Distinctly Montana Magazine

90 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 businesses along the southern shore keep Georgetown active as a place name. RECREATION AND PARKS Where Deer Lodge County was once an industrial appendage to the mines of Butte, to- day recreation is most likely bringing visitors to the area. South and east of Anaconda, Mount Haggin is home to not only a 56,000-acre Wildlife Management Area (WMA) with opportunities for hiking, climbing and mountaineering, but in the winter Nordic skiing enthusiasts head to the area for over 11 kilometers of groomed trails, on a course that Mile High Nordic calls "strenuous." In my younger years, I loved skiing at Mount Haggin, and I concur, the trails are strenuous. Fishermen and water enthusiasts should visit Georgetown Lake. Rainbow and brook trout abound, as do kokanee salmon. Ice fishing is popular during the winter months, and shoreline or boat casting when the water is open. Perhaps one of the more distinc- tive golf courses in Montana is the Old Works course designed by Jack Nicklaus on land reclaimed from the smelter op- erations of years past. The 18-hole, par 72 course has a yardage of 7,705 and offers views of the mountains sur- rounding the area. Anaconda is also home to a Mon- tana State Park—but you cannot visit it. Visible from at least twenty miles away, the centerpiece of the Anaconda Smoke- stack State Park stands 585 feet tall and is one of the tallest free-standing brick structures in the world. It is so large you could put the Washington Monument inside it and have room left over. Completed in 1919, the stack served the smelter until 1980 when the smelter closed and then was demolished. Pub- lic outcry kept the stack standing and today it is one of Mon- tana's State Parks. But the land around the stack is so toxic visitors are kept at a distance. The former city hall, now the Copper Village Museum and Art Center

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