Settled more than 100 years ago, Butte, atop the "richest hill on earth," harvests treasures of copper along with by-product gold, silver, and other metals from 1,000 acres of mines. Although mined for more than a century, this treasure chest seems to be inexhaustible. Butte's famous old properties continue to produce high-grade ores. Modern mining techniques have exposed vast new low-grade mineral resources.

Butte was born as a bonanza silver camp. When the silver ores became lower grade at comparatively shallow depths, copper ores were discovered. Although development of the copper mines was a slow process, culminating in the "war of the copper kings," fortunes were made and lost and battles were fought in court for control of ore on surface and underground.

The brawny, colorful mining-camp days of Butte are over. Although copper mining still plays an important role in the Butte economy, it is also a retailing, distribution, and diversified industrial center. A Ranger District office of the Deerlodge National Forest is located here.