World Museum of Mining, Mining museum in Butte, Montana, United States
The World Museum of Mining occupies the inactive Orphan Girl silver and zinc mine in Butte, Montana, with 50 buildings across about 22 acres. The grounds include the original mine headframe and hoist house, and the collection displays equipment, minerals and artifacts from the region's copper and zinc mining.
The World Museum of Mining was chartered in 1964 as a non-profit educational corporation and first opened in July 1965. It occupies the inactive Orphan Girl silver and zinc mine, where copper and zinc were the most common ores. The grounds hold 50 buildings across about 22 acres.
The recreation of Hell Roarin' Gulch shows how miners and immigrants lived in the 1890s through buildings like a Chinese laundry, bank, and schoolhouse. You can walk through these structures and understand the daily lives and diverse communities that formed around mining operations.
The museum spreads over about 22 acres, with 50 buildings set around the former Orphan Girl mine yard, so plan on walking between the hoist house, the shaft and the recreated town. Paths cross uneven gravel and old rail beds; sturdy shoes help. Allow several hours to cover the grounds at an easy pace.
A memorial wall inside holds the names of over 2,500 miners who died in mining operations throughout the region. This record honors those whose labor and sacrifice shaped the mining industry here.
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