Break that Bulkhead Down!

With 'heart of gold,' Butte is central character in 'No Greater Love'

During my interactions with Butte, Montana, and its people over the years, I've learned that there is quality there that is unique.

I recall playing little league baseball and being warned by the coach that on such and such a date we were going to be playing a Butte team in Butte. By the time, we boarded the bus to travel there as youngsters, we were quite intimidated by Butte's reputation. We were told that they will not slide into second base; they come in with spikes waist high. We were told that the baseball field was not clean from rocks and to expect that hard hit grounders would lurch unexpectedly away. In other words, the players there played "dirty," and Butte was not a friendly place to those not from Butte and that the pitchers were not hesitant to throw so-called bean-balls. There was not much conversation on the bus trip to Butte. The main reason we lost the game was because instead of playing aggressive ball, we spent our field time thinking about getting the hell out of Butte and back home. Winning didn't matter. In fact, the field did have a fair amount of cinders, and the players exuded an "our gang" attitude towards us. I recall that the Butte squad went undefeated over the season.

Butte people look directly into your eyes when they talk and expect the same from you. They are brutally honest and are not afraid to express their opinions about politics, religion, money and the great need to do something about Uptown. They make their own news by achieving things quite extraordinary. They don't just opine; they actually get involved with solving problems.

I've been amazed when I happen into town on certain holidays. I couldn't even drive down the street just before Halloween up at the World Museum of Mining because of the hundreds and hundreds of costumed children in the nearby streets. The Uptown Christmas Stroll is a hubbub of noisy pedestrian traffic with children dragging their parents here and there. Strangely, I haven't braved St. Paddy's Day in Butte yet. Maybe my baseball memories still haunt me but have heard that it is quite remarkable in many ways.

There are many summer festivals that bring the Butte revelers out and attract a total of more than 100,000 tourists. The festivals' busy streets hearken back to the early 20th century when the population was 100,000. Back then, there were mine strikes, political demonstrations. The town was under martial law on occasion. There were 14 active theaters in those days along with 8 libraries and six times as many saloons as churches. There were reportedly 1000 prostitutes, some of the most lovely women in the world they say, that roamed the streets. Buildings were blown up by striking miners or unions in competition with one another. At big  parades, there were not just a few hundred or even thousands of people; there were tens of thousands who would line the streets to watch the long parades of bands and floats. People representing nearly thirty different nationalities were drawn to Butte to make their living working in the mine. Butte not only drove the local politics hard but both state and national politics. Supposedly the main character in the film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was based on a Butte attorney/politician named Burton K. Wheeler.  In August of 1917, an I.W.W. strike organizer named Frank Little from out of town was forced from his apartment, dragged down the street behind a vehicle and hanged from a local railroad trestle. Butte makes all other towns seem vanilla by comparison.

I mean you can't make something like Butte up. There is no doubt that Butte, itself, is the central character in "No Greater Love." As the protagonist in the script, Butte demonstrates that it is not only tough, but it also has a heart of gold. Butte as a physical city has survived, but its population has evolved genetically as a people with an unbelievable passion for living life to the fullest, a people with guts and pride, and a people that no matter what is thrown in the way, will find a way, not around the barriers, but right through the barriers. They punch them down. The finale in our production is a testament to Butte's fortitude and resilience. It is called "Break that Bulkhead Down!"