Thompson Park is a 3,500-acre municipal recreation area jointly managed by the City-County of Butte-Silver Bow County and the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, offering views of past mining activity, rock formations, scenic vistas, and wildlife. More than 25 miles of non-motorized trails are available for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking, including the historic Milwaukee Railroad, or Milwaukee Road, which forms the backbone of the park trails as a gently sloping 4.5-mile route with several trailhead and picnic area access points, two tunnels, a 600-foot steel trestle, and views of the Continental Divide. The park began as one of William Boyce Thompson’s philanthropic endeavors; born in 1869 in Virginia City and raised in Butte, he worked in his father’s mines, later studied in New York to become a mining engineer, became a self-made millionaire and financier, and founded Newmont Mining Corporation. In 1922, his original land gift was combined with federal lands by act of Congress to create the expansive park, and beginning in 1935 the Works Progress Administration made major improvements. Civic groups including the Rotary, Lion's, and Kiwanis clubs, along with volunteers and support from the Natural Resource Damage Program, Recreation Trails Program, Margaret T. Biddle Foundation, Newmont Mining, and Northwestern Energy, have continued to aid the park’s development.