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Article: Anaconda Copper
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ANACONDA COPPER
ANACONDA COPPER
was one of the largest copper-mining companies in the world and the principal producer of the Butte district of Montana. It was organized in 1881 as the Anaconda Silver Mining Company when entrepreneur Marcus Daly, having persuaded James B. Haggin, Lloyd Tevis, and George Hearst to purchase for $30,000 the small Anaconda silver mine, then only sixty feet deep. The ore contained just enough copper to facilitate the recovery of the silver for which it was being worked, but at greater depth, it became evident that the mine's principal content was copper. A copper smelter was erected in 1884, and three thousand tons of ore were being treated daily by 1889. ...