Page 124 from Stope Book M-27 Volume 2 of the Washoe Mine at the 500 sill level of the Steward, created by the Anaconda Mining Company. Detail of the ‘Weed Map’ showing topography, streets and buildings in detail with only notational attention paid to the growing collection of mine dumps. An X” represents a mine shaft and the horseshoe shaped dashed outlines are general areas of mine dumps of waste rock. From the Butte Special Map Folio #38 by Walter H Weed, Samuel F Emmons and George W Tower, published by the United States Department of the Interior in 1897
Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
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Mapping, by its nature, records what is of value to the maker. The innocent map does not exist. In addition to indexing the valuable, the process of mapping also projects value. It provides an understanding of what is recorded, as it is a requirement of commodification. Thus the map contains a projective agency for a geographically specific place. Landscape Architect James Corner probably states this best: ‘...its agency (mapping) lies in neither reproduction nor imposition but rather in uncovering realities previously unseen or unimagined, even across seemingly exhausted grounds. Thus mapping unfolds potential; it re-makes territory over and over again, each time with new and diverse consequences.’ 1
development on the surface was documented through traditional maps while the growth of the shaft mines were catalogued in the massive volumes of hand drawn maps collected in the Stope Books by the Anaconda Mining Company. Both the traditional surface maps of the City of Butte (Sanborn, Property and Topographic maps, above) and the Stope Books (detailed accounts of the underground workings, top) are an incredibly detailed account of the growth and shape of Butte above and below ground. These maps pursue a clear agenda of value. However, there is little documentation of the massive amounts of waste rock replaced back onto the city – rock that has profoundly shaped this urban landscape – once the precious metals were displaced for use around the world.
1 Corner, James. ‘The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention’, Chapter 10 in Mappings . Reaktion Books, 1999
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