The Making of a Copper King! Born in 1841 to tenant farmers, Marcus Daly came from rural Ireland to New York as a boy. Having learned the big city's harsh lessons, he traveled to the mining camps of California, Nevada, Utah, and later to Montana seeking silver. Then, a spectacular discovery in the Anaconda mine made him one of Montana's famed Copper Kings. Yet, his early life remained shrouded in myth. His widow burned his personal papers after his death. Except for his machinations in state politics and the shaping of Butte into the "Richest Hill on Earth,'? his path from farm boy to mining king has remained overlooked. For the first time, author Brenda Wahler brings his secretive and formative early years to life.