Big Hole Pump Station

Old Hwy 43, near Divide
Built: 1899 (major addition, 1906)
Map

The Big Hole Pump Station was a creative and far-sighted solution to the water supply problems faced by the mining industry and the residential community in the Butte area. The water system pumps over 15 million gallons a day over the Continental Divide to Butte and the surrounding areas, with a maximum distance covered of almost 28 miles.

The Butte Water Company was established in 1898.  The pump station, built the next year, contained an 840-foot pump lift that fed to reservoirs on Divide Creek, and then over the Continental Divide to Basin Creek. The water drained by gravity through continuous-stave redwood pipelines to Butte. Seven zones were established to maintain appropriate pressures in the distribution system. Pumping was minimized by creating piping interconnections between three independent water sources (Yankee Doodle Creek, Basin Creek, and the Big Hole River).

Pump #2, 1979 (HABS/HAER)

The 1899 brick pump station stands on a concrete foundation and contains two 20,000-pound traveling cranes, one in each pumproom, and a large repair shop. The original #1 pump was a horizontal triple-expansion two-stage plunger pump manufactured by the Nordberg Manufacturing Co. of Madison, Wisconsin. It was initially powered by steam generated by burning coal, but it was electrified in 1907 and continued to operate until 1946.


The 1906 expansion was to accommodate the #2 pump, similar in most respects to the #1 pump. It was capable of pumping 4,000,000 gallons per day. The electric motor is an 800-horsepower induction motor. The #3 pump was installed in 1916, a Worthington five-stage horizontal turbine driven by a 1300-hp induction motor capable of pumping over 6,000,000 gallons per day. The 7-million-gallon #4 pump, dating to 1930, is a Cameron four-state 12” horizontal turbine with a 1300-hp synchronous motor. The #5 and #6 pumps, from 1954, each could pump 3.5 million gallons per day. They replaced the #1 pump, removed in 1953.

Pump #2, 2010 (Dick Gibson photo)

The 150-foot riveted steel smokestack was erected in 1899 for the original steam boilers. A coal ramp (since removed) was built onto the rear of the building for the hauling and dumping of coal into the bins. The Sterling boilers still exist but have not been used for many years.

Note: The Big Hole Pump Station is beyond the Butte-Anaconda National Historic Landmark District, but it is an independently listed National Register property in Silver Bow County (one of only 13). See also the complete HABS/HAER photo collection, as well as a set of modern photos on Facebook by Dick Gibson.    

Source: Text modified slightly from HABS/HAER documentation transmitted by Kevin Murphy, June 1984; reference: Patricia Bick and Miles Tuttle, National Register Nomination Form, May 12, 1980. Historic photos by Jet Lowe (HABS/HAER, public domain, Library of Congress); modern photo by Richard I. Gibson.

Mai Wah and Wah Chong Tai

By Richard I. Gibson

15-17-19-21 W. Mercury
Present Use: Museum
Web site
Architect: George de Snell (Mai Wah)
Map

The Wah Chong Tai Company and Mai Wah Noodle Parlor buildings are the most important and least altered physical remnants of Butte's Chinese heritage.

About 1893, Chin Chun Hock, the founder of Seattle’s earliest and most successful Chinese mercantile business, the Wa Chong Company, opened a branch store in Butte on West Galena Street. Chin visited Butte in October 1898, and announced plans to construct a new building for the company on China Alley at Mercury Street.

By 1899, the company had moved into the new, two-story brick building at 15 West Mercury. Architecturally, the Wah Chong Tai (literally announcing beautiful old China) Company’s new building was no different than the other business blocks being constructed in other parts of Butte City. The mercantile operated from a large room on the first floor, stocking items imported from China to sell to Asians and to others. Merchandise included fine Chinese and Japanese porcelain, bulk containers of dried herbs and tonics, and string-tied packages of Chinese-style clothing.

An herbal store at the back of the mercantile was named “hung fuk hong” or “together happiness meeting place.” An open mezzanine around three sides of the mercantile provided additional display space and an area for two offices. A restaurant was located on the second floor. Restaurant customers, both Chinese and Euro-American, entered by a door on China Alley.

Just as rural general stores throughout the U.S. provided various services, the mercantile also did much more than just sell goods. Besides its obvious commercial activities, it was also the place to find lodging, social interaction, and job opportunities. The mercantile was a meeting place, a post office, and a bank. It also had political functions, providing translators and spokespersons who represented the Chinese within the larger society.

For several decades, the Wah Chong Tai Company remained a thriving mercantile. By 1931, ownership of the building and business had passed from control of the Seattle company and the real property had been divided into 1/20th shares under eight different owners, and the Wah Chong Tai Company was a partnership divided into 1/15th shares with five different owners. Three of the owners, Chin On, Chin Yee Fong (Albert Chinn), and Lou Dick You lived in Butte while Chin Quon Dai and Kong Sing Fong lived in China.

