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The Importance of Mining
Mining continued to dominate Montana's economy into the 20th cent. The discovery of silver at Butte (1875) was followed (c.1880) by discovery of copper at that same "richest hill on earth." The Amalgamated Copper Company (later renamed Anaconda Copper Mining Company) came to play a major role in Montana life. The titans of the mines, Marcus Daly and William A. Clark, contended bitterly for ownership of the mineral deposits and for political control, and their rivalry was fought out physically by the miners. F. Augustus Heinze also entered the scramble for copper riches, challenging the claims of Amalgamated Copper. Amalgamated prevailed and exercised enormous control over state affairs.
Struggles between the company and the workers led to strikes, disorder, and bloodshed, but also to the enactment of some early measures for social security, important because over the years the livelihood of mining town residents has depended on the fluctuating market price of copper. By the 1990s, however, mining was producing less than 10% of Montana's revenues, and such centers as Butte and Anaconda, where operations had shut down, had become shells of their former selves.
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