Entry No. 16 — the Butte file — filed under: roadside-oddity
Our Lady of the Rockies
A 90-foot white statue of the Virgin Mary stands in a notch on the Continental Divide, roughly 3,000 feet straight up above Butte, lit and visible from all over the valley at night. It began in 1979 when local miner Bob O'Bill vowed to build a small Mary in his yard if his wife survived cancer, and the idea snowballed into a town-built colossus that took six years and was lifted into place in sections by an Army National Guard helicopter. It is the fourth-largest statue in the United States, and the only way up is a bus tour across private land, where you can step inside the hollow metal figure.
The story
In 1979, Butte miner Bob O'Bill made a vow: if his wife Joyce survived her cancer diagnosis, he'd build a small five-foot statue of the Virgin Mary in his yard. She survived. But when O'Bill pitched the idea to his mining buddies in a town reeling from the shutdown of the Anaconda company's open-pit copper operations, the yard project spiraled out of control. Butte was broke, unemployment was soaring, and a five-foot yard ornament wasn't nearly loud enough. They decided to build a 90-foot sheet-steel colossus on Saddle Rock—8,510 feet up on the Continental Divide, 3,000 feet straight above the valley floor.
Nobody had blueprints, money, or formal artistic training. Local welder Leroy Lee dropped out of high school, but he fabricated the statue section by section using steel scavenged from old underground copper mines and a foot-tall plastic figurine as his reference model. Volunteers spent years blasting a rough seven-mile switchback road up the sheer granite ridge, often making only ten feet of progress a day. By December 1985, the 51-ton Mary sat in four massive pieces in a contractor's yard. To assemble her on the cliff, they convinced the National Guard to dispatch a Sikorsky CH-54 Skycrane heavy-lift helicopter—which nearly crashed when wind gusts caught the statue's swinging arms mid-air.
When the final section was bolted down on December 17, 1985, Butte threw a victory parade in freezing temperatures. Today, the white figure—the fourth-tallest statue in the United States—stands lit up like a beacon on private mountain land overlooking the giant toxic pit that made the town rich and sick. Dedicated broadly to all mothers, it remains a bizarre monument to blue-collar obsession: a massive Marian apparition birthed not by a divine miracle, but by unemployed miners armed with dynamite, scrap steel, and military choppers.
What it's like
You start at a gift shop tucked into a strip mall on Continental Drive, where you watch a short archival film about the build before loading into a tour bus. Because the monument sits on private land, you can't drive yourself up or hike the access road—the paid bus tour is the only way in. The ride takes you up a series of bone-rattling switchbacks, crossing the Continental Divide multiple times during the three-hour round trip. At the summit, the wind on the ridge will cut right through your jacket even in midsummer. You can walk right up to the base and step through a small door in the hollow metal skirt into the steel interior, where memorial plaques cover the walls. Looking west, the entire Butte basin spreads out below, centered on the ominous turquoise water of the Berkeley Pit.
The move: Book the afternoon bus tour together and ride up the switchbacks to stand inside a 90-foot Mary while Butte spreads out far below.
📍 Before you go Access is by paid bus tour only (crosses private land); tours run roughly June through October, weather permitting. Call ahead at 406-782-1221 to confirm times.
- 📍 Butte
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Tours depart from gift shop at 1707 Continental Dr, Suite C, Butte, MT 59701
Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Berkeley Pit Viewing Stand — Standing at the mountain statue gives you an aerial view of the toxic pit, while the viewing stand puts you directly at the edge of its 900-foot-deep acidic lake.
- Historic Dumas Brothel Museum — Pairs the sacred mountaintop monument built by devout copper miners with the Uptown red-light brothel that served those same miners for 92 years.
- Helsinki Bar (Helsinki Yacht Club) — Connects the mountaintop Marian vow born out of the 1980s mine shutdown with the last surviving 1911 Finnish miners' sauna and bar in Finn Town.
- Mai Wah Museum — Contrasts the Irish-Catholic working-class labor story on the ridge with the preserved mercantile and noodle parlor of Butte's historic Chinatown down in the valley.
Good to know
Can I drive my own car or hike up to the statue?
No. The statue sits on private mountain land and the access road crosses private property. Private vehicles and hikers are not permitted; the official bus tour is the only legal way to access the site.
How do I take the tour and when does it run?
Tours depart from the gift shop at 1707 Continental Drive (Suite C) roughly June through October, weather permitting. Call 406-782-1221 in advance to reserve seats and confirm departure times.
Can you actually go inside the statue?
Yes. Bus tour visitors are allowed to step inside a doorway at the base of the hollow steel figure to see the structural frame and the interior memorial walls lined with names of women and mothers.
How tall is Our Lady of the Rockies and how high up does she sit?
The statue stands 90 feet tall on a 400-ton concrete base. She sits on Saddle Rock along the Continental Divide at 8,510 feet above sea level, roughly 3,000 feet straight above the city of Butte.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Wikipedia · Official site · cnn.com · Atlas Obscura · swmontana.com
last checked: 2026-06-24