Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 1 88 29 Montana counties. (see Figure 3) Silver, however, has almost always played a sec- ondary role to gold and cop- per. The nature of the metal is to lie in shallow seams which are discovered as miners are looking for other minerals. Perhaps it should not surprise us that silver is number one in Sanders County, situated as it is across the mountains from the nation's largest silver min- ing concentration—Shoshone County, Idaho. 'Gold and Silver' may be the state's motto, but arguably copper is what built Mon- tana. After decades of strife, by 1910 Anaconda Copper Mining (ACM) had become the largest producer of copper in the United States. Those of us who grew up in the 1950s referred to ACM as "The Company," and the common belief was that The Company ran the state of Montana. This article does not pretend to give a complete history of Butte or The Company, but a few details are noteworthy. In 1955, one of The Company's officers told my father that in the 80 years of mining in Butte, the miners had never struck the main lode. That was the birth year of the Berkeley Pit—a vast open pit mine that ate the communities of Meaderville, McQueen and East Butte. The pit operated until 1977, when Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) bought what was left of ACM's Butte operations. Since 1985, Montana Resources, one of Dennis Washington's companies, has continued to mine copper in Butte, and has filed an amendment to its operating permit seeking permission to continue mining copper and molyb- denum until 2040. Despite the pandemic, 2020 proved to be a better year than Montana Resources forecast. Mike McGivern, the company's vice president of human resourc- es, told the Montana Standard that by the end of 2020, the mine had produced just under 64 million pounds of copper, 8.6 million pounds of molyb- denum, and 569,000 ounces of silver. But ACM (and its succes- sors) is not the only company interested in mining copper in Montana. The Canadian company Sandfire Resources just got permission to proceed with the Black Butte Copper mine along the Smith River in Meagher County. Hecla Mining, a company based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, has been trying for years to get permission to operate two silver and copper mines in Sanders County. (see Figure 4) As important as minerals have been throughout Mon- tana's history, today's Montanans look at other treasures in the Treasure State. The Black Butte Mine lies along the Smith River, and the battle for the Smith has attracted na- tional attention, even making it into Rolling Stone (April 15, 2021). Recreation and tourism are more and more important to Montana's economy. Many fear that the mine will destroy the river, both for the fishermen and floaters who use the river extensively, but also for the ranchers who depend on its clean water. They look at Montana's EPA Superfund sites, like the Berkeley Pit and the town of Libby, where attempting to clean up the mining waste left behind by out- of-state companies has cost billions of dollars, and not been particularly successful. In addition, there is no way that the mountain eaten away by the Golden Sunlight Mine will ever be restored to its pre-mine existence. Looking at Montana's future, we need to find a balance between the state's many treasures. LOOKING AT MONTANA'S FUTURE, WE NEED TO FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN THE STATE'S MANY TREASURES.

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