Rick Foote and Pam Swiger came to the booth to talk about their time as reporters in the 1960s for Montana’s major newspaper, The Montana Standard. They would cover their beat around town by hopping from one watering hole to the next, getting the latest scoop from the miners and madames who would stay up all night drinking.

The famous M&M bar, one of the many bars Rick and Pam frequented, used to be a round-the-clock drinking parlor and gambling house that catered to miners after a hard day of work. When beat poet Jack Kerouac happened to come upon the M&M in 1970, he described the characters in the place: “old prospectors, gamblers, whores, miners, Indians, cowboys, tobacco chewing businessmen” and maybe even Rick and Pam. Kerouac also proclaimed that the M&M was “the end of [his] quest for an ideal bar.” After a brief pause during the hard economic times of the 1980s in Butte, the M&M is once again a 24-hour bar. What else can we say but cheers to that.

Opened in 1955 by the Anaconda Mining Company, the Berkeley Pit was the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the United States. Due to falling copper prices, mining was shut down in 1982. With the closing of the mines and all their water pumps, highly acidic water laced with toxic heavy metals filled up the pit. Today the Pit is a reminder of Butte’s mining past and now lays claim to being one of the largest Superfund, or environmentally hazardous, sites in the country.

With the expansion of the Pit, thousands of homes in the Italian neighborhood of Meaderville were destroyed. The photographs show the contrast of what used to be the town of Meaderville in 1942 and what has become of the area in 2007.

Despite environmental damage wrought by years of mining, Butte rejoices in its beauty. Nestled in the mountains at an elevation of around 5000 feet, Butte also has huge lengths of mining tunnels thousands of feet underground. As the saying goes, Butte’s a mile high, a mile deep, and the people are on the level.

Relics of Butte’s mining history remain. Besides Copper Street, there’s Mercury Road, Iron Road, Platinum Road, and a host of others. Headframes of mines dot the landscape, towering hundreds of feet into the air, stark steel signifiers of what once was the Richest Hill On Earth.

Hats off, or on, to Louise Brooks, artist-in-residence in Butte, for taking us out to the countryside.

With raging appetites from the hike, Mitra and Daniel took advantage of the hospitality of Trixi’s Antler Saloon and Family Diner, the best bar/restaurant in Ovando, Montana and pretty much the only one, too.

Stop by when you’re next in the area and check out the pictures of Trixi, the bar’s namesake, in her trick horse-riding prime.

In Butte we’ve parked ourselves outside of a beautiful old theater. Originally built as a Masonic temple in 1923, the reconstructed theatre was named The Mother Lode to reflect Butte’s mining heritage as the "Richest Hill on Earth."

Here’s a view of the interior of the Mother Lode Theater. Notice the lovely chandeliers, the rich velvet trim, and the StoryCorps opening reception in progress. Michael Marsolek from Montana Public Broadcasting gave a few words to let folks know about the project. Also, Butte pasties were served.

Facilitator Mitra Bonshahi and MTPR’s Michael Marsolek catch the brunt of the media crush.

The opening of the project was front page news in The Montana Standard.

George Everett was brought to the booth by his wife Barbara Miller, who thought it was time to turn the tables on George. As a historian of Butte, he’s constantly asking folks questions about it, and now had to answer a few himself. As you can see, the answers were satisfactory. Welcome to the StoryCorps MobileKissingBooth West.

Not only that, but we wave goodbye to Facilitator Jenna Weiss-Berman, who returns to New York with three months of MobileBooth touring under her belt. Co-Facilitator Mitra Bonshahi will miss her.

Luckily, a new Facilitator, Daniel Littlewood, has arrived from New York to keep the ball rolling.

Together Mitra and Daniel headed west, en route to Butte, Montana. On the way they saw the remarkable Devils Tower of northeast Wyoming (you may remember it from Close Encounters of the Third Kind). This 1267 foot tall monolith is the first National Monument of the United States, named as such in 1906. Sadly, the picture doesn’t do justice to its immensity, but know it’s really BIG.

Determined to emulate the fun had by South Dakotans, we set out on a quest to find our own fun and discovered that there is TONS of fun to be had here!

Above, Jenna takes a wild ride on a bucking bronco at the biggest HyVee (supermarket chain) in the country, located right here in Sioux Falls.

Mitra glides gracefully down the slide at local hotspot, the Wal-Mart Superstore.

As for night life, we put on our Dead Sea imported face masks. Then it’s early to bed, early to rise to make these ladies healthy, wealthy and wise.

Mitra works on perfecting her talent of riding a bike through two hotel rooms while simultaneously playing her harmonica.

Philip Sietstra (left) was interviewed by his son, James Sietstra (right), who told many wonderful farm stories, including one about riding a pet hog with his brother as a child and accidentally causing the hog to have a heart attack. Whoa Nellie, slow down hog!

Local artist Carl Grupp (left) came in with his friend Gale Mord (right). Carl says that in life, “we create a myth of who we are and then we try to live up to that myth.” As a result, he has been trying to live up to that myth throughout his life by creating soul-searching, autobiographical art.

First built in 1892, the a-maize-ing palace was meant to showcase the rich soil of South Dakota and encourage people to settle in the area. In present day, the palace serves as a venue where such annual events like the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo are held displaying the husk-y cowboys of South Dakota.

Not only are they acting corn-y in this blog post, but they can been seen above acting corn-y at the Palace.

Upon entering the Falls gift shop, Jenna found none other than Mitra Bonshahi, traverser of the Great Plains (above, sporting a South Dakota-made buffalo hat).

As they returned to downtown Sioux Falls, the booth awaited them in front of the Washington Pavillion of Arts and Sciences (above), ready to capture the stories of America’s Heartland.

The booth’s site, Connecticut’s beautifully restored Old State House, was also the site of the Hartford Witch Trials, the lesser known precursors of the Salem Witch Trials. Lucky for us, the stocks are no longer in use; her true wickedness discovered, Mitra was only sent home to Brooklyn, to work in the New York booths. Ryan, pure of heart, was spared.