manu/mldr-zoomed-100char-total-queries-documents

chunk_id stringlengths 3 9	chunk stringlengths 1 100
52_117	the Miners' Union, the Anaconda Company attempted to inaugurate programs aimed at enticing
52_118	employees. However, a number of clashes between laborers, labor organizers, and the Anaconda
52_119	Company ensued, including the 1917 lynching of IWW executive board officer Frank Little.
52_120	Sparked by a tragic accident more than below the ground on June 8, 1917, a fire in the Granite
52_121	Mountain shaft spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through the labyrinth of tunnels including
52_122	the connected Speculator Mine. A rescue effort commenced, but the carbon monoxide was stealing the
52_123	air supply. A few men built man-made bulkheads to save their lives, but many others died in a panic
52_124	to try to get out. Rescue workers set up a fan to prevent the fire from spreading. This worked for
52_125	a short time, but when the rescuers tried to use water, the water evaporated, creating steam that
52_126	burned people trying to escape. Once the fire was out, those waiting to hear the news on the
52_127	surface could not identify the victims. They were too mutilated to recognize, leading many to
52_128	assume the worst. Of the 168 bodies removed from the mine, most had died due to lack of oxygen and
52_129	smoke inhalation as opposed to the actual fire itself. Due to the efforts of men such as Ernest
52_130	Sullau, Manus Duggan, Con O'Neil, and J. D. Moore, some survived, but the event was the largest
52_131	hard rock mining accident in the history. The Granite Mountain Memorial was built to commemorate
52_132	those who died in the accident. The disaster was also memorialized in the song, "Rox in the Box" on
52_133	the album The King is Dead by the indie rock band, The Decemberists.
52_134	The loss of miners in the incident sparked additional strikes and protests, as well as the
52_135	establishment of the Metal Mine Workers Union, which led 15,000 workers to abandon their jobs. In
52_136	1917, copper production from the Butte mines peaked and steadily declined thereafter. By WWII,
52_137	copper production from the ACM's holdings in Chuquicamata, Chile, far exceeded Butte's production.
52_138	The historian Janet Finn has examined this "tale of two cities"—Butte and Chuquicamata as two ACM
52_139	mining towns. In 1920, company mine guards gunned down strikers in the Anaconda Road Massacre.
52_140	Seventeen were shot in the back as they tried to flee, and one man died. On August 3, 1921, the
52_141	Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs held its inaugural meeting in Butte.
52_142	Disputes between miners' unions and companies continued through the 1920s and 1930s in Butte, with
52_143	several strikes and protests, one of which lasted for ten months in 1921. In 1923, protestors
52_144	attempted to blow up the Hibernian Hall on Main Street with dynamite. Between 1914 and 1920, the
52_145	U.S. National Guard occupied Butte a total of six times to restore civility. Further industrial
52_146	expansions included the arrival of the first mail plane in the city in 1928, and in 1937, the
52_147	city's streetcar system was dismantled and replaced with bus lines. The city's first airport, Butte
52_148	Municipal Airport (now Bert Mooney Airport), was constructed south of the city proper in 1927, and
52_149	operated frequent flights to and from Salt Lake City. In 1933, Northwest Orient Airlines expanded
52_150	to service the airport from the West Coast and Midwestern states.
52_151	1946–1999: Open-pit mining era
52_152	The copper mines proved to be prosperous until the 1950s, when the declining grade of ore and
52_153	competition from other mines led the Anaconda Company to switch its focus from the costly and
52_154	dangerous practice of underground mining to open pit mining. Since the 1950s, five major
52_155	developments in the city have occurred: the Anaconda's decision to begin open-pit mining in the
52_156	mid-1950s; a series of fires in Butte's business district in the 1970s; a debate over whether to
52_157	relocate the city's historic business district; a new civic leadership; and the end of copper
52_158	mining in 1983. In response, Butte looked for ways to diversify the economy and provide
52_159	employment. The legacy of over a century of environmental degradation has, for example, produced
52_160	some jobs. Environmental cleanup in Butte, designated a Superfund site, has employed hundreds of
52_161	people.
52_162	Thousands of homes were destroyed in the Meaderville suburb and surrounding areas, McQueen and East
52_163	Butte, to excavate the Berkeley Pit, which opened in 1954 by Anaconda Copper. At the time, it was
52_164	the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the United States. The Berkeley Pit grew with
52_165	time until it bordered the Columbia Gardens. After the Gardens caught fire and burned to the ground
52_166	in November 1973, the Continental Pit was excavated on the former park site. In 1977 the ARCO
52_167	(Atlantic Richfield Company) company purchased Anaconda, and only three years later started
