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Newspaper The Butte Daily Post (Butte, Mont.) 1913-1961 Montana standard-post

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About The Butte Daily Post (Butte, Mont.) 1913-1961

In January 1913, John Durston, long-time editor of the powerful Anaconda (Montana) Standard, reconstituted the Butte Inter Mountain as the Butte Daily Post, a seven-column, 16-page daily. National news filled the front page of the Post, often at the expense of local stories that might reveal the dominance of the paper’s owner, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, in state politics.

From 1914 to 1921, labor unrest dominated the pages of the Post. The paper condemned the activities of the Industrial Workers of the World and blamed striking miners for slowing the production of copper needed for the war effort. When Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin condemned the Anaconda Company for provoking turmoil in Butte, the Post retaliated with political attacks.

On June 9, 1917, the paper carried the horrific details of the Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine Fire–the worst hard rock mining disaster in American history. Labor unrest followed, and on August 1, several masked men dragged union activist Frank Little (1879-1917) from his hotel and hanged him from a rail trestle. A coroner’s inquest failed to identify the killers. During the year after the Speculator disaster, some 67 men died in the mines, but the Post‘s coverage of these deaths was minimal. In 1921, the Anaconda Company instituted an open shop system, dealing a crippling blow to organized labor in Butte from which it would not recover for over a decade.

In 1924, the Anaconda Company worked to unseat progressive Governor Joseph Dixon. When the company’s newspaper, the Butte Daily Post, ran stories critical of these efforts, Editor John Durston was reprimanded. Shortly after, Durston retired from the newspaper. Later in life, Durston lamented the failure of Montana journalism to illuminate the powerful forces as work in local and state affairs. The Butte Daily Post finally halted publication in 1961, when the newspapers owned by the Anaconda Company were purchased by Lee Enterprises.

Provided By: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Butte Daily Post (Butte, Mont.) 1913-1961

Other Title

  • Montana standard-post

Dates of Publication

  • 1913-1961

Created / Published

  • Butte, Mont. : Post Pub. Co., 1913-1961.

Headings

  • -  Butte (Mont.)--Periodicals
  • -  Montana--Butte
  • -  United States--Montana--Silver Bow--Butte

Genre

  • Periodicals

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sun.)
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 2, 1913)-v. 48, no. 141 (July 21, 1961).
  • -  Saturday edition, Nov. 14, 1959-July 22, 1961, published in combined issue with Montana standard (Butte, Mont. : 1928), called: Montana standard-post.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Montana standard (Butte, Mont. : 1928) (DLC)sn 84024813
  • -  Montana standard and the Butte daily post (DLC)sn 85053097

Medium

  • 48 volumes : illustrations ; 55-57 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85053058

OCLC Number

  • 11748718

ISSN Number

  • 2472-0283

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Butte Daily Post Butte, Mont. -1961. (Butte, MT), Jan. 1 1913. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85053058/.

APA citation style:

(1913, January 1) The Butte Daily Post Butte, Mont. -1961. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85053058/.

MLA citation style:

The Butte Daily Post Butte, Mont. -1961. (Butte, MT) 1 Jan. 1913. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn85053058/.