On February 13th, we stopped
in Butte, MT, on our way from Bozeman to Missoula. We thought Butte was quite
a fascinating place! It is in one way an old mining town on a steep hillside
in the middle of nowhere, but at the same time and incredible vestige of beautiful
urban architecture. The town was thriving just before WW1, and lots of $ was
obviously flowing. The architecture is very reminiscent of NY and Chicago,
with beautiful high rise buildings by famous architects. Very strange. Unfortunately,
most of the old streets have been destroyed (as is the case in so many old
US towns) leaving mostly dispersed buildings which are now protected. The
town is quite poor now, with little visible economic activity.