52_168	shutting down mines due to lower metal prices. In 1982, all mining in the Berkeley Pit was
52_169	suspended. In 1983, an organization of low income and unemployed residents of Butte formed to fight
52_170	for jobs and environmental justice; the Butte Community Union produced a detailed plan for
52_171	community revitalization and won substantial benefits, including a Montana Supreme Court victory
52_172	striking down as unconstitutional State elimination of welfare benefits.
52_173	Closure of Berkeley Pit
52_174	Anaconda ceased mining at the Continental Pit in 1983. Montana Resources LLP bought the property
52_175	and reopened the Continental Pit in 1986. The company stopped mining in 2000, but resumed in 2003
52_176	with higher metal prices, and continues at last report, employing 346 people. From 1880 through
52_177	2005, the mines of the Butte district have produced more than 9.6 million metric tons of copper,
52_178	2.1 million metric tons of zinc, 1.6 million metric tons of manganese, 381,000 metric tons of lead,
52_179	87,000 metric tons of molybdenum, 715 million troy ounces (22,200 metric tons) of silver, and 2.9
52_180	million ounces (90 metric tons) of gold. After the closure of the Berkeley Pit mining operations in
52_181	1982, pipes which pumped groundwater out of the pit were turned off, resulting in the pit slowly
52_182	filling with groundwater, creating an artificial lake. Only two years later the pit was classified
52_183	as a Superfund site and an environmental hazard site. The water in the pit is contaminated with
52_184	various hard metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, and zinc.
52_185	It was not until the 1990s that serious efforts to clean up the Berkeley Pit began. The situation
52_186	gained even more attention after as many as 342 migrating geese chose the pit lake as a resting
52_187	place, resulting in their deaths. Steps have since been taken to prevent a recurrence, including
52_188	but not limited to loudspeakers broadcasting sounds to scare off waterfowl. However, in November
52_189	2003 the Horseshoe Bend treatment facility went online and began treating and diverting much of the
52_190	water that would have flowed into the pit. The Berkeley Pit is both a Superfund site and tourist
52_191	attraction, viewable from an observation deck. Per a 2014 report, scientists believe the Berkeley
52_192	Pit may reach the critical water level—potentially contaminating Silver Bow Creek—by the year 2023.
52_193	Beginning in 2019, the Montana Resources and Atlantic Richfield Co. are ordered by the
52_194	Environmental Protection Agency to begin treating water from the pit, which is to then be
52_195	discharged into Silver Bow Creek at a rate of per day. Nikia Greene, EPA project manager for mine
52_196	flooding, assured in 2014: "The pit is a giant bathtub. There’s a hydraulic gradient into the pit.
52_197	We will never let the water reach the critical level."
52_198	2000–present: Preservation efforts
52_199	Contemporarily, around twenty of the headframes still stand over the mine shafts, and the city
52_200	still contains thousands of historic commercial and residential buildings from the boom times,
52_201	which, especially in the Uptown section, give it a very old-fashioned appearance, with many
52_202	commercial buildings not fully occupied. Restoration and preservation of the city's
52_203	historically-significant buildings has also been undertaken, with the Copper King Mansion as an
52_204	example, having undergone significant restoration in 2011. As with many industrial cities, tourism
52_205	and services, especially healthcare (Butte's St. James Hospital has Southwest Montana's only major
52_206	trauma center), as well as energy companies (such as the Renewable Energy Corporation and
52_207	NorthWestern Energy), are economic presences. In 2014, NorthWestern Energy constructed a
52_208	$25-million facility in uptown Butte. are rising as primary employers, as well as industrial-sector
52_209	private companies. Many areas of the city, especially the areas near the old mines, show signs of
52_210	urban blight but a recent influx of investors and an aggressive campaign to remedy blight has led
52_211	to a renewed interest in restoring property in Uptown Butte's historic district, which was expanded
52_212	in 2006 to include parts of Anaconda and is now the largest National Historic Landmark District in
52_213	the United States with nearly 6,000 contributing properties.
52_214	A century after the era of intensive mining and smelting, the area around the city remains an
52_215	environmental issue. Arsenic and heavy metals such as lead are found in high concentrations in some
52_216	spots affected by old mining, and for a period of time in the 1990s the tap water was unsafe to

52_117

the Miners' Union, the Anaconda Company attempted to inaugurate programs aimed at enticing

52_118

employees. However, a number of clashes between laborers, labor organizers, and the Anaconda

52_119

Company ensued, including the 1917 lynching of IWW executive board officer Frank Little.

