Distinctly Montana Magazine

88 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 4 But then, many of Anaconda's buildings are beautiful. This is a city I love to walk, camera in hand. Whether the original city hall, the Butte Anaconda and Pacific Rail- road headquarters building, the Washoe theatre, the Club Moderne, and any one of the many churches around town—the city is a visual feast for a photographer. OTHER COMMUNITIES While Anaconda is the only city in Deer Lodge County, there are several small communities scattered around the county. Ga- len and Warm Springs, both north of Anaconda on Interstate 90, are communities built around hospitals. Galen, founded in 1912 and named for the Greek/Roman physician Claudius Galen, sought to cure tuberculosis by exposure to clear, cold mountain air. Ironic that it was downstream from the smokestack and tox- ic air emanating from Anaconda's smelters. A 2002 MSU News article points out that the real reason for building Galen was fear of contagion. The thought in the early 1900s was that tuberculo- sis was contagious, and the best way to protect the citizenry was to isolate the infected. The State Tuberculosis Sanitarium finally closed in 1993, long after medicine found more reasonable ways to treat the disease and its victims. Today the facility is part of the Montana State Hospital. A few miles south of Galen, Warm Springs is home to the main cam- pus of the Montana State Hospital. Built in 1877, the facility remains Montana's only psychiatric hospital. The hospital has a total of 270 beds, including group home and fo- rensic facility beds. The "community" includes a post office and a bar (currently closed). About six miles east of Anaconda, Opportunity was designed as a garden-spot retirement community for the men who worked Anaconda's smelters and their families. It forms the core of Brad Tyer's 2013 book Opportunity, Montana: Big Copper, Bad Water, and the Burial of an American Landscape. Having read the Am- azon.com sample pages, I can't wait to finish the book. (Yes, I ordered my own copy.) Two other names that appear on the map east of Anaconda are Crackerville and Gregson. Now, I've lived in Montana most of my life and have driven between Missoula and Butte more MANY OF ANACONDA'S BUILDINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL. THIS IS A CITY I LOVE TO WALK, CAMERA IN HAND. Deer Lodge County Courthouse Montana Hotel

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