ANACONDA - The giant smelter stack that looms over the city of Anaconda was shutdown permanently 45 years ago forever changing the economy of Anaconda and Butte, but this massive monument to industry still has significance today.

MTN News

“Thirty-two hundred people in Butte and Anaconda that lost their jobs on that day when they made that decision,” said Fritz Daily who was a state legislator at the time of the closing.

It was Sept. 29 th , 1980, when the Atlantic-Richfield Co. closed the smelter. The 585-foot tall stack is the largest free-standing brick structure in the world. At the time of its closing, the city considered demolishing it.

“It was actually the residents of Deer Lodge County that went to the courthouse to ask, like, ‘hey this is really important, it’s a huge piece o

See Full Page