Scottish visitors find a lot to like in Butte

Butte’s unique history and heritage have piqued the interest of scholars from across the pond — and now that they have a taste of Butte, they want to come back.

Nine students and a professor from the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland, have been in Butte since Sunday studying how the city can boost its economy by taking advantage of its mining heritage and the environmental technology that has developed in its wake.

By The Montana Standard

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/06/25/newsbutte/hjjfjdhejjgjhf.txt

"When we first got here, we were like ‘whoa, what happened here,’" student Alastair Ansbro said, referring to the site of the Berkeley Pit.

"It looked like Hiroshima or something."

But first impressions do not always last.

"It has grown on all of us," student Hannah Cook said. "Butte has a lot of potential."

Professor Keith Chapman of the University of Aberdeen, who has been leading the students on a two-week journey across the U.S. Northwest, first visited Butte 20 years ago when he was teaching at the University of Alberta.

"On my first visit I thought I’d really like to come back here and learn more," said Chapman, who describes himself as an economic geographer.

Since that visit 20 years ago, Chapman has wanted to bring students here, he said. Two years ago, he returned to Butte to set up contacts, making this summer’s trip possible.

"This thing really depends on networking and support," Chapman said.

And the support Chapman has received from the Butte community has been incredible, he said.

"There is so much pride in the community," Chapman said. "If someone is coming from the outside who is interested, they respond."

One of the most popular courses at Aberdeen, a university founded in 1495, is a course titled "The Changing American West," Chapman said. The course surveys many of the hottest environmental and economic issues that crowd headlines everyday.

The international field trip is a way to learn about those issues hands-on, Chapman said.

"I want them to build on the information I have given them," Chapman said.

Montana Tech professor Bill Macgregor, who has been working with Chapman and the students, describes it as "service-based learning." They learn while analyzing issues in a way that can help the community, Macgregor said.

Some of the conclusions the students reached are that Butte’s economy needs to diversify. That includes creating more tourism income by sprucing up old mining sites and charging admission and improving hotels and other tourist amenities. It also means keeping various industries in town, such as ASiMI silicon plant, and attracting new ones. One field with much potential is environmental technology, evidenced by Tech students’ recent efforts to use algae to clean the contaminated Berkeley Pit water.

"I’d like to come back in five years and see if any of our ideas get off the ground," Cook said.

The trip has been so successful, Chapman wants to bring students back to Butte, possibly on an annual basis. He’s interested in setting up exchange programs between his university and Montana Tech, he said.

Some of the students’ favorite experiences in Butte were visiting the Lexington Mine Tunnel and the Dumas Brothel Museum. They have also visited Ellensburg, Wash., and Richland, Wash., where they talked about issues surrounding the Hanford nuclear reservation. On a day off, they took a jet boat ride through Hell’s Canyon on the Snake River in Idaho.

But they have spent more time in Butte than in any other place on the trip.

They departed on Thursday for Moscow, Idaho, where they will present findings about Butte at the University of Idaho. The trip is officially over on Saturday, but many of the students will stay in the United States to vacation, Chapman said.

Reporter Curtis Wackerle may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].