“In 1880, Nate Leavengood's meadow, where Anaconda now stands, was a lush and quiet place. As far as the eye could see in all directions there was nothing but the valley, the swelling foothills and mountain ramparts…four years later, the meadow was gone…there had been no gradual encroachment of civilization, no creeping in of small farms and little stores. There was no village. First there was nothing, and then all of a sudden there was the world's largest smelter and around it a raw new city.” — K. Ross Toole

For many Montanans, the name Anaconda is a symbol of the state’s raucous history of copper smelting, labor strife, environmental struggles and political upheaval. Anaconda has not only lived at the center of this history, but weathered it to become a thriving, modern community, and

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