An Irishman born December 5, 1843 in county Caven, Ireland,
Marcus Daly emigrated to the U.S. at the age of fifteen, going west at the age of 20 and finding work in the silver mines of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada. Here he met George Hearst who, among others, was to become a financial backer.
Eventually buying the Anaconda claim, a silver mine in Butte, with the backing of Hearst, the mine struck copper at 300 feet. Copper was just coming into use at the time as an electrical conductor and Daly immediately saw the value of building a nearby copper smelter. This he did, with the backing of Hearst, James Ben Ali Haggin, and Lloyd Tevis. The site of the present day city of Anaconda was chosen for the location of the smelter due to the availability of ample water and limestone for the smelting process.
Daly's search for the ideal smelter location led him to the Deer Lodge Valley, where he chose Anaconda as the new site. It was the location nearest the Butte mines that offered a natural water source sufficient to operate the large scale ore processing. He also planned and founded the city of Anaconda. In the community's early years, Daly assisted in providing the city water supply, lighting system, electric streetcar service, sewer system and public buildings. A dedicated follower of horse racing, Daly promoted the construction of the Anaconda Driving Park, a mile-long racing track featuring a double-decked grandstand that seated 2,000. A number of famous sprinters raced on the track, including Daly's beloved thoroughbred Tammany.
From a plaque at Smokestack Park
While the first smelter was built by Daly, eventually it was twice replaced by larger and more efficient ones, each in a different location near the city. Daly died before the third smelter, the "Washoe Smelter" was completed. The Washoe Smelter, three miles east of the city, continued in operation until its closure in 1981. The smokestack, still the
TALLEST - Brick Smokestack in the World, was saved from demolition and is now a
National Historic Place.
Originally named
Copperopolis, the city was renamed by the postmaster who discovered that there was already a
Copperopolis in Montana. He chose the name
Anaconda after the Anaconda Mine in Butte. Today a city of over 9,000 population, Anaconda is part of the
Butte–Anaconda Historic District, the largest Historic District in the nation with over 6,000 contributing properties. The city itself contains many National Historic sites and districts. Anaconda is the county seat of Deer Lodge County, with the governments of the two amalgamated into one, making the
Deer Lodge County Courthouse also the city hall.
The entry from the American Series book
Montana, A State Guide Book follows.
ANACONDA, 10. 7 m. (5,331 alt., 12,494 pop.), set at the mouth of a narrow valley near the Continental Divide, is almost entirely dependent on the smelting of copper and zinc ores mined near Butte. When copper is in demand, the city has a smelter pay roll of about 3,500 men and is prosperous and, on the whole, content; when the market is sluggish and only skeleton crews work the town suffers.
For a smelter city a mile above sea level, Anaconda is not unattractive. It has many pleasant modern homes, with trees and lawns, to contrast with massive, pillared and turreted structures of the gingerbread period. Its streets are paved and well lighted. But the business section lacks liveliness except when copper is high. Certain districts are overcrowded and in the original settlement on the north side many old log buildings and flimsy frame houses of the mining-camp type are still in use.
Anaconda has an interest for sports that was encouraged by Marcus Daly, whose horses ran in important races both in America and England. The old race track, opposite Washoe Park, has been made into an athletic field. The city's recreational activities reach an annual climax in the Winter Sports Carnival (see RECREATION), which features ski jumping on Oimoen Hill, just south of the city.
Marcus Daly, the originator of Montana's copper industry, personally picked this place for the construction of a copper smelter because of its nearness to ample water and limestone. Daly's decisions were often abrupt and made by rule of thumb. While looking over the site, he saw a cow standing meditatively in the valley. "Main Street," he said to his engineers, "will run north and south straight through that cow."
The city, first called Copperopolis, was platted in 1883. When the postmaster, Clinton H. Moore, learned that a Copperopolis already existed in Meagher County, he looked about for a new name, and thought of the important Anaconda Mine in Butte. Mike Hickey, the discoverer of the Anaconda, had named it after reading in an account of the closing campaign of the Civil War that "Grant encircled Lee like a giant anaconda." Moore chose Anaconda as the name for the new city. The aptness of this second name has been demonstrated by the entire social and economic history of Montana. ...Continued
From Montana, A State Guide Book, Page 368