Megan Sanford 128 pages softcover
Along the north bank of the Missouri River, in Great Falls,
Montana, there was once an industrial complex: the Great Falls Reduction
Department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. From 1892 to 1982, it
was a definitive silhouette on the skyline, used as a sign that
travelers were close to home.
At its peak, one-third of
the world’s copper was smelted, refined, and molded here for direct
consumption in line with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company’s slogan,
“From Mine to Consumer.” Today, its existence has been wiped from the
landscape, leaving a Superfund site that will take several decades to
restore. Though the buildings, machinery, and workers are now gone, the
memory is still imprinted heavily on the community.
The archives
and operations manager of The History Museum & Research
Center/Cascade County Historical Society, Megan Sanford, has created a
specialized pictorial tour of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company
Collection. Having collected objects, photographs, testimonies, and
memories over the last half century, The History Museum & Research
Center stewards the story of the Great Falls Reduction Department Plant
and endeavors to share the tales of its workers and the work they did
for the world.
