BERKELEY PIT COPPER MINE
November 7, 2009
In Butte, Montana there is a copper mine…literally in the city the town was built on the West side of it. At one time Butte was the most prosperous small towns in the United States. In 1982 the copper mine shut down and at that time Anaconda Mining Company also shut down the pumps that dewatered the mine and thus 1,800 gallons of water per minute…2.55 million gallons of ground water flow into the pit each day! Please read more it is quite interesting and there are photos of what the pit looked like before it started filling with water…it is part of the Federal Superfund for environmental cleanup.
You can pay 2 dollars to see the pit… which I did…I hope it goes to the clean up!!! Out side the pit the have recently added this garden
From Wikipedia:
For more than a century, the Anaconda Copper Mining company mined ore from Butte and smelted it in Butte (prior to c. 1920) and in nearby Anaconda. During this time, the Anaconda smelter released up to 40 short tons (36 t) per day of arsenic, 1,700 short tons (1,542 t) per day of sulfur, and great quantities of lead and other heavy metals into the air (MacMillan). In Butte, mine tailings were dumped directly into Silver Bow Creek, creating a 150 miles (241 km) plume of pollution extending down the valley to Milltown Dam on the Clark Fork River just upstream of Missoula. Air and water borne pollution poisoned livestock and agricultural soils throughout the Deer Lodge Valley. Modern environmental clean-up efforts continue to this day.
My favorite photos were these with the barbed wire….I guess that people not wanting to pay the two dollars to see the pit would crawl down the slope?? or maybe for insurance purposes?? anyway it is the barbed wire around the tunnel.
