were the famed "Great
Falls of the Missouri", after which the city was named. A structure billed
as the "world's tallest smokestack" was completed in 1908 by the
city's largest employer, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's smelter,
measuring 508 feet (155 m) tall. The Big Stack immediately became a
landmark for the community. The Big Stack's 'sister' stack in Anaconda was
suffering from cracking and it was decided to remove the support bands from the
upper half of the Big Stack and send them to Anaconda. This action proved to be
the Big Stack's ultimate demise since the cracks it suffered from rapidly
worsened. Citing public safety concerns due to the stack's continual
deterioration of its structural integrity it was slated for demolition on
September 18, 1982. In an interesting twist of fate the demolition crew failed
to accomplish the task on the first try; the two worst cracks in the stack ran
from just above ground level to nearly 300 feet up. As the 600 lbs of
explosives were set off (which was to create a wedge in the base so it would
fall almost vertically into a large trench for the rubble) the cracks
'completed themselves' all the way to the ground—effectively severing the stack
into two-thirds and one-third pieces. Much to the delight of the spectating
community, the smaller of the two pieces remained standing, but the failed demolition
only solidified the safety issue whereas the community cited the event as the
stack's defiance. The demolition team who had planted the charges was recalled
and several hours later they returned and finished the demolition, after
packing another 400 lbs of explosives into the smaller wedge.
During World War II through the city passed
Northwest Staging Route on which delivered planes in the USSR according the
Lend-Lease. Great Falls prospered further with the opening of a nearby military
base in the 1940s, but as rail
