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| Norma Miner Hartley July 1914 - April 1992 |
Copper and Copper
Production
Most copper ores contain
only a very small percentage of copper metal, with the vast majority
of the ore being unwanted rock. The average grade of copper ores is
below 0.6% copper, with a proportion of economic minerals (including
copper) being less than 2% of the total volume of the ore rock.
Through a series of
intensive processes in which copper ore passes – iterations of
being crushed, saturated with acid, melted down, and more –
valuable, pure copper is eventully extracted and can then put to use
for many good purposes.
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| Copper |
One of the favorable properties of
copper is that it is an excellent conductor of electricity. It is
better at this than any other metal except for silver, being only slightly behind. In every aspect of electricity generation, transmission and
use, copper is the vital metal.
Although copper has many
beneficial uses, mining it takes great effort and may come at a
great cost. With these ideas in mind, we can now get on to Butte, Montana and my grandmother.
Butte, Montana, a
Rugged Mining Town
Butte, Montana is a copper
mining town. It was established in 1891 when Anaconda Mining Company
bought out all the small, independent gold and silver mining claims
and set up a major mining operation. In a short time, copper became
king. By the 1920’s, Butte was a “boom town” with 60,000
people. Located in southwestern Montana, Butte was known as "the
richest hill on earth."
Deep beneath the residents
of Butte are more than 10,000 miles of wooden-framed mining tunnels,
some of which descend more than a mile below ground level. In 1955,
in addition to the maze of tunnels, Anaconda started excavating an
immense open pit copper mine called the Berkley Pit.
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| Uptown Butte, taken in 2003 |
Copper mining is a hard
and dirty business, and consequently it attracted hard and rough
people to Butte. Bars and brothels were plentiful. City officials
were “owned” by the mine owners, and could be bought for the
right price. Air and water pollution were extremely bad. No fish
could survive in the city’s contaminated Silver Bow Creek. There
were no broadleaf trees.
Charlie and Norma
Hartley
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| Charlie and Norma Hartley Taken in 1936 |
Meanwhile, in Salt Lake
City, Utah, a young family was growing; the Charles and Norma Hartley
family. Charles Alton Hartley, Jr., known as “Charlie,” was a
freight and passenger agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad, Texas
born, and a non-practicing Catholic. Norma Miner Hartley was a
Utah-bred, practicing Mormon. By 1942 they had three sons, Charles
Alton the Third (“Chuck”), Bryan Paul (“Bryan”), and William
George (“Billy”).
Little Chuck was born in
1936, and almost from the time of his birth, he suffered from serious
asthma and allergies. Asthma nearly took his life in 1938 when he was
18-months old.
In May 1942, doctors discovered that three-month old Billy had glaucoma and was given a
98% chance of going completely blind.
In 1944, Charlie and
Norma's daughter Raylene was born. When Raylene was two, in 1946, she
wandered into the street to pick up a shiny object and was tragically run over by a milk truck.
These were very
challenging events for my grandparents, and Raylene's death was
particularly devastating.
Transferred to Butte
Shortly before Raylene’s
death, the Southern Pacific had transferred Charlie to Butte,
Montana. He was there looking for housing when he received word of
the tragedy with Raylene. It’s hard to imagine how Charlie and
Norma must have felt moving to Butte and leaving their precious
daughter behind. Charlie was sent to Butte as a Southern Pacific
freight agent to win a portion of Anaconda’s ore and copper
shipping business. In addition, he serviced about two-thirds of the
state arranging for the shipment by rail of grain, livestock, and
canned produce. He didn’t have an office. Instead, Charlie worked
out of a small room in his home and maintained a post office box in
downtown Butte. He even built his own sturdy, wooden desk on which to
work. Generally, he traveled around Montana three or more days per
week, normally by bus or train, visiting clients and fellow railroad
agents.
Butte, however, was not a
place where a family man was eager to raise a family. It was
exceedingly painful for Norma to move to an ugly, rugged copper
mining town with three young boys, leaving the support of her family,
her church, and being so far away from her daughter’s fresh grave.
In 1949, a fifth child was
born to Charlie and Norma. Richard M (“Richy”) was born in
Butte’s aging Catholic hospital, St. James.
In 1950, a sixth child was
born, Mary Elizabeth. But Norma had earlier contracted the flu and
delivered Mary prematurely at about seven months. Mary only lived for
five hours. Mary got the flu from Norma and died from hemorrhaging
of the bowels. An autopsy showed the virus all through her intestinal
tract. Charlie and Norma buried their baby girl next to her sister
Raylene in Salt Lake City.
Living in Butte and losing
Mary stretched Norma emotionally and spiritually nearly beyond her
ability to bear it. But, good neighbors and the little branch of
faithful Mormon members rallied around the Hartley’s.
Later, Norma stated that
she obtained her testimony of God, the Savior, and the divinity of
the LDS Church while she struggled in Butte. Charlie struggled deeply
as well, but those struggles led him to question whether there is a
loving, personal God. He remained more-or-less agnostic.
An Ultimatum
Norma’s devotion to her
church created friction in their marriage. Charlie traveled most of
the days of the week, but was generally home on weekends. He wanted
his wife to be home when he was and resented Norma’s attendance at
Sunday worship services, which typically dominated the entire day.
Once Charlie’s
frustration boiled over and he gave her an ultimatum: she would have
to choose between him and her church. Norma’s response? “If
you want me to choose between you and my church then you’d better
start packing your bags!”
He didn’t, and she kept
going to church. Ultimately, the two were married for 42 years until
Charlie passed away in 1976. Furthermore, for a few years leading
up to his death, Charlie actually ended up attending church with
Norma, listened and participated during Sunday school, and
enthusiastically sang church hymns even though he was always off-key.
Norma's faith and devotion were certainly an influence on Charlie for
him to start doing such things.
Norma's
Valuable "Copper"
So, after many struggles
and challenges (particularly while living in Butte) – almost as if Norma were copper ore being crushed,
drenched in acid and melted down – her valuable "copper"
came – a testimony of God, the Savior, and the divinity of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Like
real copper, Norma's "copper" was also an excellent
conductor. Norma's "copper" helped conduct great faith and
strong devotion to the majority of her children, including my father Jim, allowing the light of the gospel to
shine in their lives. Faithfulness and devotion have already been
conducted to other generations as well, which includes me as a beneficiary. As of this writing (March 2018), an estimated ~75 of Norma's currently living descendants (out of ~95) treasure the gospel of Jesus Christ in
their own lives, which has been a tremendous blessing for them and others.
If
it were not for my grandmother's refined faith and testimony of the
gospel, many others would not have the light of the
gospel in their lives. Her positive influence cannot be overstated. Grandma
Hartley's life and example were certainly like copper in a number of
ways.
***
Major portions and
adaptions for this family story came from the following:
* James E. Hartley: My
Story, March 2018
* Remembering Norma
Miner Hartley Haymond from William G. Hartley, Richard M Hartley,
June 2014
Other Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper
Email and other communications between me (Tom Hartley), Jim Hartley (son of Norma), and Susan Hartley (wife of Bryan Hartley, son of Norma)
Email and other communications between me (Tom Hartley), Jim Hartley (son of Norma), and Susan Hartley (wife of Bryan Hartley, son of Norma)
