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Helena. Hyperbole and slander characterized both campaigns,
with Anaconda supporters calling Helena a pretentious and po-
litically dysfunctional town with an unimpressive economy, and
Helena supporters painting Anaconda as a working-class hellhole
under the thumb of corporate control.
Daly spent about $2.5 million on the Anaconda campaign, while
Clark spent $500,000 on his own campaign for Helena. Helena won
the second referendum, helped out by 40% of the Butte vote and
overwhelming support from eastern Montana. The race was close,
with Helena coming out only 2,000 votes ahead (for context, 52,000
votes were counted). Five thousand people paraded through down-
town after the vote was called. Clark reputedly picked up
a bar tab that night for $30,000.
What would Montana look like today if Anaconda had won the
vote? Or Great Falls? Or Bozeman? It's fun to wonder.
George R. Mann's 1896 design for the Montana State Capitol was ultimately not built
