Stack on the Hill
In 1908, the world's largest smokestack, standing 506 feet tall, was constructed on the hill in front of you. For more than 70 years the smokestack stood as a prominent Great Falls landmark. By the late 1970's the stack was deemed unsafe. Braces were installed in an attempt to stabilize the historic structure, but it was still deemed a hazard. Demolishing the stack required two attempts with explosives; the final blast brought the structure down on September 18, 1982. The Anaconda Mining Company's stack in Great Falls remained the tallest smokestack until 1919 when a taller smokestack standing 585 feet was built in Anaconda, MT. That stack still stands today and is part of a Montana State Park.