This park was constructed in 2000, predominantly by Anaconda Job Corps students and staff. It is as much a memorial park as anything, with many, many memorial pavers and plaques, primarily in memory of past employees of the Anaconda Copper Company, builder of the smelter where the smokestack still stands.
In the park are several interpretive signs which elaborate upon the history of the smelter and the smokestack as well as the NRHP plaque, outlining the smokestack's place on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Cantered in the park is a large i metre high brick circle, the inside edge of which equals the diameter of the top of the smokestack. Surrounding the brick circle is an octagonal concrete pad, the diameter of which equals the diameter of the smoke stack at its base.
Several meters to the northwest of the circle and pad is this rusty old ore cart, surrounded by a trio of miners. Ore carts such as this may have been used in the operation of the smelter during its early years. It's likely, however, that larger, more efficient, carts came into use in later years.
This is a rear dump cart, with a handle on the front which released the tailgate when the ore box was tipped to unload it. When at work, this cart would have been joined to dozens of other carts, making up a train of ore cars which carried ore to its intended destination.
Anaconda Copper Company Smelter Stack
The old Anaconda Copper Company smelter stack, completed in 1919, is one of the tallest free-standing brick structures in the world at 585 feet. The inside diameter is 75 feet at the bottom, tapering to 60 feet at the top. In comparison, the Washington Monument is 555 feet tall.
The stack dominates the landscape like the company once dominated the area's economic life. Since the smelter closed in 1980, the stack has become a symbol of the challenges that face communities dependent on finite resources.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the stack may be viewed and photographed only from a distance. Interpretive signs that detail its history are located in the viewing site near Goodman Park.
From Montana State Parks