Anaconda, county seat of Anaconda City/Deer Lodge County, is located in mountainous southwestern Montana. The Continental Divide passes within 8 miles (13 km) of the community with the local Pintler Mountain range reaching 10,379 feet (3164 m). According to the 2004 US Census the population is 9,088, with a per capita personal income of $21,163 and a median household income of $26,305. It is the ninth biggest city in Montana. Central Anaconda is 5,335 feet (1626 m) above sea level, and is surrounded by the communities of Opportunity and West Valley.
The county area is 741 square miles (1,920 km2), characterized by densely timbered forestlands, lakes, mountains and recreation grounds. The county has common borders with Beaverhead, Butte-Silver Bow, Granite, Jefferson and Powell counties.
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Anaconda was founded by Marcus Daly, one of the Copper Kings, 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 for a town plat for “Copperopolis,” but that name already graced a mining town in Meagher County. Instead, Daly accepted the name "Anaconda" from the postmaster of the time, Clinton Moore.
In 1903, the Socialist Party of America won its first victory west of the Mississippi when Anaconda elected a socialist mayor, treasurer, police judge, and three councilmen. The Socialist Party had grown within the Montana labor movement. Initially, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company tolerated them, but when the Socialists gained political power and threatened to implement reform, the company systematically undermine the radical party. City workers and councilmen refused to cooperate with the new mayor, and the company began to fire Socialists. In the long run labor lost ground in Anaconda and the company exerted ever greater political control.[1]
The Anaconda Company expanded smelting capacity over time, and by 1919 the Washoe Reduction Works could boast that its 585-foot (178 m) smokestack (Anaconda Smelter Stack) 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.[2] Since then, an operation for environmental cleanup was put into place by the Environmental Protection Agency and executed with the assistance of ARCO. The multi-million dollar cleanup and investment has resulted in the formation of "Old Works" Golf Course, a championship 18-hole course designed by Jack Nicklaus.
Part of Anaconda is included in the Butte-Anaconda Historic District.
| Climate data for Anaconda | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 60 (16) |
65 (18) |
71 (22) |
83 (28) |
89 (32) |
95 (35) |
100 (38) |
98 (37) |
95 (35) |
88 (31) |
71 (22) |
60 (16) |
100 (38) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 35.2 (1.8) |
39.9 (4.4) |
46.6 (8.1) |
55.3 (12.9) |
64.2 (17.9) |
72.8 (22.7) |
80.4 (26.9) |
80.5 (26.9) |
70.2 (21.2) |
58.4 (14.7) |
42.5 (5.8) |
34.9 (1.6) |
56.74 (13.75) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 24.2 (−4.3) |
28.2 (−2.1) |
34.4 (1.3) |
41.8 (5.4) |
50.0 (10.0) |
57.8 (14.3) |
63.6 (17.6) |
63.4 (17.4) |
54.1 (12.3) |
44.2 (6.8) |
31.3 (−0.4) |
24.0 (−4.4) |
43.08 (6.16) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 13.1 (−10.5) |
16.5 (−8.6) |
22.1 (−5.5) |
28.3 (−2.1) |
35.7 (2.1) |
42.7 (5.9) |
46.8 (8.2) |
46.3 (7.9) |
38.0 (3.3) |
30.0 (−1.1) |
20.1 (−6.6) |
13.1 (−10.5) |
29.39 (−1.45) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −28 (−33) |
−35 (−37) |
−12 (−24) |
4 (−16) |
17 (−8) |
27 (−3) |
30 (−1) |
25 (−4) |
12 (−11) |
−9 (−23) |
−22 (−30) |
−38 (−39) |
−38 (−39) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 0.58 (14.7) |
0.46 (11.7) |
1.04 (26.4) |
1.17 (29.7) |
1.85 (47) |
1.93 (49) |
1.43 (36.3) |
1.47 (37.3) |
1.14 (29) |
0.84 (21.3) |
0.84 (21.3) |
0.63 (16) |
13.38 (339.9) |
| Source no. 1: NOAA (normals, 1971-2000) [3] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: The Weather Channel (Records) [4] | |||||||||||||
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1880 | 700 |
|
|
| 1890 | 3,975 | 467.9% | |
| 1900 | 9,453 | 137.8% | |
| 1910 | 10,134 | 7.2% | |
| 1920 | 11,668 | 15.1% | |
| 1930 | 12,494 | 7.1% | |
| 1940 | 11,004 | −11.9% | |
| 1950 | 11,254 | 2.3% | |
| 1960 | 12,054 | 7.1% | |
| 1970 | 9,771 | −18.9% | |
| 1980 | 12,518 | 28.1% | |
| 1990 | 10,278 | −17.9% | |
| 2000 | 9,417 | −8.4% | |
| Est. 2007 | 8,852 | −6.0% | |
| source:[5][6] | |||