The Origins of Opportunity, Montana

In researching the role of citizens in shaping Superfund remedy here in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin of southwest Montana, as background I've been reading Fred Quivik's excellent doctoral dissertaion, "Smoke and Tailings" (University of Pennsylvania, 2000). [Thanks to PhD candidate Stacie Barry for making me a copy of Quivik's dissertation.]

Among other things, Fred provides an excellent glimpse into the creation of Opportunity, Montana. ACM wanted to "demonstrate that families of smelter workers could find healthy lifestyles by living on small plots of land out in the valley, even under the plume of the stack" (Quivik p. 417). ACM employee, H. C. Gardiner, planned it all.

ACM drained a swampy marsh, sold 5- and 10-acre parcels, set up the Mill Creek Irrigation Company to provide clean water, built the Beaver Creek School, established commuter service via the Anaconda Street Railway, and "prohibited establishing saloons or comparable nuisance businesses" (Quivik p. 419).

As an advertisement for parcels in The Butte Daily Post (11 June 1914, p. 13) put it:

"the people of Anaconda can enjoy the benefits of country life while sharing in the activites of the industries located here. [Opportunity] affords a real solution for the high cost of livng [sic]. Little farms, with cows, pigs and chickens; gardens with vegetables, apple trees and small fruits, will supplant the city street and the crowded city lot." [Quoted in Quivik p. 418]

Though we all knew the basic outline of this story, Fred provided and documented the historical details using letters from Gardiner and a wealth of other sources.

Cf. Mary Popovich Blaskovich, "History of Opportunity," In the Shadow of Mt. Haggin: The Story of Anaconda and Deer Lodge County from 1863 to 1976 (Anaconda, MT: Deer Lodge County History Group, 1975): 24-27.