Desiree and I are spending a couple of nights at the Finlen Hotel in Uptown Butte, America. I’m here for two days of teaching. Uptown Butte is, in my estimation, one of the best places in the world. The area is rich with history, and the locals are friendly. I also love seeing the snow-capped chevron peaks of the Highland Mountains across the way.
The Finlen, a product of the 1920s,
is lovely on the inside. Our room is in the adjacent motel, which is
well-maintained and pleasantly clean.
At the height of the mining boom last
century, Butte thrummed with life, its streets alive with the clatter of
streetcars and the steady churn of industry. Smoke curled into the sky from
smelters and stacks, casting a haze over a city swollen with immigrants who had
come from every corner of the globe to dig copper from the earth. Saloons
spilled light and laughter into the night, boarding houses overflowed, and the
town pulsed with the fierce, gritty optimism of a place where fortunes were
being wrestled from the rocks beneath their feet.
We strolled around the block,
admiring some of the old buildings shortly after arriving, and even spent a few
minutes browsing an antique shop that was stacked from wall to wall and floor
to ceiling with glassware, clothing, toys, and anything else you might imagine.
Here, even the passing cars are
friendly. On our stroll back to the Finlen, a carload of teenagers waved and
said hello from a passing car.
Put all of this together, and you get
Montana at its very best.
—Mitchell Hegman
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