DescriptionAnaconda is the creation of Copper King Marcus Daly, who financed the construction of a smelter on nearby Warm Springs Creek to process copper ore from the Butte mines. In June 1883, Daly filed a town plat for “Copperopolis,” but that name already graced a mining town in Meagher County. Instead, Daly named the town for his Anaconda Mine. The Anaconda Company expanded smelting capacity over time, and by 1919 the Washoe Reduction Works could boast that its 585-foot smokestack was the tallest masonry structure in the world and that the smelter-refining complex constituted the world’s largest nonferrous processing plant. In 1980, Atlantic Richfield Company closed the smelter, bringing an end to almost a century of mineral processing. The Commercial, Goosetown, Old Works, West Side, and Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway historic districts are listed in the National Register, along with Anaconda’s Art Deco–style Club Moderne, Deer Lodge County Courthouse, Washoe Theatre, and City Hall. EPersonal NamesDaly, MarcusOther Name(s)CopperopolisContributing InstitutionMontana Historical Society Library and ArchivesGeolocation[1] Elevation5246 ft.CountyDeer Lodge County
