in 1965, fans of the signature drinks were left to mope about without their Friday night specialty IPA’s. In 2015, when word got around that a Butte local, Tony Olson, was going to buy the trademarks and open up Butte Brewing Co. once again, the town erupted with cheers and the excitement was just short of throwing Olson a parade. Other local favorites include the “OreDigger Ale,” a tribute to the beloved Montana Tech Orediggers, the “Off Your Rachor Pale Ale,” a notion to the very specific slang used in Butte, and the “Dublin Gulch Porter,” yet another reference to the strong grip that the Irish heritage has on Butte.
Sunday, 10 a.m — The Hanging Five
Treat yo’self and wake up a little later this morning. You deserve it after a wild night at the Brewing Company, to walk into a homey diner to the smell of fried bacon and sunny-side-up eggs. Locally known for its chicken-fried steak ($8.25 for a 4oz, $9.75 for an 8 oz), The Hanging Five is the ideal diner for both family get-togethers and late night hangovers. Other favorites include “The Extravaganza Omelet,” which will cure any and all of your pain. It is filled to the brim with bacon, onions, ham, green peppers, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, olives and both Swiss and American cheese. The Hanging Five is known around town for its very at-home vibe, almost as if you’ve just walked into your elderly grandmother’s house, and for its slot machines that make breakfast and keno one in the same.
Sunday, 11:30 a.m — The Berkeley Pit
To end your trip to Butte, the only thing you can really do is visit the very place that many people, unfortunately, associate with the town itself, The Berkeley Pit. Filled with over 40 billion gallons of acidic, toxic water, heavy metals and itty-bitty microscopic bacteria lifeforms, The Berkeley Pit, known by locals as “The Pit,” is a former open-pit copper mine. It would be exaggerating to say that the locals are proud of the pit, as many seem to see it as a giant eye-sore, but that does not take away from the fact that it is “one of the only places in the world where you can pay to see toxic waste.” It is definitely something that I would recommend seeing at least once to fully wrap your mind around the levels of blood, sweat and tears that really went in (and continue to go into) copper mining. Approximately 800 feet deep, the dark green, almost purple colored pit is being constantly monitored to make sure that the water levels are not high enough to overflow and disrupt the town. The pit is the definition of “Dark Tourism” and a constant reminder to all who visit of the effects that humans have on our very own environment. (Cost: $2 per person).
The Basics
Airport(s)
The Bert Mooney Airport (101 Airport Rd) is in the city limits of Butte, Montana and is a public airport.
The next closest airport would be the Helena Regional Airport (2850 Mercer Loop, Helena, MT), 68 miles from Butte, Montana.
Hotels
The Hotel Finlen (100 E Broadway St) is in the heart of historic uptown Butte. A historic hotel itself, many notable figures have stayed in this very hotel such as Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, Harry Truman, the late Senator John F. Kennedy and the late former then vice-president Richard Nixon. It is known to many as the fanciest and most upscale hotel in Butte, and stands tall and mighty across the landscape of Butte, Montana. Rooms go from $92-$112 a night. Call (406) 723–5461 to make a reservation.
The Copper King Mansion (219 West Granite) is a historic mansion that has now been renovated into a rustic, antique-feeling bed and breakfast. Built-in 1888 by Senator W. A. Clark, the Copper King Mansion is a Victorian-style home, including many unique aspects of construction and a plethora of original artifacts dating back to the 19th century. Each of the rooms has a different theme and tale behind the people who lived in the home, which the employees and tour guides will be happy to share with you. Room rates are between $105-$150 per night. Call (406) 782–7580 to make a reservation.
