Butte: Montana's Irish Immigrant Mining Town History

My Dad's family all lived in Butte and most were miners- My cousins were all Sullivans and Milligans, my grandfather passed away in Butte from miners consumption having worked underground breathing the dust and eventually it cost him his life. Though its been awhile since I have been back, I have very fond memories of vacations spent in Butte.

my father was a miner in butte i have visited butte and enjoyed its history and the help given to me in tracing my dad his name was peter dunne a native of swinford co mayo he bought a claim in horse shoe mountain in cooke co ihave all dockuments relating to the claim in the of peter dunne and barney harte ihave tried to visit the claim but the location is in avery wild part no roads my father returned to mayo wher he married my mother and reared 14 childre iam no 12will visit butte butte again

I am the son of a Butte miner who was the son of an Irish immigrant miner. I worked during my youth many summers and long holidays for “the company”. My generation was well steeped in Butte history, not formally, but through the memories and labor of our fathers, uncles, cousins and neighbors who lived it. Regarding speaking Irish, it was the obvious language to speak if you wanted to get ahead. In the days when the Irish first started emigrating from the west of Ireland to the mines in Butte, speaking their native tongue in Ireland was against the law. The historically cruel and infamous British policies demanded that all Irish citizens speak English. So, it was a practical benefit in Butte to speak English, especially if you had a ‘leg up’ with that language, as the Irish did. As a third generation miner in my youth, I recall fondly how clever, charming and compassionate these sons of European immigrant miners were. Working mostly with ‘old timers’ on the ‘Explosives Crew’ in the open pit mine was the most successful education of my life. I learned, first hand the value of, humor, honesty, safety and stamina. To my parent’s dismay, I also learned to curse fluently in several different languages. Even now age 62, the wisdom of those simple, powerful, smart miners has never deserted me. It inspired me to spend much of my adult life traveling and exploring many countries, east and west for their unique cultural and spiritual heritages. While the history of Butte is a sad, hard tale, the benefits of the experience for those of us who lived it have not been forgotten or overlooked. I appreciate now that the world is our family, but Butte is still and forever home.

Does anyone know how much Irish Gaeilic was spoken in Butte? If these people were from the Beara peninsula they were Irish speakers. It's always amazing to me how quickly the Irish dumped their ancient langauge when they got a chance. It happened in the US, and it happened in ireland. It's very unusual for people to hate their native language. Latvians, Lithuanians, Basque, Welsh, French Canadians--all these and others hung onto their language. The Irish didn't.

My grandfather and his brother immigrated from Beara to Butte in the late 1800s, but after his brother died in a mine accident, my grandfather returned to Beara where he married and raised my dad and uncles in Cahermore.