Bozeman Library

Extreme History

Marcus Daly’s Montana Empires

Discover Marcus Daly who rose from poor Irish immigrant to Gilded Age magnate. Historian Brenda Wahler’s meticulous research peels back the layers of a complex figure.

Historian Brenda Wahler’s meticulous research peels back the layers of a complex figure, revealing his historic influence and legacy.

With business savvy homed in the West’s rowdy mining camps, Marcus Daly rose from poor Irish immigrant to Gilded Age magnate. From the Anaconda Copper Company's mines in Butte, Montana, to America’s largest smelter in a town he also named Anaconda, Daly made a fortune. He used it to build his dream—a Bitterroot Valley ranch and a horse racing empire that stretched from California to New York. Meanwhile, his gregarious and generous façade hid a sly manipulator, one locked in a battle for political dominance with rival copper king W.A. Clark.

A fourth-generation Montanan who lives near Helena, Brenda Wahler is an attorney, author, independent historian, and horsewoman. Marcus Daly's Montana Empires: Copper Mining, Racehorses, & Politics is Wahler's powerful conclusion to the story of Marcus Daly that began with her previous book, Marcus Daly’s Road to Montana.

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