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.

It is 585 feet tall, making it tallest freestanding masonry structure recorded in history. On May 4, 1919, the stack was placed into operation, a monumental occasion as the dark smoke first came billowing from the chimney asw 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.