Butte is the largest city in Montana. It has a population of about 40,000. It is located 47 miles southwest of Helena, the capital of the state. It is in the Rocky Mountains 5,700 feet about sea level. The region about Butte is one of the richest mining districts in the world. Here are mined copper, gold, and silver. The Butte district is the largest single copper-producing center in the United States. In the production of copper in 1915, Montana ranked second among the states. This rank was largely due to the output of the Butte area. Arizona leads all the states in the output of copper, producing, in 1915, 432,467,690 pounds of smelted ore. Montana was second, with 268,263,040 pounds, and Michigan was third, with 238,956,410 pounds. Utah, Alaska, Nevada, and New Mexico, follow these three states in the order named. The total production of copper in

the United States in the same year, was 1,388,009,527 pounds. The way in which copper is mined, refined in smelters, and made ready for shipment, has been treated elsewhere in these subects. The importance of this mineral is increasing each year. Copper is a prime necessity in the manufacture of electrical instruments, automobiles, and other machinery of modern industry. While the center of interest in Butte is its copper mines and smelters, the city has other important industries, such as machine shops, lumber mills, packing houses, and foundries. It is a large railroad center, due chiefly to its ore production. The city handles annually about 20,000,000 tons of freight. Power to drive much of its machinery of industry is developed by the Missouri River.