Anaconda Copper facts for kids

The Anaconda Company was a famous American mining company based in Butte, Montana. For a long time, it was one of the biggest mining companies in the world. It started by mining silver and gold but became famous for its huge copper mines.

The company was founded in 1881 by Marcus Daly. He bought a small silver mine called the Anaconda. Soon, massive amounts of copper were discovered there. The company grew very quickly. It built a special factory called a smelter to process the copper. It even built a town, Anaconda, Montana, for its workers.

By the early 1900s, the company, then called Amalgamated Copper, was a powerful force in the business world. It bought other mining companies in Butte, Mexico, and Chile. The mine in Chile was the largest in the world. It made a lot of money for the company.

In 1977, the Anaconda Company was bought by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). But by 1982, mining in Butte had stopped. Today, the company no longer exists. It left behind major environmental pollution. The old mining area is now the country's largest Superfund site, which means it's a priority for cleanup.

History of the Anaconda Company

How It All Began

Marcus Daly

The story of Anaconda starts with Marcus Daly. He was a miner who taught himself about geology and engineering. In 1880, he bought a small silver mine named Anaconda. Daly was working for mining investors at the time. He noticed that the area had a lot of high-quality copper ore.

Daly asked his bosses to buy the mine, but they weren't interested. So, Daly sold his share in another mine and bought the Anaconda himself. He needed money to develop it, so he partnered with wealthy investors like George Hearst. In 1881, the Anaconda Company was officially created.

Soon, they found huge amounts of copper. This turned Daly into a "copper king." He bought up other mines in the area. In 1883, he built a smelter in the new town of Anaconda. He also built a railroad to connect the smelter to the mines in Butte. Butte became known as "the Richest Hill on Earth."

The Rockefeller Connection

In 1899, Marcus Daly joined with two directors from the Standard Oil company, H.H. Rogers and William Rockefeller. They formed the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company. This new company became one of the biggest business groups of the early 20th century.

Amalgamated Copper bought most of the stock in the Anaconda Company. After Daly died in 1900, the company continued to grow. It bought out almost all the other copper mines in Butte. This gave it nearly complete control over the area's copper production.

The Golden Years

The 1920s were a great time for Anaconda. The demand for metals was high, and the company grew very fast. It started mining for other metals like manganese and zinc.

In 1922, the company bought mines in Mexico and Chile. The mine in Chile, called Chuquicamata, was the largest copper mine in the world. It brought in about two-thirds of Anaconda's profits. The company also bought the American Brass Company, which used a lot of copper and zinc. By this time, Anaconda was the fourth-largest company in the world.

The Great Depression

In 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed. This event started the Great Depression. The price of copper fell, and Anaconda lost a lot of money. The company had to lay off many workers in the United States and Chile. The hard times continued until the start of World War II.

During the war, the demand for copper and other metals went up again. Anaconda produced a lot of material for the military. This helped the company recover from the Depression.

Changes in Mining

A committee of workers and managers from the Butte mines in 1942.

After the war, copper prices dropped again. It was becoming expensive to mine deep underground. To stay in business, Anaconda had to change how it mined. The company started a new project called the "Greater Butte Project." It used a new method to get lower-grade copper from underground.

The company also began to switch to open-pit mining. This method involves digging a giant pit on the surface instead of tunnels underground. This led to the creation of the famous Berkeley Pit. The pit grew so large that it swallowed up parts of the old town of Butte.

The Final Years

In the 1970s, Anaconda faced big problems. In 1971, the government of Chile took over the Chuquicamata mine. This meant Anaconda lost two-thirds of its copper production. The company also lost its mine in Mexico.

These losses weakened the company. In 1977, Anaconda was sold to the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). But copper prices dropped, and ARCO had little experience with this type of mining. In 1982, ARCO shut down the Berkeley Pit and the pumps that kept water out of the mines. The pit and the old mine tunnels began to fill with water. All mining in Butte stopped.

A Lasting Impact

The Superfund Site

A century of mining and smelting left the land around Butte and Anaconda heavily polluted. The waste from the mines contained high levels of arsenic and other harmful metals.

In the 1980s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the area a Superfund site. This is a name for the most polluted places in the country that need to be cleaned up. Because ARCO had bought Anaconda, it became responsible for the cleanup. ARCO, and later BP (which bought ARCO), has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to clean the area.

The "Copper Collar"

The Anaconda Company was so powerful in Montana that it controlled more than just mining. It owned many of the state's newspapers, including the Butte Post and the Helena Independent. This control was known as the copper collar. The term was used to describe people, politicians, or newspapers that were controlled by the company.

Because Anaconda was the biggest employer, it had a huge influence on Montana's politics. In 1903, the company shut down all of its operations in the state. This put 15,000 people out of work. The company did this to pressure the government to pass laws that it wanted.

For many people, the "copper collar" was a symbol of control. The company's power affected every part of life in towns like Butte. The struggle between being "for the Company" or "against the Company" shaped Montana's history for decades.

Anaconda in Books and Movies

The story of the Anaconda Company has been told in many books and movies.

• The 2002 documentary An Injury to One tells the history of the company in Butte and its conflict with labor unions.
• The book Fire and Brimstone by Michael Punke is about a terrible mining disaster in Butte in 1917.
• The PBS documentary Butte, America also explores the history of the town and the company.
• In the movie The Motorcycle Diaries, the main characters visit Anaconda's mine in Chile and see the difficult conditions for the workers.

See also

In Spanish: Anaconda Copper para niños

• Anaconda Copper Mine (Montana)
• Anaconda Smelter Stack
• International Smelting and Refining Company
• Speculator Mine disaster