Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) closed the Berkeley Pit copper mine on Earth Day 1982 and immediately shut off the pumps that had kept groundwater out of the massive excavation, beginning the pit’s transformation into one of the most toxic bodies of water in North America. The corporate …
Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO)Anaconda Copper Mining CompanyEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Montana Department of Environmental QualityMontana Resourcesenvironmental-damagesuperfundmining-industrycorporate-externalitiestoxic-contamination+2 more
In the early morning hours of August 1, 1917, six masked men dragged IWW executive board member Frank Little from his Butte, Montana boarding house, tied him to the rear bumper of an automobile, dragged him through the streets, and hanged him from a railroad trestle. A note pinned to his body read …
Frank LittleIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Anaconda Copper Mining CompanyButte vigilanteslabor-suppressioncorporate-violenceiwwprogressive-eramining+1 more
On June 8, 1917, a fire broke out 2,400 feet underground in Butte, Montana’s Speculator Mine when an assistant foreman’s carbide lamp ignited the frayed insulation on an electrical cable. The fire spread rapidly through the mine’s timber supports and ventilation system, trapping …
Anaconda Copper Mining CompanyIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Metal Mine Workers' UnionMontana National Guardlabor-suppressionmining-safetyiwwprogressive-eracorporate-negligence
Montana voters approved the Corrupt Practices Act by ballot initiative with 76% support, establishing one of the nation’s strongest bans on corporate money in elections. The law responded directly to decades of systematic corruption by the “Copper Kings” - mining barons William A. …
Montana votersWilliam A. ClarkF. Augustus HeinzeMarcus DalyAnaconda Copper Mining Company+1 morecampaign-financeballot-initiativecorporate-corruptionpolitical-reformcopper-kings+2 more
The Amalgamated Copper Company (later Anaconda Copper Mining Company) executed an extraordinary act of corporate extortion by shutting down all mining operations across Montana, deliberately putting 15,000 workers out of work to force the state legislature to pass laws favorable to the company. This …
Amalgamated Copper CompanyAnaconda Copper Mining CompanyF. Augustus HeinzeJudge William ClancyGovernor Joseph Toole+1 morecorporate-powerinstitutional-captureeconomic-extortionlegislative-corruptioncorporate-personhood+2 more