Even so, the connection to whaling is significant, especially in the late 19th and early 20th century, as the all-important copper to protect ships' hulls from the ravages of ice, parasites, and abrasion was mined and smelted in greater quantities in Montana than perhaps anywhere else (notably in Butte and Anaconda).

It was afterwards rolled and formed at such places as Waterbury, Connecticut (see the drawing The "John P. West" Hove Down for Coppering in "Whaling in the South Seas").