A historian recounts how influenza brought decimation and struggle to the Treasure State's most prosperous city.

In 1918, Butte, Montana, was an incomparable city. But by the end of the year, it would be forever changed by a deadly pandemic. The Spanish flu swept across the country, killing some 675,000 Americans before year's end. Some of the country's highest mortality rates occurred in its cities-including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, and Butte. In less than six months, the virus killed almost two percent of Butte's residents and overwhelmed public health systems.

Janelle M. Olberding is an independent historian, writer, avid reader, part-time educator and lifelong learner. Her interest in communicable disease was piqued while working in public health, and she began studying its effects on culture and history as a graduate student at Norwich University. She currently works in higher education and lives in Glendive, Montana, with her husband and daughter.

Butte was an incomparable city, but in late 1918, some of the things that made it so exceptional also made it incredibly cruel. That year, the Spanish flu swept across the country, killing some 675,000 Americans before year's end. Some of the country's highest mortality rates occurred in its cities--Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, and Butte. In less than six months, the virus killed almost 2 percent of Butte's residents and overwhelmed public health systems. Experimental treatments, civil unrest, death, and human resilience followed in the dramatic final weeks of the year. Author Janelle Olberding recounts the emotional struggle of the men and women who fought against, suffered from, and succumbed to influenza on the "e;Richest Hill on Earth."e;