Butte- What is it like?
 

It's been awhile since I've been to Montana. Way too long, in fact. I'm considering taking a job that could be based in one of 3 branch offices. One's in Butte- Can someone give me an idea of what it's like there? All I'm remembering about MT is Glacier Park..... I know I'd go there first and check it out, but just looking for some input.

Butte, in the not to distant past, was an industrial and environmental nightmare, BUT, in recent years the city and others have worked hard to clean up Butte, attract new business, tourists, etc. Aside from frigid winters, I think Butte would be a great place to live.

If you like small towns with hot summers and cold winters, Butte may be for you.

Butte lies in the centre of the greatest copper-mining district in the world; the surrounding hills are honey-combed with mines, and some mines are in the very heart of the city itself. Although mining and its allied industries of quartz crushing and smelting dominate all other industries in the place, there are also foundries and machine shops, iron-works, tile factories, breweries and extensive planing mills...

I'm picturing a lot of dust and dirt.

Being from California where I can be at the beach or up in the mountains within 2 hours, I'd consider the other 2 branch offices!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGIgPbGlAMw

Also do a google on "Our Lady of the Rockies".

Have you talked with any of your colleagues who work in your company's Butte office.

The copper mine in Butte has been closed for years. It is very cold in the winter but is a great city if you like the outdoors. You do not have to go far to hike, camp, fish, boat, snowmobile, etc. Butte is a different city now, than when I was a young child growing up in Helena. Much cleaner and brighter now!

Butte is a town who's mining history directly affects the present.

The huge pit punctured the aquifer. No tap water can be safely consumed. I think it's the largest )or in the Top 3) Superfund site in the nation. Most people buy their drinking water.

The economy in the town is depressed. I drove through downtown on a Sunday afternoon recently looking for a place to have dinner and came up empty - you could have fired off a gatling gun and not injured anyone on the streets because there weren't any. No parked cars either. Businesses were closed for the day or completely shuttered.

The good thing is that you can find marvelous housing for dirt cheap. And there is a thriving and growing arts community there and in the surrounding area. All that and the other natural wonders that Butte is surrounded by for everyone to enjoy.

It's a Democratic haven - Obama has been there twice this year, including spending the Fourth of July there and Clinton was there once.

There is diversity there because of all the folks (Serbian, Greek, etc.) who came from overseas to work the mines.

As others on this forum have written you, check out the city and your alternatives more before making a commitment.

-doo