Berkeley Pit Viewing Stand — Attraction in Butte

$5 per person, 4 and under are free. You walk through a tunnel to the observation deck. We hit it just right and got to listen to the tour guide from the Butte Trolley Tour so the money was very worth it. This is one of those places that is a "must visit" in my opinion because it is a MAJOR part of Butte's history. The pit is why you see places named copper __ and all the other precious metals. This is a mining town and most of my family was born and raised here.

I have very fond memories of coming to Butte (and The Pit) when I was a child and it meant so much to me to bring my husband and children to experience it as well.

If you can, I think it's worth doing the bundle and riding the trolley so you have a tour guide to truly explain the history and how they are currently cleaning and preventing birds from landing on the water.

If not, I still highly recommend coming here.

There is also copper for sale (coins and bars) in the lobby...

If you are into mining or mining history you would probably appreciate the Berkeley Pit viewing stand, if not, you are paying money to look at a large hole in the ground, filled with green toxic water that your tax dollars will pay to clean up for eternity. I did feel like the information signs were written by the mining company who worded it as vaguely and favourable to the mining operations as possible, while we were there the Butte Trolley arrived and hearing the trolley guide explain it all more realistically was great to understand what we were really looking at. We visited as we wanted to explore Butte and its history, however in hindsight I think it was a waste of money. I hope the $6 entry fee goes to the clean up costs rather than the mining company who profited from creating...

What can one say about seeing the apocalypse? The whole experience felt like propaganda from the mining company that killed one of the most amazing cities in the west. You cannot look at the pit without hearing an audio track that tells you how to interpret it. The jist of which is there was no other option. This is a city full of proud people. Pay no attention to the corporate owned apocalypse. best part is how they talk about how there's no fix, the most toxic water on earth is about to overflow the banks here. Don't think about that. Look at our fancy water filter. We're using a tiny amount of water to continue mining. It's not going to save us. It's not cost effective to build a filter big enough. But check out our green technology and the miners who...