52_120

Sparked by a tragic accident more than below the ground on June 8, 1917, a fire in the Granite

52_121

Mountain shaft spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through the labyrinth of tunnels including

52_122

the connected Speculator Mine. A rescue effort commenced, but the carbon monoxide was stealing the

52_123

air supply. A few men built man-made bulkheads to save their lives, but many others died in a panic

52_124

to try to get out. Rescue workers set up a fan to prevent the fire from spreading. This worked for

52_125

a short time, but when the rescuers tried to use water, the water evaporated, creating steam that

52_126

burned people trying to escape. Once the fire was out, those waiting to hear the news on the

52_127

surface could not identify the victims. They were too mutilated to recognize, leading many to

52_128

assume the worst. Of the 168 bodies removed from the mine, most had died due to lack of oxygen and

52_129

smoke inhalation as opposed to the actual fire itself. Due to the efforts of men such as Ernest

52_130

Sullau, Manus Duggan, Con O'Neil, and J. D. Moore, some survived, but the event was the largest

52_131

hard rock mining accident in the history. The Granite Mountain Memorial was built to commemorate

52_132

those who died in the accident. The disaster was also memorialized in the song, "Rox in the Box" on

52_133

the album The King is Dead by the indie rock band, The Decemberists.

52_134

The loss of miners in the incident sparked additional strikes and protests, as well as the

52_135

establishment of the Metal Mine Workers Union, which led 15,000 workers to abandon their jobs. In

52_136

1917, copper production from the Butte mines peaked and steadily declined thereafter. By WWII,

52_137

copper production from the ACM's holdings in Chuquicamata, Chile, far exceeded Butte's production.

52_138

The historian Janet Finn has examined this "tale of two cities"—Butte and Chuquicamata as two ACM

52_139

mining towns. In 1920, company mine guards gunned down strikers in the Anaconda Road Massacre.

52_140

Seventeen were shot in the back as they tried to flee, and one man died. On August 3, 1921, the

52_141

Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs held its inaugural meeting in Butte.

52_142

Disputes between miners' unions and companies continued through the 1920s and 1930s in Butte, with

52_143

several strikes and protests, one of which lasted for ten months in 1921. In 1923, protestors

52_144

attempted to blow up the Hibernian Hall on Main Street with dynamite. Between 1914 and 1920, the

52_145

U.S. National Guard occupied Butte a total of six times to restore civility. Further industrial

52_146

expansions included the arrival of the first mail plane in the city in 1928, and in 1937, the

52_147

city's streetcar system was dismantled and replaced with bus lines. The city's first airport, Butte

52_148

Municipal Airport (now Bert Mooney Airport), was constructed south of the city proper in 1927, and

52_149

operated frequent flights to and from Salt Lake City. In 1933, Northwest Orient Airlines expanded

52_150

to service the airport from the West Coast and Midwestern states.

52_151

1946–1999: Open-pit mining era

52_152

The copper mines proved to be prosperous until the 1950s, when the declining grade of ore and

52_153

competition from other mines led the Anaconda Company to switch its focus from the costly and

52_154

dangerous practice of underground mining to open pit mining. Since the 1950s, five major

52_155

developments in the city have occurred: the Anaconda's decision to begin open-pit mining in the

52_156

mid-1950s; a series of fires in Butte's business district in the 1970s; a debate over whether to

52_157

relocate the city's historic business district; a new civic leadership; and the end of copper

52_158

mining in 1983. In response, Butte looked for ways to diversify the economy and provide

52_159

employment. The legacy of over a century of environmental degradation has, for example, produced

52_160

some jobs. Environmental cleanup in Butte, designated a Superfund site, has employed hundreds of

52_161

people.

