BUTTE - The mine fire that occurred here on June 8th, 1917, is still the country’s worst hardrock mining disaster, and the architect who designed this memorial still recalls the eerie feeling this location had more than 40 years ago.
Learn about the Granite Mountain Memorial's tribute to miners in Butte’s 1917 fire
“There was a bad feeling up there that nobody had taken care of that. And, I don’t know how to describe that feeling, you know, spiritual or whatever, but when that thing was built … calm,” said Butte architect Mark Reavis.
Reavis designed the Granite Mountain Memorial as a tribute to the 168 miners who were killed when a fire accidentally started in the mine 108 years ago. The disaster sparked a demand for more mining safety.
“It’s unfortunate it took this event to take that really seriously, and even over 100 years later, it is still the worst hardrock mining disaster in our nation’s history,” said Aubrey Jaap of the Butte Archives.
The memorial, dedicated in 1996, was designed as an open-air plaza by Reavis, and many people in the community contributed time to build it.
“It has kind of a church-like aspect to it where that main pillar is toward the east, toward the East Ridge, toward the mine itself. I really love that project because I designed the frame and the community plugged into it,” said Reavis.
Reavis doesn’t know what compelled him to design the memorial for this location, but it was only years later when he discovered J.D. Moore, one of the heroes of this disaster, died in the bulkhead right below this spot.
“He was directly underneath where I put it, so how did that happen?” he said.
The memorial stands as a testament to the sacrifices all miners in Butte made doing a dangerous job to benefit the country.
“There was a time in Butte’s history when there was a miner dying every day, you know, to supply metals for us to live comfortably,” said Jaap.
For Reavis, the memorial cleanses a place that was haunted by tragedy.
“The spirits and the ghosts and everything else, they needed to be calmed down and acknowledged for their loss. So, I don’t know, the older I get, the stranger I get, the more I feel this place,” he said.
