Butte's Past

Scoundrels of Butte
Well I would be remiss if I did not let you know that my quest to hunt out the nefarious of the old west has been dropped. But no it was not hard to find those who have a devious past.
There were three Copper Kings as they were called in Butte Montana and all could be said to have a history of larceny in their background. Remember that all of these men were made multimillionaires by there acts.
Of the three men who made riches in mining none was a true miner. The first was a merchant who originally sold goods to the early miners (can you believe $4.00 per egg in the 1800’s. He then became a banker and when the mines had problems repaying their loans due to a downturn in the price of copper he foreclosed on them and therefore became a mine owner by default.
The second individual was not a miner but started the smelter in Anaconda. By controlling the smelting of the ore he reaped much larger dividends than those who mined the ore.
The last person was a geologist and in mining he who owns the primary vein of an ore deposit has the rights to any and all of that vein no matter where it goes. So being one of the only geologists in the Butte area he bought up or controlled the primary vein after many of the other mines were already in operation. Then by suing the other mines he was able to gain their assets also. It is said that he employed more attorneys than miners.
These photos relate to the previous posts
1 Minerals in the museum of minerals
2 Gallus over the mine entrance
3 Optometry office 1900
4 Making lenses and frames in 1900
5 Copper doors to the museum