Butte - is it a hill or is it a pit?

Ever heard of Butte? First of all, do you know how to pronounce it? Not the French way, though it is a French word, meaning hill. You must pretend there is only 1 'T' and let it rhyme with flute.

Anyway, Butte is mainly a big hole. In my native dialect, we would call it "'t hol van Plutol". It used to be, however, the richest hill on earth. In the belly of Butte, copper was found and it became one of the wealthiest mining towns of the nation. In 1955, open excavation started and this created the biggest pit, that can be seen from space.
Butte today is quite another story. A sad one, mainly. An example of many other mining towns in the country. Once the mine has run dry, the money dries up and the people leave. Driving into Butte, I was convinced this was a ghost town. But I was wrong. Some people actually live here. In rickety houses, along empty streets with closed down shops...

Then, you might wonder, what we were doing here? Well, the national folk festival takes place in Butte. It does so for three years in a row and then moves on to another state. Today was the last day of the festival. We left the hotel at 11 am, stopped at Wallmart for some phonecards and lost Alphonse - but then found him again! - and were dropped off in Butte just too late to see the line dancing and the rodeo. However, there were many other attractions to enjoy. Paola, Snjezana and I decided to stick to the typical Montana folk with traditional cowboy and Indian stories and songs. We listened to a cowboy hat maker and a cowboy boot maker. We watched a cowboy on a quarter horse cutting cattle, we saw beadwork, weaving baskets, found Norwegian Rosemahlen and a Croatian guitar builder. The rain gathered in heavy curtains around the valley and drifted towards us from the mountains. It poured down on us, we had to take shelter in the tents. Then, the sky broke open again and we could move on. We discovered a superb little terrace with a perfect view of the arena and listened to Acadian music coming from the main tent.
Finally, Dai suggested to walk to the 'Pit'. It was quite impressive, filled with copper-coloured water. More than 1 kilometer deep.
Thunder and lightning gave us a free show against the backdrop of the mountains and we hurried back to the bus.

In fact, the thunderstorm has got worse now and for tomorrow and the following days, they are predicting more rain. It's a shame really, although Dave promised that it wouldn't spoil the wonders we are about to see in Yellowstone and I've made up my mind that I won't let it spoil the fun.

Enjoy the cowboys song I've recorded, especially for you! Sorry to find it lying down ...