A "Report of the Partnership" filed with the District Court on the death of Chin On showed the company in sound financial condition at a time when many other Chinese businesses in Butte were being forced to close. The partnership listed assets of almost $10,000 -- three quarters of the amount was in cash. The report also verifies the Wah Chong Tai Company's function as a bank for local Chinese. It listed over $12,000 in a safe deposit box at the First National Bank being held in trust for 15 individuals.

In 1909, the Wah Chong Tai Company retained George DeSnell, a Butte architect, to design a new building to adjoin the mercantile. The two-story brick structure has two storefronts at street level separated by an entrance to the second story Mai Wah (meaning “beautiful and luxurious”) Noodle Parlor.

At least one of the storefronts was divided from front to back into a series of small stores accessed off an interior side aisle -- a small version of today’s shopping mall. An unusual feature of this building, but one that is common in Victoria, British Columbia's Chinatown, is a "cheater story," a floor sandwiched between the first and second stories. Divided into a number of small rooms and with only about six feet of headroom, it apparently accommodated lodgers.

By the mid-1940s, only a few Chinese families remained in Butte, among them the Chinn family who owned and lived in the Mai Wah Noodle Parlors and Wah Chong Tai Co. buildings. By 1949, William Chinn, Albert Chinn’s son, owned the building. He rented the building to Paul Eno who ran a fix-it shop and second-hand store from the ground level until his death in 1986.

Hal Waldrup, a friend of Eno, recognized the historical significance of the buildings and was crucial in organizing citizens to help preserve and restore the buildings. Waldrup arranged for many Chinese artifacts and photographs from the building to be transferred to the Montana Historical Society in Helena.

See also these Butte History blog posts. 

Modified from text by Richard Gibson on Mai Wah website, where more information and historic images can be found. Note that the historic plaque indicates that the Wah Chong Tai building was constructed in 1891; this is incorrect; it was planned in late 1898 and erected in 1899. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

105 North Excelsior (Hodgens / Ryan Home)

Built: 1899
Present use: boarding house
Map 
Web site

Thomas Hodgens, who held the prestigious position of cashier at the State Savings Bank, was the first owner of this magnificent T-shaped Classical Revival style residence built in 1899. Second owner John D. Ryan purchased the home in 1905. Ryan rose from a lowly oil drummer to president of the Daly Bank and was the only man to ever serve as president of both the Anaconda Company and the Montana Power Company, which he helped form in 1912. As director of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Ryan initiated the railroad’s electrification in 1916. A myriad of ornate high-style details ornament the façade of this splendid brick home, including Ionic columns, Palladian windows, second-story balustrade with decorative paneled posts, and dormers with swan’s neck pediments. The elaborate embellishment and expert workmanship well reflect the wealth and power of these two influential men.

Resources: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church

By Richard I. Gibson

101 S. Idaho
Built: 1899
Architect: William White
Map 

Click images to enlarge

1905

1901

Noted architect William White designed this majestic, multi-gabled church of stone and brick, built at a cost of $10,000 in 1899. Gothic lancet windows, stained glass, Romanesque arches, and wood tracery in the gable windows showcase White’s meticulous attention to fine detail. A steeple above the entry and pyramidal roof once crowned the two corner towers, visible in the 1905 sketch. Architect White was in partnership with A. Werner Lignell in 1900; their offices were in the Silver Bow Block (the old one, where the parking lot stands today just west of Main on Granite Street). In 1901 White’s independent office was in the Bee Hive Building on East Broadway (part of the NorthWestern Energy buildings today) and he was living at 1035 Caledonia.

1918

1918

By 1918, the church was owned by mortician (and later Silver Bow Sheriff) Larry Dugan, a sympathizer with the incendiary Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The building then housed the Butte Daily Bulletin (later known as the Butte Strike Bulletin), a radical newspaper voicing policies of the anti-Anaconda Nonpartisan League, published by William F. Dunne. On September 13, 1918, local police and federal troops under Major Omar N. Bradley raided the Bulletin, arresting twenty-four men and thwarting a miners’ strike.

It is likely but not certain that the stained glass windows were fabricated by the Butte Art Stained Glass Works. By 2013, the windows had been covered to help protect them, and in 2015, Uptown Works received a $5,000 grant from the Montana History Foundation to restore them.


In later years, Larry Dugan operated his mortuary here, and more recently Beverly Hayes ran a bridal shop in the building. The owner today is slowly restoring it.

Resources: Historic plaque by Montana Historical Society (the plaque says the raid took place on Sept. 14, but it was actually on the 13th); architectural inventory in Butte Archives; Sanborn maps; city directories (White advertisement, 1901); Butte Miner Dec. 17, 1905 (sketch with steeple); Butte Post Sept. 16, 1918 (Bradley photo); Butte Miner Sept. 14-16, 1918 (news article). Modern photos by Richard I. Gibson.

