Frederick "Fritz" Augustus Heinze () (December 5, 1869 – November 4, 1914) was an American businessman, known as one of the three Copper Kings of Butte, Montana, along with William Andrews Clark and Marcus Daly. He was an intelligent, charismatic and devious character, but was also seen as a hero especially by many of the citizens of Montana. Early life Fritz Augustus Heinze was born in Brooklyn, New York, to wealthy immigrant parents, Otto Heinze, from Germany and Elizabeth "Lida" Lacey, from Ireland. He was named Fritz but generally went by F. Augustus, and later by the name Frederick. He was very bright and had a good education in Germany (from 9 to 15 years of age) and at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now part of NYU) and was fluent in various languages. He then graduated from Columbia School of Mines, New York, in 1889. Instead of undertaking further studies in Germany, as his father wished, he headed west to Colorado and Salt Lake City to pursue his interest in mining. Mining interests in Montana Heinze went to Butte, Montana, in 1889 as a mining engineer for the Boston and Montana Company. He became known for his hard drinking and fun-loving antics in Butte's saloons and gambling dens, whilst donning society dress and having a shy demeanor and polished manners that impressed the ladies. Assisted by an inheritance of $50,000 from his recently deceased father, Heinze revelled in working hard to be a significant player. In 1894, Heinze's Montana Ore Purchasing Company opened a sophisticated new smelter, allowing Heinze to offer low-priced smelting to small mining companies. Originally, Heinze had to lease mines and secure ore from independent companies in order to keep operating. Heinze was able to locate rich ore bodies and the Rarus Mine, purchased in 1895, turned out to be one of Butte's premier mining properties. Heinze had arrived in Butte well after the "Copper Kings", William A. Clark and Marcus Daly were already established, (Daly's company was the Anaconda Copper, after 1899 known as the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company whose directors William Rockefeller and Henry H. Rogers also were major figures for Standard Oil). In order to catch up, Heinze's strategies included reducing the working day for his miners from ten to eight hours and they considered him a hero. The General Mining Act of 1872 allowed a mine owner to excavate the veins that outcropped on