World Museum of Mining — Attraction in Butte

We visited the museum in the morning on Aug.10th.2019. The museum is good and we think it worth to visit but we have a very bad experience from the museum staff, a lady at the reception

When we arrived the museum there was just a lady at the reception. We visited many other parks, museums and usually the reception staff would greet us and ask if we need any help. When we arrived this museum, the lady just looked us with cold face and didn’t say anything to us. We said hello and asked her if she could give us some brief introduction about the museum and some suggestion for the visit, she almost said nothing and seemed reluctantly to give us any information.

We still bought the ticket and thought it might because people have different personality, some people are warm and some people are cold.

But when I finished my visit and I stood at the entrance to wait my husband and son. At that time I found the lady at the reception was warmly greeting a Caucasian people and they were talking and laughing. It seemed she was totally a different person from what I had saw an hour ago.

I still tried to look at this matter in good faith. I thought it might because we were not very good at English and the lady felt difficult to give us detailed information so she said little. So I still said “Thank you” to the lady before I went out of the room. The lady replied “Thank you” to me in cold manner and she even didn’t bother to look up her head. She just kept looking down to her paper. There just only she and me in the room at that time.

So I totally understood we were not welcomed in the museum just because my Asian face. We are Chinese living in Canada and we travelled during the summer vacation in U.S. It really the worst experience for us during our this year’s trip.

I sincerely hope the museum could post on their website or other place to state they have own preference for visitors. So we will know we are not welcomed in advance and we can avoid to...

The museum consists of the contents of the mining yard of the Orphan Girl Mine, a mineral exhibit, toy exhibit, and a mock up of a turn on the century town with reclaimed, restored, and constructed buildings. There is also the option of doing an underground tour of a portion of one of the accessible levels of the Orphan Girl Mine which is entered through a modern day adit. This was our second visit to the WMM. On the first we didn't do the underground tour (we had a 4 1/2 year old that we weren't sure would hang out for the whole 1.5-2 hours-not all of which is underground) and had a great time, we love Montana history. The old school is very cool, particularly if you have kids. This visit, with the youngest now 6, we did the underground tour and it was fantastic. Our tour guide, Robert, was a great storyteller and was able to encapsulate the history of the gold rush (and subsequent silver & copper booms) in Montana and the rise of the Copper Kings in a way that was entertaining, informative, and made the past come alive. My husband and I have read MT history and have lived in the state for 40 years, yet we both learned new things on the tour and were drawn in by the great storytelling. Robert presented a great summary but also knew a lot of details about Butte, the Copper Kings, and hard rock mining. Going underground is a treat, particularly if you haven't been before. All get to don hardhats with headlamps. If you like old machines, iron, mining, or just history in the intermountain west you will find plenty at the WMM. Also, don't miss the FREE mineral museum at Montana Tech. Its worth it to see all the rare and precious...

This is another must-do adventure if you’re in the Butte area! It is a very well put together museum and has exhibits of what a mining town would have looked like back in the 1800s plus actual copper and silver mining artifacts and platforms. There are a lot of exhibits to see covering a large outside area. There is also an actual old mine that you can tour, but that does require a separate ticket and is usually booked-up several days in advance, so it’s best to reserve your spot online. The mine tour takes you down about 100 feet into the mine, and is an exceptional experience and learning adventure. It is great for kids also, but not small children. It also is a fairly steep decline into the mine, and is pitch dark. They do provide you with helmets that have attached lights on them, but this was a fully working mine and is currently used to train mining students at Montana Tech. While they do everything to keep you safe, there are a lot of obstacles, and you have to be focused and have your wits about you. I would not recommend the mine tour if you’re claustrophobic or have other health ailments. It is also about 45° once you get down to 100 feet. But there is still plenty to do and see even if you don’t do don’t mine tour.They also have a lot of events going on during the summer, so check their website. The museum is also getting ready to start their haunted mine tours, so look for events and details on...