Butte is a city in southwestern Montana established as a mining camp in the 1860s in the northern Rocky Mountains straddling the Continental Divide. Butte became a hotbed for silver and gold mining in its early stages, and grew exponentially upon the advent of electricity in the late-nineteenth century due to the land's large natural stores of copper. In 1888 alone, mining operations in Butte had generated an output of $23 million. The arrival of several magnates in the area around this time, later known as the "Copper Kings," marked the beginning of Butte's establishment as a boomtown.

The city was also the site of various political events relating to is industrial roots and expansive workforce, and was home to strong labor activism and Socialist movements in the early-twentieth century. After numerous mining-related disasters , and a steady decline in copper demand, Butte's Anaconda Copper company shifted to open-pit mining in the mid-twentieth century. Over several decades, mining took place at the Berkeley Pit before operations were ceased in 1983. Post-millennium economic forces in Butte have largely centered on technology and the health industry, as well as efforts to preserve the city's historic buildings and cultural sites. In 2002, Butte was one of only twelve towns in America to be named a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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