Wender·Vista
World Museum of Mining Butte headframes
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileMontana
on the west side of Butte, on the Richest Hill on Earth

World Museum of Mining Butte headframes

— — the steel that stands where the shaft went down.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“An open-air mining museum on the west side of Butte, Montana, built around the Orphan Girl mine. The Orphan Girl headframe still rises a hundred feet above its old shaft; across the city other gallows frames stand against the sky, the steel skeleton of the Richest Hill on Earth. Inside the fence a reconstructed mining camp sits along Hellroaring Gulch. The light at the end of the day catches every rivet.

from the studio
World Museum of Mining Butte headframes
— bring it home

World Museum of Mining Butte headframes, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about World Museum of Mining Butte headframes

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The World Museum of Mining sits on the west side of Butte, Montana, on the original surface plant of the Orphan Girl mine. The Orphan Girl shaft reached 3,200 feet below the museum grounds and produced silver, zinc, and lead from the 1870s through the 1950s. The headframe, the hoist house, and the change house remain. Butte itself sits on a complex of copper, silver, and gold ore bodies that made it the most productive metal-mining district in the United States by the early twentieth century, the Richest Hill on Earth.

— the year

The museum runs full hours from April through October and reduced hours in winter. Underground tours of the Orphan Girl shaft operate in the summer season; surface admission covers the headframe, the hoist room, and Hellroaring Gulch, the reconstructed 1899 mining camp of more than 50 buildings on the grounds. Butte's Miners' Union Day in mid-June and the annual Festival of Light on the Orphan Girl headframe are the two events that draw the largest crowds. The museum is a non-profit founded in 1965.

— informed by World Museum of Mining
— the visit

Butte is on Interstates 15 and 90 in southwest Montana; Bozeman is 80 miles east and Missoula is 120 miles northwest. The museum entrance is on Museum Way, just off the Montana Tech campus on the west hill. General surface admission runs about fifteen dollars; the Orphan Girl underground tour is extra and requires advance booking. The site is largely outdoors and the elevation is over a mile, so weather and altitude both shape the visit. Comfortable shoes and a layer for the wind off the hill are wise.

— where
United States · Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana
— elevation
1,676 m · 5,500 ft
— position
46.0114° N · 112.5530° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km E
Uptown Butte
historic district
at the lake
Montana Tech
university
3 km E
Berkeley Pit
open-pit mine
40 km W
Anaconda
smelter town
N
World Museum of Mining Butte headframes
Uptown Butte
Montana Tech
Berkeley Pit
Anaconda
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about World Museum of Mining Butte headframes — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

An open-air mining museum on the site of the Orphan Girl mine on the west side of Butte, Montana. It preserves the headframe, the hoist house, the change house, and a reconstructed 1899 mining camp.

About 100 feet of riveted steel above the original shaft, which reached 3,200 feet below the surface. It is the museum's signature structure and visible from much of the west side of Butte.

Yes, in the summer season. The Orphan Girl underground tour descends about 65 feet to a level of the historic workings. The tour is guided, requires booking, and runs separately from surface admission.

Butte sat on one of the largest copper, silver, and gold ore complexes in North America. From the 1880s into the mid-twentieth century its mines produced metal worth tens of billions of dollars in today's money.

Full hours run April through October, with reduced winter hours. The underground tour and Hellroaring Gulch open seasonally; the headframe and main exhibits stay accessible most of the year.

— about the piece in your home

It works well. The Orphan Girl headframe is the symbol of Butte's working history, and the tile carries that silhouette as the city itself sees it. A Medium or Large for a study or office.

The dark steel, copper, and dusk-blue palette carries Industrial-modern, Western-modern, and mining-heritage interiors. Against brick and warm metal the tile reads as a held view of the hill at end of shift.

A Large above a console; a four-tile Mural over a sofa to hold the headframe full-height; a nine-tile Mural for a feature wall where the steel sits at the scale the structure deserves.

Yes. Choose Dura Satin or Matte for any wall that takes splash or steam; both are scratch-resistant. Glossy is for framed living-room and office pieces away from splash zones.

Microfibre and water. Skip abrasive sponges and acidic cleaners; the colour is infused into the ceramic surface and stays put under normal household care.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted, finished, and packed in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, by Reid Wender. We do not license outside artwork or reuse other photographers' images.

— if this one stayed with you

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