Richest Hill Episode 04: We Gave It To The Pit

Montana Public Radio | By Nora Saks

Published May 29, 2019 at 2:30 AM MDT

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I live a mile away from the Berkeley Pit, the mile by mile and a half wide former open-pit mine, which is now filled with a 50 billion gallon toxic lake. Every time I visit, I leave hyper aware of the contradictions and compromises that go hand in glove with industrialization. I find myself wondering: who thought chiseling a colossal hole in the Earth was a good idea, and why? So today, let’s take a dive, figuratively, into open pit mining and some controversial decisions made late last century that changed Butte’s land, people, and environmental legacy forever. This is Episode 4: We Gave it to the Pit.

An aerial shot of the Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana in winter. January 2019.

Tom Holter outside an old underground mine tunnel at the World Museum of Mining in Butte, MT. April 2019.

Former state lawmaker Fritz Daily (left) and miner Al Beavis (right) chat Butte mining history and Superfund at Oro Fino Coffee Shop in Butte, MT. May 2019.