The Sparo Mine - Where the Story Runs Deep There are places in Montana where the land is more than acreage. The Sparo Mine is one of them. Long before Butte became known as The Richest Hill on Earth, men were following mineral veins through the hills of Silver Bow County. Among those early claims was the Sparo, a historic lode within the Butte mining district-ground that witnessed the transformation of a rough mining camp into one of the world's great copper centers. Then came Marcus Daly. Daly arrived in Butte in the 1870s, became involved with the Alice Mine, and ultimately built the Anaconda operation that helped transform Butte and Montana forever. The story of that era wasn't written only by the famous names. It was written by the miners, claim holders, businessmen, lawyers and judges whose lives became intertwined with the ground beneath them. One of those men was Jeremiah J. Lynch. A native of Ireland, Lynch came west, worked in the mines, studied law, and ultimately became a judge of the Second Judicial District in Silver Bow County. His courtroom would hear the very kind of mining disputes that defined the era-claims, ownership, labor, mineral rights and the fortunes tied to them. Family history says Lynch was connected to this ground, and generations later, the Sparo remains in the family. Today, 20.65 acres of patented mining ground remain-quiet now, but carrying a history that reaches back to the formative years of Butte. You aren't simply driving out to see a piece of Montana land. You're standing where generations of Montana's mining story passed beneath your feet. And perhaps the most intriguing question isn't what was taken from the Sparo. It's what was left. The historical Sparo and Judge Lynch references are based on public records; the family's direct ownership connection is being further documented through the family's historical journal and records.