The Kelley family moved to Butte in 1883, and Kelley’s father, who became a close associate of Marcus Daly, went to work as superintendent of the Bell mine. When Con Kelley graduated from Butte High School in 1892, Daly gave him a job as a surveyor in the mines. After two years, he left for college at the University of Michigan, returning to Butte each summer to work in ACM’s engineering department. After graduating with a law degree in 1898, Kelley opened a law practice in Butte, and the following year, he was appointed Chief Deputy County Attorney. Shortly after William Scallon became president of ACM, he hired Kelley to work in the company’s legal department. He became chief counsel in 1908 and was appointed ACM vice president in 1911. Kelley was instrumental in helping Ryan to consolidate the several major mining properties in Butte under the ownership and operation of ACM, and he played a similar role in helping ACM to acquire properties elsewhere in the U.S. and the Americas. He served as an officer of several of those subsidiaries. He became president of ACM when Ryan died in 1933 and chairman of ACM board of directors in 1940, at which time ACM vice president James R. Hobbins took over as president. Kelley chaired ACM board during the initiation of the Greater Butte Project, which resulted in the sinking of a new mineshaft. It was named the Kelley shaft. Con Kelley retired from ACM in 1955, when the company changed its name to The Anaconda Company. He died two years later.

When Kelley returned to Butte from law school, he lived with his family for a few years on North Main. After he joined the legal department of ACM, he lived in the Lenox on West Granite in 1903 and then for four years in one of the rowhouses on West Broadway built by the Largey estate. His rapid rise in ACM was demonstrated by the new mansion he built on West Park, immediately east of the D.J. Hennessy mansion at the corner of Park and Excelsior. Built in 1906, the house was designed by W.A. O’Brien. Like Ryan, Kelley moved to New York City after Amalgamated was dissolved, and ACM ran its global enterprise from New York.

For more (including 2 images) view the original article

After working as a clerk for his uncle’s general merchandise store for eight years, Ryan moved at age 25 to Denver, where he found work as a salesman for an oil company. His sales territory included Montana, and on a trip to Butte, he met Daly. In 1900, he moved to Butte and used his savings and an inheritance to purchase a share in Daly Bank & Trust. Ryan quickly impressed the Daly family, so when Daly died later in 1900, his estate named Ryan vice president and then president of the Daly Bank. Because Amalgamated ran its finances through the Daly Bank, Amalgamated president H.H. Rogers got to know Ryan and was impressed with him enough that he brought Ryan into the Anaconda and Amalgamated organizations. Ryan succeeded William Scallon as president of ACM, and he succeeded Rogers as president of Amalgamated in 1909. When Ryan became Amalgamated president, B.B. Thayer succeeded him as ACM president. And when Amalgamated was dissolved in 1915, and all its assets were transferred to ACM, Ryan returned to the presidency of ACM, and Thayer became vice president.

Meanwhile, soon after Ryan took charge of the Daly Bank, he started helping Daly’s widow to make investments on behalf of the Daly estate. Early investments began in 1903 when, using Daly money, he acquired the Boston and Great Falls Electric Light and Power Company, which owned a waterpower site at Black Eagle Falls in Great Falls, and the Great Falls Street Railway Company, which had gone into receivership the previous year. In the ensuing years, Ryan continued to acquire interests in hydroelectric properties in Montana, culminating with his formation of the Montana Power Company (MPC) in 1912. Several Montana electrical companies were merged into MPC, including Butte Electric and Power Company. Members of the initial MPC board of directors included Ryan, numerous financiers from New York City, and two of the men who had helped Ryan consolidate the Heinze properties into Amalgamated and ACM, W.D. Thornton and Thomas Cole. ACM and MPC continued to be closely affiliated corporations for several decades, as MPC supplied much-needed electricity to ACM’s expanding Montana operations.

After renting an apartment for five years, Ryan purchased the Hodgens residence at 105 N. Excelsior in 1906. Although Ryan moved his family to New York City shortly after the formation of MPC, he continued to use the house on Excelsior as his residence when he was in Butte.

For more (including 2 images) view the original article