The Monitoring Operations Division (MOD) of the Environmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory - Las Vegas developed a mobile sulfur dioxide (SO2) instrument package for use in the remote, rugged terrain surrounding The Anaconda Company's copper smelter at Anaconda, Montana. The self-contained instrument package was used to obtain ground-level SO2 measurements in the area impacted by the smelter plume. Wind speed, wind direction, and temperature were also recorded at the sampling site. The requirement for the package to be quickly deployed in an area impacted by the smelter plume necessitated the use of a helicopter to sling-load the package into position. Calibration of the instruments was performed before and after each sampling period. The primary area of interest for SO2 measurements was the mountainous terrain south of the smelter. During the 4 active months of the sutdy, the package was deployed 17 times. The primary and secondary SO2 standards were exceeded on a number of occasions. Source emission strength estimates, obtained by EPA-Region VIII are presented for those times when SO2 was measured at a site. These data can be used to normalize the recorded SO2 values to account for the varying SO2 emissions from the source.

Mercier depicts the vibrant life of the smelter city at full steam, incorporating the candid, sometimes wry commentary of the locals ("the company furnished three pair of leather gloves . . . and all the arsenic dust] you could eat"). She documents the early history of the town and the distinctive culture of cooperation and activism that residents fostered in the 1930s and 1940s. Ultimately, their solidarity and discontent with the company converged in the successful 1934 strike and sustained five decades of devoted unionism. During the cold war years, Anacondans held to their communal values and to unions in the face of antilabor and anticommunist pressures, embracing an "alternative Americanism" that championed improved living standards for working people, rather than unlimited corporate power, as the best defense against communism. Mercier chronicles the bitter struggle between two rival unions--the anticommunist United Steelworkers of America and the red-tainted International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers--that undercut the town's labor solidarity in the postwar years. She also explores how gender definitions--especially the male breadwinner ideology and the limits placed on women's political, economic, and social roles--shaped the nature and outcome of labor struggles. Mercier carries her investigation through the closing of the smelter in 1980, covering debates over the environment and the community's transformation into a deindustrialized, nonunion town. Underscoring the role of the community in molding working-class consciousness, Anaconda offers important insights about the changing nature of working-class culture and the real potential for collective action under the midday sun of American industrial capitalism.

Anaconda and Me is a collection of poems, short stories and photographs that emphasizes the author’s connection to Anaconda, Montana and the surrounding area, and how it has guided his life for the past 78 years. It includes his community environment, family, friends, and heroes. It is the author’s wish that the book be used as a model for others to evaluate their lives in a literary fashion as opposed to a historical narrative.

Treasure State stars Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy found unparalleled success during the Golden Age of Hollywood. For more than a century, Montana has supplied a rich vein of entertainment and personality--from daredevils to dancers and even mimes. Born in Miles City in 1895, comedian Gilbert "Pee Wee" Holmes played sidekick to such stars as Tom Mix. One-time Butte resident Julian Eltinge went on to become America's first famous female impersonator. There was Taylor Gordon, whose golden voice propelled the son of a slave from White Sulphur Springs to Harlem Renaissance fame. From the little-known Robyn Adair to the ever-popular Michelle Williams, author Brian D'Ambrosio marks Big Sky Country's long-standing connections with America's performing arts.