In the 1900's to the 1920's, Butte was a thriving town. With a population of around 100,000, it was the biggest city west of the Mississippi River. Around the world, people knew it is a giant mining town where work was always available. This caused many men to make the journey to Butte for work as a miner. These men came from all over the world, everywhere from Ireland to China. All of these different cultures coming together formed an interesting sub-culture of men who worked underground together, and sometimes, died underground together.
These miners had a very unique way of communicating with each other. One of the most interesting ways they communicated was the way they said hello and goodbye.
"How's she goin?"
The first thing a Butte miner would say to another when they saw each other was the phrase, "How's she goin?". The "she" that these miners were referring to were the mines that these men worked in. Saying this phrase meant that the miner was asking about the mine conditions. Typical answers to this question would be about the temperature inside the mine, if any accidents have happened recently, and any talk of the work conditions underground. To this day, you can hear this phrase being said around Butte, especially among the older generation.
"Tap 'er Light"
When miners were saying goodbye to each other, they would always end with the phrase, "Tap 'er Light". In the 1900's to 1920's, miners had to blow up the rock in the mine in order to get to the ore deeper in the ground. In order to do this, miners had to put their lives at risk and tap dynamite into the rock.
A lot of the time, if the miner tapped the dynamite too hard, it would explode and kill them. Saying "Tap 'er Light" is wishing one another luck next time they are in the mine, and hoping that they would not end up killing themselves from tapping dynamite too hard.
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