Most intact mineyard remaining in Butte

The Anselmo mineyard is the most intact of any in Butte, and includes the main hoist engine room, an auxiliary hoist building (with a lamp room in the lower level), carpenter shop, timekeeper's offices, hose house, the dry (miners’ locker room), and a warehouse, in addition to the headframe with its tipple and two idler towers. The compressed air tank also survives. Inside, tools and other artifacts are found in place, just as they were when the mine was operating.

The train at the Anselmo is the only one left on the hill. Ore was raised from the mine to the tipple structure on the side of the headframe, from where it was dumped into train cars below. The trains, which once laced together all the mines, transported copper ore to the town of Anaconda, where it was concentrated and smelted at the huge Washoe Smelter.

The Anselmo also had a yard that treated lumber for underground timbers and supplied them to many mines. The timber was milled west of Butte, at Rocker, and brought to the Anselmo where it was treated with arsenic to prevent rotting.

The present Anselmo headframe came from the Black Rock Mine, and was moved to the Anselmo in 1936. The Anselmo was an important lead and zinc mine, and also produced silver and copper. A lengthy strike that shut down most of Butte's mines in 1959 spelled the end of the Anselmo, which did not reopen after that strike.

The BA&P walking trail, built on the former bed of the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway, passes near the Anselmo yard. Not far to the west, the trail passes the Desperation Fan Tower, an octagonal concrete structure where bad air exited from the Anselmo mine.

Images

Anselmo Headframe Lighted for Christmas Night view of Anselmo headframe decorated for Christmas with a star, a cross, and Christmas tree. This is a vertical photo. Click the title to view the full image. Source: Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives Creator: C. Owen Smithers Date: 1964
Anselmo Mineyard The Anselmo Mineyard with old cars and a wagon in the foreground. This is a vertical photo. Click the title to view the full image. Source: Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives Creator: C. Owen Smithers
View of Anselmo, Looking Northwest Source: World Museum of Mining
View of Anselmo Mine, Looking East Source: Historic American Engineering Record, Library of Congress Creator: Jet Lowe Date: 1979
Map of Anselmo Mineyard Source: Butte-Anaconda National Historic Landmark District blog Creator: Richard Gibson
Battery Charger for Headlamps Equipment for recharging miners' headlamps, with some battery packs still in place. Located in the lower level of the auxiliary hoist house. This is a vertical photo. Click the title to view the full image. Source: Historic American Engineering Record, Library of Congress Creator: Jet Lowe Date: 1979
Miners' Showers at the Anselmo View of the showers in the old part of the dry (miners' locker room) at the Anselmo Mine. This is a vertical photo. Click the title to view the full image. Source: Library of Congress Creator: Jet Lowe Date: 1979
Cages Hanging from Anselmo Headframe Cages, used to transport men down into and up out of the mine shaft, hang from the headframe at the Anselmo. This is a vertical photo. Click the title to view the full image. Source: Library of Congress Creator: Jet Lowe Date: 1979
View of Anselmo with Rail Cars The Anselmo headframe with ore cars lined up. The ore cars would have been loaded by dumping ore from the tipple on the side of the headframe. Source: World Museum of Mining

Location

Off N Excelsior Ave | Private

Metadata

Story of Butte
Contributors: Nancy Woodruff, Richard Gibson, Butte Historical Society, “Anselmo Mine,” Story of Butte, accessed June 6, 2023, https://storyofbutte.org/items/show/3398.