Coming Home

A Special Issue Devoted to the Historic Built Environment and Landscapes of Butte and Anaconda, Montana

A joint venture of Drumlummon Institute & the Montana Preservation Alliance:
Patty Dean, Guest Editor
Foreword by The Honorable Pat Williams
Cover art by Lisa Wareham

Coming Home  was made possible through generous support from the National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Program; Humanities Montana, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities; and a National Park Service Preserve America Grant administered through the State Historic Preservation Office, Montana Historical Society.

Perhaps the most scrutinized and documented of Montana cities, Butte and Anaconda possess great material and cultural incongruities that continue to intrigue and beguile: natural beauty versus industrial landscape, great wealth versus subsistence and poverty, ornate buildings designed by nationally known architects versus alley hovels, urban density versus the void of the Berkeley Pit.

This special issue of Drumlummon Views, the online journal of Montana arts and culture (www.drumlummon.org), seeks to shed fresh light on the industrial and domestic landscapes that make these cities so distinctive.

The issue features essays, portfolios, and reprints that make accessible such underutilized/ forgotten historic resources as an early 20th-century newspaper series profiling “queer spots” in and around Butte and Anaconda (e.g. Chinese gardens, the “Assyrian colony” on East Park, the Cree village on the Butte Flats), historic photographs of sanitary conditions in Butte’s working class neighborhoods, and a 1907 article on arts and crafts homes in Butte.

In addition, the issue offers new research on the landscape and architecture of Butte and Anaconda as a manifestation of dominance and power, multi-family building forms in Butte, Anaconda’s roundhouse, and Butte's iconic mine headframes. Scholars such as Brian Shovers, Fred Quivik, Chere Jiusto, and Carroll Van West whose works have long focused on the Montana landscape and built environment share their current perspectives while a newer generation of historians such as Matt Basso and Kate Hampton introduce readers to emerging topics of interest.

The issue also includes works by visual artists, writers, and poets (Edwin Dobb, Lisa Wareham, Ron Fischer, Joeann Daley, and Dennice Scanlon) who reflect on, interpret, and document the landscapes and cultures that make these places so extraordinary.

Lodestar

Riverbend is pleased to be distributing Lodestar by Sarie Mackay, which tells the story of young Persis Allen. Persis travels west to marry a successful railroad baron in 1880 and begin a life of adventure with him in Territorial Montana.  Persis arrives in Helena and finds a wild, unruly place of dreams, characters and outlaws,  a place that sends cowards home and forces the courageous to stand tall. 

Persis quickly finds her marriage to be not what it seems, and must slowly peel away layers of deceit and betrayal in order to save herself and her children.  Persis nearly loses herself in her struggle with her larger-than-life partner Alexander MacKinney, but in the end, this strong female heroine stirs in the ashes and rises on bold wings.  Readers will have no difficulty seeing hundreds of parallels between the Persis of 1880 and women they know right now, today.

All of this happens against the backdrop of Territorial Montana, a landscape so rich with western history and romance that it simply can’t be crammed into one novel.  Lodestar was ten years in the writing and reflects extensive, careful research on mining, cattle ranching, and railroads.  The convergence of these economic forces on the Butte mining camp and the territorial capital of Helena created a social and financial vortex, forming the perfect setting for a view of the late 19th century west, with all its buckle-and-swash.

BUTTE TRIVIA

by George Everett

Butte is unique among Montana cities—some say it is unique among cities anywhere—and now there is a book that proves it. Butte Trivia by longtime Butte resident George Everett is packed with 720 eye-opening questions and answers about the state’s most raucous and rollicking town. From Butte’s wide-open years to modern times, this book mines Butte’s richest veins of astounding facts and figures. Of course, Butte claims many Montana superlatives, including the state’s first millionaire, most expensive road, and deepest lake, and Butte may be the only city on the planet to boast ringing rocks, flying cowboys, and a memorial marker for a moose.

COPPER CAMP: The Lusty Story of Butte, Montana

By Writer’s Project

The classic Montana book by the Writer’s Project tells it all! From the miners to the kids to the girls of the line, Copper Camp is the people's story of the Richest Hill on Earth during its wild and wide-open heydey.

THE WAR OF THE COPPER KINGS

By C.B. Glasscock

The jaw-dropping "real" story of the legendary corruption and bribery in Butte, Montana during the rich copper mining era.

THE STORY OF MARY MACLANE

By Mary MacLane

The sensational book that turned a Montana teenager into a worldwide celebrity. A breathtaking tour de force about life, love, and longing.

REMEMBERING THE COLUMBIA GARDENS

By Montana PBS

Using historical photographs, rare home movies, and firsthand accounts, the history and myth of the beloved amusement park in Butte, Montana, is recreated.

Ideas for
Fine Reading