A SMOKESTACK
TURNS 100 By SUSAN DUNLAP susan.dunlap@mtstandard.com
The tiny town of Anaconda has something big to celebrate this year. Its greatest landmark – the Washoe Smelter stack – turns 100 years old. Built in 1919, the former Anaconda Company’s smelter stack stands at 585-feet tall. It is one of the tallest free-standing brick structures in the world. The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is 555 feet tall, by way of comparison. The stack contains over two million bricks which were manufactured locally. The inside diameter is 75 feet at the bottom. It tapers to 60 feet at the top. The former smelter – operations ended in 1980 – is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. After the smelter shut down, there was a plan to dismantle the stack. But citizens of Anaconda led the charge to preserve the stack and turn it into a state park. Access to a viewing and interpretive area is free. The stack may be viewed or photographed only from a distance. However, plans for a week-long celebra-
tion expected to commence around Aug. 8, to celebrate the stack’s centennial are being made. The date August 8 is significant to the Smelter City because that is Smelterman’s Day. When the company still operated the smoke stack, the town’s smelter workers and their families gathered for a picnic, To commemorate a parade, and there the completion of Anaconda’s Washoe were races for kids. Smelter stack in The town will be 1918, this postcard able to gather to cel- was published. The ebrate that life once stack weighed in at more. The stories of nearly 24,000 tons. the life of the smelt- Bricks used to build ermen are being it totaled 6,672,214. gathered by students for an oral history on what that life entailed. Black slag mounds line Highway 1 along the route leading to Anaconda from interstates 15-90. That is a reminder of how important the smelter once was to the town’s economy and of the environmental cost of processing Butte’s copper. The slag piles and Anaconda are still part of one of the largest - and longest running - Superfund cleanups in the United States.
39th ANNUAL ARt IN thE WAShOE PARK IN ANACONDA!
SponSored by Copper Village art MuSeuM Featuring new bands and artists.
July 20, 21, 22
Hours
Friday: 3-5:30 pm Short Notice,
6-10 pm Wayne Brothers Night Life Band Friday - Noon to 10:00 P.M. Saturday - 10:00 A.M. TO 9:30 P.M. Saturday: Noon - 3 pm Andy Larson; 3:30 to 6 pm Shane Clouse, 7-10 pm Ken Rich Sunday - 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Sunday: 1 to 4 pm Kelly Hughes
If you go As Rediscover Montana was going to print, Anaconda community leaders were still working out the details of the upcoming centennial celebration. To get updates and further information on what’s happening that week, contact Anaconda’s Chamber of Commerce at 406-563-2400. Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park is open all year. The park is located at the junction of Park Street (Highway 1) and Monroe Street on the eastern edge of Anaconda, adjacent to Benny Goodman Park.
80 Art and Craft Booths | 20 Food Vendors
42 R E D I S C O V E R M O N TA N A
SPRING/SUMMER 2018