Montana has an unusual monument that captures a unique history: the smelter of the Anaconda Copper Company. It is one of the tallest free-standing brick structures in the world. It is 585 feet tall and was completed 1919. The inside diameter is 75 feet at the bottom, tapering to 60 feet at the top.

The stack dominates the landscape just 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.

One of the smoke stack’s claim to fame is that the Washington Monument would fit inside the stack’s brick portion (except for their lowest 100 feet where an overlap of as much as one foot at each corner would occur.)

The Anaconda Smoke Stack has been something that we have tried to fit into our route whenever we are in this part of Montana, but we’ve always missed it. One less item now on our bucket list!