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Photo: NASA, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The most interesting (horrifying?) feature of Butte is the 1,700-foot-deep site of a former copper mining operation that is now partially filled with toxic runoff and is listed as a Superfund site (a federal government program to clean up toxic problems). Despite the frightening description, The Pit is an interesting and instructive side trip and should not be passed up. The viewing stand offers a look at the toxic lake and surrounding mine workings.
The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine in the western United States, located in Butte, Montana. It is one mile (1.6 km) long by one-half mile (800 m) wide, with an approximate maximum depth of 1,780 feet (540 m). It is filled to a depth of about 900 feet (270 m) with water that is acidic, about the acidity of beer or tomatoes. As a result, the pit's water is laden with heavy metals and dissolved metals that leach from the rock in a natural process known as acid rock drainage. The pit's water content includes dissolved copper, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and sulfuric acid.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
This 1.2 mi one-way trail winds its way up the hill from Uptown, through historic mineyards and along many of the remaining headframes, up to the Granite Mountain Memorial. Interpretive signs along the way provide details on each of the many relics along the way.
The Con
A "mile high, mile deep", this is the deepest mine in Butte.
Longest operating brothel in the U.S. (established 1890, shut down for tax evasion in 1982). The building is in poor condition with a long history of financial problems and the contents are likely not original (the site was burglarized soon after a museum in the house closed in 2005). Offering paranormal tours by reservation or check website for events. All that remains of Butte's Red-light District is on display!
Walking tours explore the colorful history of Butte, Montana — "The Richest Hill on Earth". 1½-hour tours.
On the site of Butte's first copper mine, from 1878. The grounds are now an event space that is occasionally open to the public.
In one of the only buildings of Butte's original Chinatown. Butte's Chinatown was once the largest between Minneapolis and Seattle.