Clara Clark (1876-1959) and Isabel Little (1883-1936)

Montana Tech's First Female Mining Engineers

2025 Inductees from Mining’s Past

Clara Clark and Isabel Little were members of the first 4-year class at Montana School of Mines (now Montana Technological University) and graduated in 1904. They were Montana Tech’s first female Mining Engineering graduates and blazed trails in the mining industry.

Clara Clark was born in Deer Lodge, MT before moving to Butte. Her family had ties to mining industry. Her father located the Black Rock mining claims and held other claims throughout the Butte district.  Her brother managed the United Verde Mine in Jerome, Arizona. Clark was the very first student to enroll at the Montana School of Mines. Upon graduation, Clark held the inaugural meeting of the Montana School of Mines Alumni Association on June 10, 1904.

Clark represented the State of Montana several times at the American Mining Congress as the only female life member.  At the 1905 convention in El Paso, Clark was in the advance guard of the Montana delegation and was the special representative of the Mayor of Butte.  Clara was introduced as the “only woman mining engineer in the west,” a claim she quickly disclaimed by recognizing her classmate, Isabel Little, and another woman who graduated from the Colorado School of Mines. 

Clark distinguished herself as the “Queen of the Mountains” when she argued for a Department of Mines position in President Theodore Roosevelt’s cabinet. While a cabinet position was not created, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was established immediately following Roosevelt’s presidency in 1910 reflecting the importance of mining. Clark was an assayer in Gibsonville, ID, a mining consultant for Copper King William A. Clark for whom she evaluated ore deposits in neighboring states, and owned portions of mining claims in Butte.  In 1907, Clara married James Reese and chose to leave the mining profession, but continued to inspire other women to become mining engineers. She and James had three children, and she died on October 21, 1959, in Los Angeles, California.

Heralding from Baltimore, Maryland, Isabel Little moved to Butte, to live with her aunt while attending Montana School of Mines. Little initially set her sights on mathematics but became fascinated with Mining Engineering while doing fieldwork at the Ophir, Colusa Parrot, and Neversweat mines.  She graduated with honors, which was featured in the national news. Little was often credited as the only woman mining engineer, a fact she also disclaimed, mentioning her friend Clara Clark.

After graduation, she spoke of the hardships she experienced in the underground mines and of the miners who were reluctant to allow women underground.  She worked as an assayer, a mining consultant, and was ahead of her time as a promoter of women in Mining Engineering. Little married Leon Clark Stevenson, whom she met while he attended Montana School of Mines in 1906. They had two children together.  Little passed away in Virginia on November 21, 1936.

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