Marcus Daly - An Irishman with Vision

In 1876, Irish immigrant Marcus Daly arrived in southwest Montana to appraise mining properties for a Salt Lake City mining company, and through good timing and keen knowledge of the mining industry became instrumental in making the Butte mines and Anaconda smelters part of the foundation of the country's industrial and social development. In the late 1800s, a gigantic vein of copper sulfide ore was discovered in Butte just as the country was beginning to embrace the electric light bulb and the telephone, increasing demand for copper wire and placing Montana's copper industry on the verge of a boom. Daly persuaded his backers to invest in research and development for a large-scale smelting and refining works to process the copper ore, and in searching for the ideal smelter location he chose Anaconda in the Deer Lodge Valley because it was the nearest location to the Butte mines with a natural water source sufficient to operate large-scale ore processing. He also planned and founded the city of Anaconda, and in its early years helped provide the water supply, lighting system, electric street car service, sewer system, and public buildings. A dedicated follower of horse racing, he promoted construction of the Anaconda Driving Park, a mile-long racing track with a double-decked grandstand seating 2,000, where famous sprinters raced, including his thoroughbred Tammany. From 1884 to 1902, smelting and refining facilities operated at the Upper and Lower Works on the north side of the valley near the current site of the Old Works Golf Course. After Montana gained statehood in 1889, Daly promoted Anaconda as the state capitol and built the Montana Hotel in anticipation of housing legislators, and although that effort failed he remained committed to the city's welfare. Under his leadership, plans for a modern 5,000-ton-capacity smelter were finalized in 1889, groundbreaking for the Washoe Smelter took place on September 20, 1900, and the Anaconda Reduction Works went into production in 1902. Daly died in November 1900 before the great smelter was completed, but he left an indelible mark on the city he founded.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, Montana · United States