52_162

Thousands of homes were destroyed in the Meaderville suburb and surrounding areas, McQueen and East

52_163

Butte, to excavate the Berkeley Pit, which opened in 1954 by Anaconda Copper. At the time, it was

52_164

the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the United States. The Berkeley Pit grew with

52_165

time until it bordered the Columbia Gardens. After the Gardens caught fire and burned to the ground

52_166

in November 1973, the Continental Pit was excavated on the former park site. In 1977 the ARCO

52_167

(Atlantic Richfield Company) company purchased Anaconda, and only three years later started

52_168

shutting down mines due to lower metal prices. In 1982, all mining in the Berkeley Pit was

52_169

suspended. In 1983, an organization of low income and unemployed residents of Butte formed to fight

52_170

for jobs and environmental justice; the Butte Community Union produced a detailed plan for

52_171

community revitalization and won substantial benefits, including a Montana Supreme Court victory

52_172

striking down as unconstitutional State elimination of welfare benefits.

52_173

Closure of Berkeley Pit

52_174

Anaconda ceased mining at the Continental Pit in 1983. Montana Resources LLP bought the property

52_175

and reopened the Continental Pit in 1986. The company stopped mining in 2000, but resumed in 2003

52_176

with higher metal prices, and continues at last report, employing 346 people. From 1880 through

52_177

2005, the mines of the Butte district have produced more than 9.6 million metric tons of copper,

52_178

2.1 million metric tons of zinc, 1.6 million metric tons of manganese, 381,000 metric tons of lead,

52_179

87,000 metric tons of molybdenum, 715 million troy ounces (22,200 metric tons) of silver, and 2.9

52_180

million ounces (90 metric tons) of gold. After the closure of the Berkeley Pit mining operations in

52_181

1982, pipes which pumped groundwater out of the pit were turned off, resulting in the pit slowly

52_182

filling with groundwater, creating an artificial lake. Only two years later the pit was classified

52_183

as a Superfund site and an environmental hazard site. The water in the pit is contaminated with

52_184

various hard metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, and zinc.

52_185

It was not until the 1990s that serious efforts to clean up the Berkeley Pit began. The situation

52_186

gained even more attention after as many as 342 migrating geese chose the pit lake as a resting

52_187

place, resulting in their deaths. Steps have since been taken to prevent a recurrence, including

52_188

but not limited to loudspeakers broadcasting sounds to scare off waterfowl. However, in November

52_189

2003 the Horseshoe Bend treatment facility went online and began treating and diverting much of the

52_190

water that would have flowed into the pit. The Berkeley Pit is both a Superfund site and tourist

52_191

attraction, viewable from an observation deck. Per a 2014 report, scientists believe the Berkeley

52_192

Pit may reach the critical water level—potentially contaminating Silver Bow Creek—by the year 2023.

52_193

Beginning in 2019, the Montana Resources and Atlantic Richfield Co. are ordered by the

52_194

Environmental Protection Agency to begin treating water from the pit, which is to then be

52_195

discharged into Silver Bow Creek at a rate of per day. Nikia Greene, EPA project manager for mine

52_196

flooding, assured in 2014: "The pit is a giant bathtub. There’s a hydraulic gradient into the pit.

52_197

We will never let the water reach the critical level."

52_198

2000–present: Preservation efforts

52_199

Contemporarily, around twenty of the headframes still stand over the mine shafts, and the city

52_200

still contains thousands of historic commercial and residential buildings from the boom times,

52_201

which, especially in the Uptown section, give it a very old-fashioned appearance, with many

52_202

commercial buildings not fully occupied. Restoration and preservation of the city's

52_203

historically-significant buildings has also been undertaken, with the Copper King Mansion as an

52_204

example, having undergone significant restoration in 2011. As with many industrial cities, tourism

52_205

and services, especially healthcare (Butte's St. James Hospital has Southwest Montana's only major

52_206

trauma center), as well as energy companies (such as the Renewable Energy Corporation and

52_207

NorthWestern Energy), are economic presences. In 2014, NorthWestern Energy constructed a

52_208

$25-million facility in uptown Butte. are rising as primary employers, as well as industrial-sector

52_209

private companies. Many areas of the city, especially the areas near the old mines, show signs of

52_210

urban blight but a recent influx of investors and an aggressive campaign to remedy blight has led

52_211

to a renewed interest in restoring property in Uptown Butte's historic district, which was expanded

52_212

in 2006 to include parts of Anaconda and is now the largest National Historic Landmark District in

52_213

the United States with nearly 6,000 contributing properties.

52_214

A century after the era of intensive mining and smelting, the area around the city remains an

52_215

environmental issue. Arsenic and heavy metals such as lead are found in high concentrations in some

52_216

spots affected by old mining, and for a period of time in the 1990s the tap water was unsafe to