Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Butte has turned toxic sludge into a popular tourist attraction with the Berkeley Pit.
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World Museum of Mining
Located off West Park Road, across from the Montana Tech campus, is the
World Museum
of Mining
(406/723-7211,
www.miningmuseum.org
,
9am-6pm daily Apr.-Labor Day,
shorter hours Labor Day-Oct., closed Nov.-Mar., $8.50 adults, $3 children 5-12, free for
children under 5), which sits on the now-defunct Orphan Girl mine yard. It houses numer-
ous large-scale exhibits, and the mine yard is filled with a variety of mining equipment cov-
ering a century of use, including smelter cars, ore carts, and trucks. When you purchase
your entry ticket to the museum, you may also want to buy a ticket for the
underground
mine tours
that take place three times a day. Visitors to the underground mine wear hard
hats, cap lamps, and battery belts and descend 65 feet into the mine. The tours are led by
former miners who worked in the mine and who tell their personal stories. They also explain
how equipment was used and how the ore was mined and removed from the pit. Combined
tickets for the museum and the underground tour ($17 adults, $6 children) are available.
Children under five are not permitted on the underground tour.
