Copper Kings

The Copper Kings were industrialists Marcus Daly, William A. Clark, James Andrew Murray and F. Augustus Heinze.

They were known for their struggles over control of the local copper mining industry in Butte, Montana, and the surrounding region, during the Gilded Age.

While the cost of smelting the complex copper-bearing ore was high, after the American Civil War, investors like William Andrews Clark and Andrew Jackson Davis began to develop Butte's mines and erect mills to extract the silver and gold.

Marcus Daly arrived that year representing the Walker brothers, entrepreneurs from Salt Lake City.

It wasn't long before capitalists from New York City and Boston bought into the huge potential of the area.

After complications with the Great Northern, Daly built his own railroad to transport ore from his mines to the smelter.

John D. Ryan, a local banker, became close to Margaret Daly after her husband's death, and finally convinced Okrusch to sell out, creating the monopoly Amalgamated sought.