Anaconda Smelter Stack

The Anaconda Smelter Stack was built in 1918 as part of a massive copper smelting operation. The first brick of the chimney was set by smelter manager Frederick Laist on May 24, 1918, and construction was completed on November 30, 1918. 

Terra cotta covered the entire surface of the chimney just as it covered its top; by the time of its closure, the bottom 60% had eroded, including the brick octagon, exposing its bricks and reinforcing rods. The terra cotta is now darker than the exposed bricks.

It is 585 feet tall, making it tallest freestanding masonry structure in recorded history. On May 4, 1919, the stack was placed into operation, a monumental occasion as the dark smoke first came billowing from the chimney as visible from miles around, including from I-90 between Deer Lodge and Butte, given its location, situated on top on a hillside of the Anaconda Pintler Mountain Rang foothills. In fact, the Washington Monument (at 555 feet) would easily fit inside this towering smoke stack! A strange and amazing monument to industrialism, when viewed in conjunction with Butte's Berkely Pit, gives an idea of the scale of the mining operations that once dominated this part of the country.

After the smelter was closed in 1981, the stack was saved from demolition by an active community group, and is now a state park. The viewing site for the Anaconda Stack is located at the junction of Park Street (MT Highway 1) and Monroe Street at the eastern edge of Anaconda. The site is adjacent to Goodman Park. Access is limited to the viewing/interpretive area only.