Copper Kings

The three Copper Kings of Butte, Montana made millions of dollars through Butte's rich mineral deposits. They battled for the ultimate fortune through the court system, the media, politicians, banks, law enforcement and any other means to benefit themselves and impede their rivals. Money was spent freely in their quest for fame and fortune.

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William Andrews Clark was born January 8, 1839 in Pennsylvania. He came to Montana and became a banker in Deer Lodge. He repossessed mining properties when owners defaulted on their loans. This put him in the mining industry. He also made a fortune with small smelters. Between 1884 and 1888, Clark constructed a multimillion dollar home in Butte now known as the Copper King Mansion. Clark yearned to be a statesman and used his newspaper, the Butte Miner, to campaign for senator. He became a hero in Helena by campaigning for its election as the state capital instead of Anaconda. He served in the U.S. Senate until 1907, being elected to that body in one of the most notorious bribery schemes in American history. He died in 1925 in his mansion on Park Avenue in New York City, one of the 50 richest Americans ever.

Marcus Daly was born in Ireland in 1841 and came to the United States at the age of 15. Daly came to Butte, Montana from California to investigate the silver mines. He discovered rich copper beneath the silver and with financial support from George Hearst, he bought up many mines and formed his own company, which became the powerful Anaconda Copper Mining Company. He also built a smelter at Anaconda and connected it by rail to Butte. His successes as a businessman started a fierce rivalry with William Clark and F. Augustus Heinze.

F. Augustus Heinze was born in 1869 in Brooklyn, New York. He went to Butte in 1889 as a mining engineer. Heinze was a brilliant man and bought judges to support his cause. He was known to have over thirty judges on his staff at one point in time. He died young from cirrhosis, in Saratoga, NY, November 4, 1914.

References

• The Battle for Butte, by Michael P. Malone. 2006 ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006. ISBN 0-295-98607-7

  (First published in 1981, reprinted in 1995 by the Montana Historical Society Press.)

• The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates- A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present, by Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther. Secaucus, N.J. : Carol Pub. Group, 1996. ISBN 0-8065-1800-6

• The War of the Copper Kings, by C.B. Glasscock. Helena, MT: Riverbend Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-931832-21-8

  (Many editions; a popular history with no references or index, but a good read nonetheless.)