Butte’s Haunted History: Are the minyards in Butte haunted?

With Halloween coming up, we've been taking a look at some of Butte's most well-known haunted locations.  One place, or rather, places, that bear serious consideration are Butte's mineyards which, for many, became graveyards.  Historical markers around any mineyard in Butte give the mine's years of operation, it's depth and somewhat morbidly, the number of men who lost their lives there.

Even today, miners put life and limb on the line when they punch in their timecard.  But during Butte's mining heyday, many safety measures were overlooked or ignored outright and many times it was the miners who paid the price.  And no disaster demonstrates this more clearly than the Granite Mountain/Speculator Fire of 1917 where 168 men lost their lives in an underground inferno.

The Granite Mountain headframe and shaft is said to be one of the most haunted locations in town, but like most other headframes it is fenced off and unaccessible without permission.  But some mineyards are.  The Travona, just off of Excelsior Avenue, is the truest to it's original condition and tours and even events can be held on site.  The Original Mineyard is home to many festivals and events during warm months and the Belmont is now a vibrant and functioning Senior Citizens Center.

These are just a few of the creative new uses for once vacant mineyards, although most of the renovations have taken place in the surrounding buildings and not in the actual shafts where men and minerals descended and rose and where supernatural activity is said to be most active.  That is where the Orphan Girl stands alone.  The Orphan Girl now on the campus of the World Museum of Mining offers the only underground tour in the nation and they have teamed up with Butte High School's Montana History Club for the annual Ghost Walk where many of Butte's historical figures will be brought to life with a little help from students.  Part of the Ghost Walk will also go into the Orphan Girl shaft where the visitors you meet could very well be from the other side.  Want in on this?   Click here for details.