Mining Childhood*

Growing Up in Butte, Montana, 1900–1960 by Janet L. Finn

Mining Childhood offers a child’s-eye view of Butte, Montana, from 1900 to 1960, the six decades marking Butte’s fame as the “Richest Hill on Earth.” The biographical stories presented here remind us that children were not sheltered from the "adult" world around them; rather, they were shapers of that world. Children were keen observers and active participants in community life, and their accounts of work, play, family, schooling, ethnicity, and neighborhood life offer fresh perspectives on Montana's mining city in all its complexity.