"The Raider of the Copper Hill" or "The King of the Copper Hill" is a 1993 Scrooge McDuck comic by

Don Rosa Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known simply as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his Disney comics stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and other characters which Carl Barks created for Di ...

. It is the fourth of the original 12 chapters in the series ''

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck ''The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck'' (''Lo'') is a serial of 12 comic book stories written and drawn by Don Rosa, lettered by Todd Klein (American editions), first published by the Danish publisher Egmont in the magazine ''Anders And & Co.'' ...

''. The story takes place from 1884 to 1885. The story was first published in the Danish '' Anders And & Co.'' #1993-02; the first American publication was in ''

Uncle Scrooge ''Uncle Scrooge'' (stylized as ''Uncle $crooge'') is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in ...

'' #288, in October 1994.

Storyline

The competition in the cattle business in the

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

is growing bigger, and less profitable. Sixteen-seventeen year old teenager Scrooge McDuck's employer,

Murdo MacKenzie Murdo MacKenzie (April 24, 1850 – May 30, 1939) was twice (1891–1901 and 1922–1937) manager of the Scots-owned Matador Land and Cattle Company, and founding president of the American Stock Growers Association, for whom he testified before co ...

decides to quit, and therefore has to let Scrooge go. Scrooge is not sad, but decides to try his luck as a

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

. There is no luck in it, but he does find some

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

. Eating dinner in town at night with

Marcus Daly Marcus Daly (December 5, 1841 – November 12, 1900) was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the three " Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, United States. Early life Daly emigrated from County Cavan, Ireland, to the United States ...

, owner of the shut down Anaconda Silver Mine which has found tonnes of copper, he does find out that the government is putting up electric wire, made of copper, making the price skyrocket. Thus he again starts prospecting, but doesn't know how to dig the best way, until Howard Rockerduck gives him some help. They find a small copper vein, that is the same as that off the Anaconda Mine, which is making a lot of money. Rockerduck does know of the Apex law and due to this, Scrooge becomes the owner of the Anaconda Mine. He is however forced to sell it back to Marcus Daly for ten thousand dollars, as he receives a

telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

from his father, asking him to come home, since there is a "terrible crisis for the Clan McDuck" going on. Scrooge leaves for Scotland after five years in America, and as the ship sets sail from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

he thinks to himself that a statue should be placed there, to welcome people seeking a chance to succeed on their own terms. Behind him - where he can't see it - the Statue of Liberty is under construction.

External links

*
''Raider of the Copper Hill'' on Duckman
Fiction set in 1884 Fiction set in 1885 1993 in comics Donald Duck comics by Don Rosa Comics set in the 1880s Comics set in Montana Comics set in New York City Disney comics stories The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck {{Disney-comics-stub