Anaconda

Anaconda is a city in southwestern Montana that spreads across a wide valley at 1,626 meters (5,335 feet) elevation. A 178-meter (585-foot) smokestack from a former copper smelter rises beside historic brick and stone buildings.

Marcus Daly founded the settlement in 1883 to smelt copper ore from Butte, initially calling it Copperopolis. The renaming to Anaconda followed shortly after as the smelting works began operations and the town became the center of copper processing.

The city took its name from Daly's mine in Butte, chosen to evoke the scale of his copper enterprise. The Washoe Theater from 1936 still screens films today and features Nuevo Deco elements that were unusual for the era.

Montana Highway 1 and Interstate 90 pass through the area and provide access to the town. Lodging is available near the Old Works Golf Course and Discovery Ski Area, both within 30 minutes' drive.

The Old Works Golf Course was designed by Jack Nicklaus on the site of former industrial works and uses black slag bunkers from the mining era. These bunkers give the course an appearance found nowhere else and recall what once stood here.

Location: Deer Lodge County

Inception: 1883

Elevation above the sea: 1,626 m

Website: http://adlc.us

GPS coordinates: 46.12778,-112.95833

Latest update: December 13, 2025 19:02