McQueen was a small community on the east end of Butte. It along with Meaderville and several other small communities were destroyed when the Open Pit took over the area starting about 1955 - 1983. We are in Butte Montana USA and we are trying to bring back former people from our area "home again" through the INTERNET and their memories. A person that seems to have a good knowledge of our history is
who wrote :-
I did live for 44 years in a suburb of Butte, Montana, USA named "McQueen Addition". The latter was apparently named after a mineral placer claim there, possibly by a claimant named McQueen, dated probably 1900??. The suburb is now covered with perhaps a thousand feet of overburden from the extensive open pit mining operations, now suspended.
Butte is some 230 miles from my present residence; hence I am unable to find more material. If this interests you, you might contact Ellen Crain, Butte Archives, East Quartz Street, Butte, MT; USA 59701. She and the staff there could possibly research the McQueen name and claim, for additional information.
When I lived in that suburb I always wondered about the origin of the name. The Butte area is an old mining district, very extensive and mineralized by copper, zinc, lead, cadmium, gold, silver, manganese, molybdenum, and byproducts. I worked for many years in the underground hardrock mines there which went down to mile depths. Also I worked in the milling and concentration, research and development, usually in field of geology / mining/ metallurg engineering.
The McQueen claim was a placer claim to my knowledge. There were, however, a number of shafts and underground mines in and around it. There were many Cornish, Welsh, and Irish immigrants in Butte, coming with the expertise obtained in the British Isles mining. The plot of the claim is shown on existing surface maps of the area. |
McQueen's rich history began in the year 1700 as a firm of copperplate printers in the City of London. The company has played an important role in the history of fine art publishing in Britain, worked with many distinguished artists, pioneered new printing techniques and evolved an enterprising philosophy to business which has helped the company to prosper for almost 300 years.
