Sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Butte's statue of Marcus Daly was originally unveiled September 2, 1907 in the centre of Main Street, between Copper and Gagnon Streets, in front of the old Federal Building, today known as the Mike Mansfield Federal Building and United States Courthouse. The statue was moved to its present location at the entrance to the Montana Tech campus on June 25, 1941.
The statue is a larger than life bronze of the copper king standing at ease, coat on arm and battered hat in hand. It stands on a massive granite stele, stepped in from a broader granite plinth, both made of granite blocks. The statue stands within an island in the centre of Park Street.
When the "Then" photo here was taken in 1939 the statue still stood on Main Street. The "Now" photo, of course, was taken at the statue's current location on West Park Street on June 9, 2017, looking directly west.
The statue of Marcus Daly, in Park Street at the edge of the Montana Tech campus, celebrates one of Butte’s Copper Kings. Irish-born Daly (born December 5, 1841, emigrated from County Cavan in 1856) came to Butte from Nevada’s Comstock Lode. He worked for the Walker Brothers at the Alice Silver Mine in Walkerville, where he made enough money to invest for himself in the Anaconda Mine, on the Butte Hill. In 1882, with demand for copper soaring to provide wiring for telephones and electricity, Daly’s discovery of the Anaconda copper vein marked the beginning of one of the largest mining companies in the world. Daly died November 12, 1900.
The statue was commissioned in 1902 and completed in 1906 by Augustus St. Gaudens (1848-1907, and also Irish-born), designer of the U.S. twenty-dollar gold piece. The Daly statue was the last significant work of art produced by St. Gaudens; he died about a month before the statue’s unveiling September 2, 1907. It stood in North Main Street near the U.S. Post Office (today’s Federal Building) from 1907 until June 25, 1941 when it was moved to its present location. The move was spurred by vehicles colliding with the statue's base on Main Street, and was sponsored by the Butte Pioneer Club and Butte Citizens Committee, but paid for by Mrs. Marcus Daly.
From the Butte-Anaconda Historic District Blogspot
An Irishman born December 5, 1843 in county Caven, Ireland,
Marcus Daly emigrated to the U.S. at the age of fifteen, going west at the age of 20 and finding work in the silver mines of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada. Here he met George Hearst who, among others, was to become a financial backer.
Eventually buying the Anaconda claim, a silver mine in Butte, with the backing of Hearst, the mine struck copper at 300 feet. Copper was just coming into use at the time as an electrical conductor and Daly immediately saw the value of building a nearby copper smelter. This he did, with the backing of Hearst, James Ben Ali Haggin, and Lloyd Tevis. The site of the present day city of Anaconda was chosen for the location of the smelter due to the availability of ample water and limestone for the smelting process.
Meanwhile, in Butte Daly continued to expand his holdings, all the while engaging in epic battles with William Andrews Clark and F. Augustus Heinze, the other two "
Copper Kings", each trying to out maneuver the others and retain the greatest profit.