Butte, Montana as seen in the late 1800s from Alaska and Quartz streets looking northeast up Quartz toward Main, and showing the Anaconda, St. Lawrence and Parrot mines on the hill beyond the center of town. Credit: Courtesy / Montana Historical Society

Copper made Butte the “Richest Hill,” and its also the reason the historic city is home to the nation’s largest Superfund site.

Hosted by Montana Public Radio report Nora Saks, and set in what was once the copper mining capital of the world, Montana Public Radio’s “Richest Hill” podcast explores Butte’s history, culture and environmental calamity.

The New Yorker calls the “Richest Hill” a “must-listen podcast about Butte, Montana.”

MTPR news director and “Richest Hill” executive producer Eric Whitney joins Montana Lowdown host John Adams to talk about the new podcast that explores Butte’s past, present and future.

Check out “Richest Hill” at buttepodcast.org.

John Adams began his professional career in 2001 in Idaho Falls, ID writing and editing for a variety of trade magazines. He covered topics ranging from potato and sugar beet farming to skate park and playground construction and maintenance. Adams started his newspaper career as the city government reporter for the Daily Jefferson County Union in Fort Atkinson, WI where he covered the City Hall, police, fire and local courthouse beats. In 2005 he joined the staff of the Missoula Independent in Missoula, MT where he worked as a staff reporter covering a wide range of issues including the environment,...