Today's Tidbit... Fourth Of July Football In 1895 Butte

From football's beginning in America's Eastern colleges, the game was played almost exclusively in the fall. Only on the West Coast and in the Rockies did 19th-century teams play football at other times of the year, with some playing football year-round.

One team that played year-round at times was the Butte Football Club Miners, who primarily played West Coast club teams and college and club teams from west of the Mississippi. One of their games, a contest against the Omaha YMCA team, was part of Butte's Fourth of July Celebration in 1895.

Butte was a mining town of 25,000 inhabitants in 1895; the number was reduced by 57 after two warehouses storing dynamite exploded in January. A rough-and-tumble town filled with immigrant miners, some appreciated American football as players and fans, so the newly-formed Butte Miners scheduled a football game as part of the city’s broader celebration on the 4th.

The Miners played their first game in April 1895, beating the Spokane Athletic Club 18-0, and followed that by beating the Salt Lake City YMCA 52-0 at the end of May.