Tired of exorbitant freight rates, copper king Marcus Daly decided to build his own railroad in 1892 to haul ore from the Butte mines to his Anaconda smelter. He envisioned the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway extending to the Pacific Ocean, but it instead ran twenty-six miles between Anaconda and Butte. Built with construction expertise from the Great Northern Railway and seventy-five-pound steel rails in anticipation of heavy freight traffic, it was said by 1900 to carry more tonnage to the mile year around than any other railroad in the country, earning the name “The Biggest Little Railroad in the Nation.” Most of its freight was copper ore bound for the Anaconda smelter, and finished copper from the smelter was then transported across the nation. In 1913, it converted from steam to electric-powered engines, becoming the first electrified railroad in the country to haul heavy freight. Affordable electrification was made possible by inexpensive hydroelectric power and by the Anaconda Company’s own supply of copper wire from its mines. Its early success with electrification became a model for other railroads, most notably the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. From 1892 through the 1920s, as the modern age of electricity fueled demand for copper, it transported more than half of the nation’s supply during this era.