Mountain View Methodist Episcopal Church (301 North Montana)

301 North Montana
Built: 1899
Architect: Link and Donovan
Map 

Rev. Hugh Duncan, a circuit-riding minister, led Butte's first Methodist Episcopal services in 1873. A dance hall, and later a school, served the early congregation. W.A. Clark was president of the original board of trustees for the previous church built on this prominent corner in 1883. Clark later became identified with St. John’s Episcopal Church.

As Butte grew, that wood structure soon became overcrowded. Rev. W. W. Van Orsdel ("Brother Van”) helped lay the cornerstone for this grand church July 22, 1899. William L. Donovan and John G. Link were the architects of the $25,000 building. Link rose to prominence and later helped design the wings of Montana's state capitol.

The church, completed in 1900, features a regal central tower with two arched entries. Magnificent stained glass richly embellishes the triple-arched windows on the south, north, and east. The sanctuary's semicircular arrangement and slanted floor, reminiscent of period opera houses, hosted some memorable community events. Famous speakers included social reformer Jacob Riis in 1906 and saloon-smasher Carrie Nation in 1910. Among Butte's eight Methodist churches, Mountain View was the "mine owners' church." Mountain View has hosted multiple choirs over the years, utilizing one of the most spectacular organs in the Pacific Northwest, installed in 1949 at a cost of $12,000.

The stained glass here was very likely manufactured by the Butte Art Glass Works, although the windows are not signed. Their textured surfaces, created by “rough rolling,” are typical of the Butte factory, and were intended to give depth and increased scattering of light. Two more recent windows were made by J&R Lamb Studios of New York.

Resources: Modified from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society; Historic Stained Glass in Selected Houses of Worship, Butte, Montana, published by Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization, 2006, Mountain View Methodist Church, by Richard Gibson; Architectural inventory; Sanborn Maps; city directories. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

307 West Granite

307 West Granite, at right. This is a vacant lot today.

By Richard I. Gibson

Built: 1899
Status: lost (2008 fire)
Map

Patrick Deloughry, a carpenter at the East Gem Mine, built this house to replace a pre-1888 single-story brick veneered home that stood here. Deloughry lived almost across the alley behind this site, at 310 West Quartz Street.

William Waugh, a lawyer, and Jeanne Stewart, an art teacher, lived here at least from 1928 until 1937. After World War II, the house was converted to apartments, and in 1948-49 at least 13 people lived in this home. They included Pearl Rowe (widow of James); Lois Johnson (dictaphone operator for the Texas Company, dealer in oil and lubricants); David Bell (miner); Corrine Gutz (widow of Walter, she was head of the ACM Publicity and Information Office); Ole Nelson (steward, Eagles Club); Martin Makeli (student); Mable Fletcher (practical nurse); Kate & James Rockefeller (he was a clerk); Margaret & Henry Freudenstein (another clerk); William Dagg (an announcer); and William Graham (cook at the Finlen Hotel).

In 2008, ten tenants were occupying eight apartment units when a smoldering cigarette started a fire that destroyed the building on July 29. Estimated rebuilding costs of more than $500,000 were not covered by insurance, and the building was demolished.

Resources: Architectural inventory; Sanborn Maps; city directories; online record of law suit between owner and insurance company. Photos by Richard I. Gibson.

Ancient Order of Hibernians Hall, 321-323 East Commercial Street

City: Anaconda
Built: 1896-99
Status: lost (parking lot today)
Map

East facade

This building was the headquarters for the local chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish fraternal organization first established in Anaconda in 1885. The A.O.H. auxiliary was officially organized on May 17, 1896 with 45 charter members. Today the Anaconda A.O.H. is one of the two existing chapters west of the Mississippi. The other is in San Francisco. D.J. Hennessy, founder of Hennessy Department Store, Butte, loaned the Anaconda A.O.H. division the money to build the Hibernian Block.

The building was erected in two stages and cost a total of $30,000 to construct. In 1896, a one-story brick structure, measuring 50' x 80' was completed at the southwest corner of East Commercial Avenue and Cedar Street. The building included two storefronts at the East Commercial Avenue facade, with three additional storefronts to the rear on Cedar Street. The second building, expanding the overall structural dimension to 50' x 140', was begun in the spring of 1898 and completed in early January, 1899. Pressed brick with trimmings of sandstone, granite, and terra cotta were used in both portions of this structure. When completed, the A.O.H. Hall was equipped with electric lighting, steam heating, and other "modern" conveniences. This hall was the center of all A.O.H. activities until January 1977 when it was purchased by the Urban Renewal Department of the city of Anaconda for $50,000. In the late 1970s it was under the ownership and supervision of the Community Development Agency. It was demolished c. 1985.

Sources: Photos by Jet Lowe (HABS/HAER, c. 1979, from Library of Congress; public domain). Text modified from HABS/HAER documentation, Monica Hawley, historian. Fred Quivik, Field Team; Brian Shovers, historian. Reference: HABS document

National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 98000155