aaron: no, you nailed it. obviously the pit is an enduring emblem of that rapacious capitalist greed. but you also have people here who are proud of proud of where they live. the history of butte in many ways is you know this town that should have died and but never did. part of that is luck geographically but also the character of the people here. you know, they endured. anthony: as you might have gathered by now, this is a working class town. and unusual in that it s a union town. a proudly union town in an otherwise very red state. bryant: butte is the most interesting, important town in america that nobody knows about. anthony: bryant mcgregor is the owner of the silver dollar saloon in what was once butte s chinatown. amanda: so we call ourselves butte, america. anthony: amanda curtis is a former state congresswoman, was born of the labor movement. she s a unionist, an advocate for workers and this solidly union city she calls home. amanda: when you got off the
boat in ellis island it said butte pinned to your shirt. and it wasn t butte, montana, right? it was butte, america. we were founded by european immigrants who came from socialist countries with all these crazy socialist ideas. anthony: would you say montana in a stereotypical way is fairly, relatively socially conservative? amanda: oh, absolutely but butte is labor town. bryant: nobody knows anything about union history. you know, they don t teach it. when the country was at its peak, unions were at their peak. wages were at their peak; unions were at their peak. anthony: that was then, this is now. this is the era of i ve got mine jack. amanda: that s what makes butte different. it s not i ve got mine. anthony: it isn t? amanda: it s, it s truly not. anthony: why? amanda: union is together. we ve grown this community out of taking care of each other. anthony: you have to remember what it was like here for workers before unions if you can imagine. men worked unde
jack-of-all-trades native son. a hunter, fisherman, and a key figure in the life of the town. anthony: i mean this is a rough and tumble railroad, cattleman town, right? dan lahren: yeah. anthony: why did they put a railroad stop here? dan lahren: it was x far from minneapolis. anthony: mhm. dan lahren: and x far to seattle, it was kind of middle ground. seven hundred miles that way, seven hundred miles that way. anthony: right. i mean who would exemplify the qualities that a preponderance of montanans would aspire to? dan lahren: the american indian. the plains indian that lived here before white man because it was a tough, a tough [ censored ] place to live. you know? anthony: when s the last time you walked outside, and you looked at those mountains, and you said, i possibly live in the most awesome place on earth. when was the last time that happened? dan lahren: oh, i do, i never take this place for granted. okay, it s one of the most beautiful places that i ve bee
if i d inherited this land and it had been in my family for generations and i looked around at it and wanted to keep it like it is. if i were to go to a bar in town and i would ask how do you feel about this issue, where would it break? what would people say? lee: depends on if you are a fisherman or a landowner. bill: clearly divided right down the middle. david: well, i know a lot of people are going to say when i was a kid i used to be able to go hunt and fish and and i can t now if stuff s getting closed off. and i have some sympathy for that. bill: anybody that s not complying with what stream access, merely has to step into the stream when he hears you coming. anthony: right. david: the spirit of it is it makes sense. bill: the spirit of its thievery. david: well, i bill: we own it, they took it, and that s not stealing it? without compensation? david: i think it s still here. anthony: this is about being a good neighbor, right? bill: yeah anthony: i mean,
these crazy socialist ideas. anthony: would you say montana in a stereotypical way is fairly, relatively socially conservative? amanda: oh, absolutely but butte is labor town. bryant: nobody knows anything about union history. you know, they don t teach it. when the country was at its peak, unions were at their peak. wages were at their peak; unions were at their peak. anthony: that was then, this is now. this is the era of i ve got mine jack. amanda: that s what makes butte different. it s not i ve got mine. anthony: it isn t? amanda: it s, it s truly not. anthony: why? amanda: union is together. we ve grown this community out of taking care of each other. anthony: you have to remember what it was like here for workers before unions if you can imagine. men worked underground for as little as three dollars a day, ten to twelve hour shifts six days a week. thousands died over the years in industrial accidents either underground or from silicosis. lungs ravaged from