Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
lectures along with lots of events geared to families with children. The event is sponsored
by the Montana Gaelic Cultural Society and includes a one-mile fun run as well as 5K and
10K races. The festival culminates in an Irish mass held outdoors in the Irish language, of-
ten to crowds of more than 1,000 people. The Montana Gaelic Cultural Society sponsors
education and entertainment opportunities throughout the year as fund-raisers for the fest-
ival. Weekend passes for all festival events are $20 in advance or $25 within a month of the
event and are available on the website. Kids 12 and under get in for free.
THE IRISH IN BUTTE
Sometimes referred to as Ireland's fifth province, Butte has long had a significant
Irish influence. Of the city's 47,635 residents in 1900, some 12,000—nearly one-
quarter of the population—were Irish. For many years, despite its wildly disparate
climate and geography, Butte maintained the largest concentration of Irish immig-
rants in the United States. Copper king Marcus Daly, himself an immigrant from
Ireland, was known to preferentially hire Irish workers in his mines and smelters
whenever possible. Other well-known Irish figures in Butte included Cornelius
“Con” Kelly, a lawyer who ran both the Anaconda Company and later the Montana
Power Company; William McDowell, Montana's lieutenant governor and eventually
U.S. ambassador to Ireland; and Jeremiah J. Lynch, a local judge who was an im-
portant leader of the Irish community in Butte. At times, being Irish was practically
a prerequisite for success. Consider a rug merchant named Mohammed Akara, who
in the early 1900s changed his last name to Murphy “for business reasons.”
The majority of the Irish in Butte came from western Ireland—Cork, Mayo, and
Donegal. Of the 1,700 people who emigrated between 1870 and 1915 from County
Cork to the United States, 1,138 landed in Butte. A collection of Irish neighbor-
hoods developed around the mines, Corktown and Dublin Gulch among them. Irish
pubs sprang up on just about every corner, many of which still stand today. The Irish
Times Pub, a modern-day addition, has booths made out of church pews that origin-
ally stood in a Dublin church. A stone at the front door, imported from County Clare,
allows patrons to touch Irish rock as they enter. Other bars with Irish influence in-
clude Maloney's, the Silver Dollar Saloon, and the M&M Cigar Store.
But Irish culture in Butte extends beyond drinking establishments, thankfully.
Each summer the community gathers to celebrate their Irish heritage at the An Rí Rá
