Butte, Montana was once called "the richest hill on Earth"
- 284 million pounds of copper from one district, in 1910 alone
- The copper that wired America’s telephones and light bulbs
- 19 billionaires now belong to one private ski club near Big Sky
- Big Sky Country, 41st to join the Union (1889)
How Montana’s digital economy grew
Copper is discovered in Butte
Marcus Daly, evaluating the Alice mine, finds the copper deposit that will build his fortune — the same year as the first telephone call.
"The richest hill on Earth"
Butte grew from an 1864 mining camp into the copper capital of the world. In 1910 alone the district produced 284 million pounds of copper, the largest output in North America at the time. Across more than a century of mining, Butte’s mines yielded metal worth tens of billions of dollars — copper wasn’t a curiosity metal, it was the strategic material of the electrical age, wiring the telephones, light bulbs and WWI rifle cartridges that built modern America.
The human and environmental cost was real too: the 1917 Speculator Mine disaster killed 168 miners in the deadliest hard-rock mining accident in US history, and the abandoned Berkeley Pit, once the largest truck-operated open-pit copper mine in the country, is now part of America’s largest Superfund site.
From copper barons to billionaires
A century after Marcus Daly and William Clark fought their legendary "War of the Copper Kings," Montana is home to a different kind of concentrated wealth. A 2024 Forbes investigation found 19 billionaires among the members of the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, and state tax filings show roughly 18,000 new residents moved to Montana in 2020 alone, with the wealthiest arrivals averaging close to $600,000 in income — driving Big Sky home prices up 155% since 2019.
How Montana businesses buy websites
The billionaires and ski resorts get the headlines, but most of Montana’s businesses are the trades and shops serving small towns spread across one of the largest, least densely populated states in the country.
Trades and home services
Montana towns are far apart — say plainly which ones you actually serve.
Tourism and hospitality
Ski season and summer tourist season both drive real swings — keep hours and offers current.
Professional services
A state seeing rapid new-resident growth rewards clarity about exactly what you offer.
How well do you know Montana’s digital economy?
3 quick questions. Get all 3 right and you win a 10% off discount code. Every answer is somewhere on this page.
Montana quiz · 1 of 3
In 1910, the Butte, Montana mining district alone produced how much copper?
Why FastSites works here
A state built on getting real value out of hard ground understands the appeal of something straightforward and well made. A clear one-page site, live in days, at a published price, is that same instinct for a small business.