The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

It is true that you can get most anything you want to know off the internet. This week two of our front page stories, Top Ten crime towns in Montana to live in, and Twelve Overlooked Montana Towns, came from the Internet.

Butte, Montana in Silver Bow County made that list of overlooked Montana towns. I would have to agree that Butte is probably overlooked but once there is one of the most interesting towns in all of Montana.

Butte was built on a hill so its large downtown area is almost up and down. Store fronts are sometimes tiny and built right into the hillside. Those stores fill a huge variety of needs for those who live in and visit Butte.

Why right next to a curbside funeral home might be the most wonderful Oriental Restaurant in Montana. And right up the hill from that might be the Mountain View Methodist Church and across the street from that is a huge Court House. How did they ever get enough level ground to build that monstrous building?

Just walking up and down the business district of Butte is a great deal of fun and it is a very visible history tour no matter what direction a person might want to wander.

Not only that but all along the streets are some of the most wonderful restaurants in Montana. Why in downtown Butte, you can get an original Pork Chop John's Sandwich. And you can get a pasty with or without gravy. If you haven't had an original Pork Chop John's sandwich or a pasty, you need to jump into the Hupmobile right now and drive to Butte and eat several of each. You will think you died and went to Heaven.

I love to visit Butte's business district while staying close by so I can walk from my room to any part of downtown. Of course the finest of hotels in that part of Butte is the Finlin Hotel. It was built years and years ago by the famous Finlin family. Today the hotel is partly upscale apartments but there are still rooms to rent nightly. Staying at the Finlin puts you right smack in the middle of the up and down business district. There are several other motels in that area as well.

By all means don't miss the mansions in that section of town. The Copper King Mansion which is Senator Clark's Butte home, is now a bed and breakfast and is worth staying at just to see the amazing amount of rooms and opulent living that went on within those walls.

There is a story told about Senator Clark and his son Charlie. When Charlie came home on the railroad, he took a taxi to his house and always tipped the driver five dollars. One day Senator Clark came home on the railroad and got that taxi driver to take him to his home. Senator Clark tipped the taxi driver fifty cents. The taxi driver said, "Senator, your son always tips me five dollars." Senator Clark looked at the taxi driver, smiled and said, "Son, Charlie has a rich father. I do not."

Son Charlie had a whole and entire French Chateau taken apart in France and brought to Butte and put together as his home. That house is still standing and usually folks can tour it. For a time it was the Senator Walsh house. It is unbelievable and beautiful and magnificent and probably full of ghosts but you are not staying there, you are just touring.

Don't miss either of those houses. They are monuments for eternity.

While in Butte, don't forget to take a tour to the top of a mountain right above Butte and view the statue of "Our Lady of the Rockies" that seems to guard the town.

Ask most anyone and they will tell you the way to see Evil Knievel's house in Butte.

If you really want some fun, visit Butte on St. Patrick's Day in March or on Evil Knievel Days during the summer.

Butte may be overlooked by some but one visit there and two things will happen. That will not be your only visit and you will never forget Butte.

The other towns that are overlooked are Fort Benton, Fort Peck, Thompson Falls, Scobey, Shelby, Frenchtown, Ekalaka, Ennis, Dillon, Clyde Park, and Phillipsburg.