During this time her country has experienced unprecedented growth. quickly rising to the upper echelons of nations. President McAleese will make an inaugural pilgrimage to a city whose history has been intimately tied with Irelands for more than a century. In 1882. a lone Irish immigrant. driven by the work ethic instilled in his homeland and his desire to succeed. made a discovery that would forever change the face of Montana. the West. and America. The city was Butte. MT. and the man was Marcus Daly. Three hundred feet into the belly of the Earth. Daly set off an explosion that unearthed a revolution. Before his amazed eyes lay one of the riches veins of copper the world had every seen. and with it the unknowing hopes of millions of Irish immigrants. Butte. and its neighbor to the northwest Anaconda. quickly became thriving metropolises turning these mining communities into a virtual mosaic of nationalities and ethnicities. When walking down the street. one could hear the chatter of Eastern Europeans. smell cooking from the Middle East. or view native dress from Scandinavia. But above all was the voice of the Irish. The Irish made Butte their own. easing their longing for their native Eire by molding the city to reflect the land from their past. The streets were vibrant with festivities straight from the homeland. these hardworking immigrants. ranging in professions from doctors to lawyers to miners and gandy dancers. populated this young bustling city and gave it the feel of an island thousands of miles away. As the years passed. the pride of the Irish continued to ring strong. and with it the city of Butte. Butte quickly became the heart of Montana. and shaped the figures whose names would forever be remembered in the lore of our State.
Keywords matched
immigrant immigrants