GREAT FALLS — From its 1891 beginnings to the famous fall of the big stack in 1982 (scroll down for video), the history of the Anaconda Smelter Company in Black Eagle has been documented in a new film titled, “Spirit of the People.”
“People from all over the world came here,” said Carol Bronson, a Black Eagle Civic Club supporter. “That spirit is still here today because in working with the people today, they are just as excited about their history as they were back then.”
The film was produced by Erin Schermele Films in conjunction with the Big Sky National Heritage Area.
It features excerpts of a three-part oral history with Dick Sloan, the last operations manager at the smelter who now works with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality on the superfund cleanup efforts.
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The film includes never before seen photos of the people and machines who made an unforgettable mark on history.
“The cool thing about the smelter is that the copper here did come out of Butte, but we were the ones that wired the world, created those first electric wires for light bulbs, and we helped save World War One and World War Two,” said Bronson, who also serves as a board member of the Big Sky National Heritage area.
A free and open to the public screening of the film will take place Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at the History Museum in Great Falls. Dick Sloan will be there along with the original smelter scrapbook.
“Dick talks a great deal about the spirit of the people,” said Bronson. “It was the spirit that really motivated Black Eagle to become such a powerhouse.”
Bronson hopes that another screening will take place sometime in October in Black Eagle.
Here is a KRTV special report from 1992:
