Anaconda Smelter Site, Montana

Anaconda formed when a smelter was built here in 1883, to process copper from the mines in Butte, a few miles away.  The smelter expanded into one of the largest facilities of its type in the country by 1919, with a 585 foot tall smokestack that was the tallest masonry structure in the world. When the Atlantic Ridgefield Company (ARCO) took possession of the operations at Butte, including the Berkeley Pit, and the smelter in Anaconda, it ceased production, and began the work of cleaning up what would become part of the largest superfund site in the country: the 120 miles from the pit, to the smelter, to the Clark Fork Dam. The smelter was torn down, with the exception of the stack, which is visible for miles. Part of the site has been turned into Anaconda Stack State Park. Another area was turned into the Old Works Golf Course. Remediation and treatment of smelter site and the tailings pile continues. Access to the base of the stack is still not permitted due to soil contamination at the site.