Anaconda Copper Mining Company was started in 1881 when Marcus Daly bought a small silver mine called Anaconda near Butte, Montana. At the time, Daly was working for the Walker Bros. (mining investors) of Salt Lake City, Utah, as a mine manager and engineer of the Alice, a silver mine in Walkerville, a suburb of Butte. While working in the Alice, he noticed significant quantities of high grade copper ore. Daly obtained permission from the owner of the Anaconda and several other mines in the area, to inspect the workings. He was a geologist and knew the red mineral he was looking at. Daly recommended the mine to the Walker Bros., who sent another geologist to inspect the Anaconda. Daly's employers were not interested in the mine, and he sold his interest in the Alice to purchase it himself.