From 1983: Montana's collapsed copper mining industry

In western Montana, where copper was once king, shuttered mines in the 1980s left the people of Butte, Anaconda and Great Falls groping toward the future. Correspondent Liz Trotta reported on the economic hardships facing thousands of out-of-work miners in this "Sunday Morning" story originally broadcast September 4, 1983.

[@VallesView]

I know reporting is faster and more concise now but seeing stories like this one that let the subject breathe is refreshing. No music attempting to drive the viewer's emotion. Just the story and the people who live(d) it.

[@MarbleWhornets]

More of these old stories please!

[@TheTonialadd]

Wow! I lived in Great Falls in 1983. This was the year my daughter was born. Living there during that time was so difficult, I joined the army in 1984 and moved my family to Texas. Now my daughter is back in Montana and struggling to keep her apartment. There’s jobs but no place to live.

[@starloszelson4541]

She should go join Air Force

[@777jones]

I drove by the Anaconda chimney this year and was fascinated. I stopped and looked around Anaconda. I also explored interesting Butte Montana.

[@johnnycashh7148]

At 13...we never got the impression of how really rough we had it as a community. I know everyone rallied around each other and used the barter system to get the car fixed for a family dinner. Been away for 30 yrs serving the country but my family is still chipping away!! Thanks for sharing. 🇺🇸🍻

[@christopherquinn3061]

Montana is on my bucket list, its so Beautiful

[@CapnCody1622]

11:50 It’s absolutely insane that the minimum wage has barely doubled since 1983.

[@dudeguy4047]

Wow, the Berkeley Pit before it filled up with highly toxic water and turned into America's most famous migratory bird death-trap. She was pointing out the smelter smokestack as a symbol; if only she had known about the Superfund site destined for Butte's future legacy

[@gerrynightingale9045]

*These men are either long-dead or 'one foot in the grave and the other on a banana-peel'* *If these men knew that Unions that were once crocodiles are now 'toothless worms' or extinct altogether they would surely rise from from their graves and demand to know 'What happened?'* *And what could we tell them?* *"We don't know 'what happened' but we don't like it either!"* ( *When I was young, my grandfather could've walked me into the 'Rouge Plant' and said "This is my grandkid...put him on the line and see if he works-out" and I'd have a Union card in my wallet in a week and a good job for the next forty-years or so* ) *NOW THERE IS NOTHING!*

[@PACstove]

Its montana so i cant tell if this was shot in 2021 or 1981.

[@nolansmith412]

It's all original footage from the 80's

[@dudeguy4047]

Check the water level in the Berkeley Pit

[@Diablo-nf1kn]

He was using sarcasm

[@PACstove]

@@Diablo-nf1kn Yes. And i can cuz i was from there.

[@debbiecooper1677]

it was the same thing in Kentucky. with the coal mines.

[@YakSquad]

Lol I moved from shi@ hole Houston to move to butte. The union guy is right go no union get ran o er by your gov and company. Texas is that state so I left. I am union makeing a great wage and butte is growing fast. The Mine is open and hiring all the time. God bless butte montana the last normal place on earth.

[@TheWarrrenator]

News + time = history. I remember growing up in WV and waking up on Sunday mornings before church and my mom would watch this show. She probably saw this very article. Mom was a school teacher and belonged to the teachers’ union. WV is an extraction economy much like Butte and is following its similar fate.

[@willo.1931]

Do you mean walkerville?

[@Parkhurst12-79]

Home of Evel Knievel and Robert J. O'Neill

[@frederickmoller]

I was a unionized underground miner in Timmins Canada for 29 years, but switched to nonunionized (mining contracting) underground mining for the remaining 14 years till I retired, and I made way, way better money than I ever did for a unionized mine!!!

[@TheBandit7613]

And I'm a union heavy equipment operator in Vegas. 120K a year with a real pension.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

If there was no threat of your non-union company being unionized, you'd still be working in the mine.

[@Mtoutdoorsman]

M&M bar and grill burned down last year

[@dondoyle8474]

I live in Kern Co California the heart of the oil Patch, could this be our fate 🤔

[@marjoriegarner5369]

Yes. It could be your fate. I'm 81. In Butte.

[@jakesarag1880]

What a negative reporter… how about more about the resilience and strength of the people of Butte? Missed opportunity for sure!

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Hard to "sugar coat" the bad times Butte was facing over 40 years ago.

[@SandyWolf-]

The future for any natural resources

[@SSIKorea]

Recently, ESG (environment/society/governance) has become a hot topic in management, but in preparation for this, even SMEs and non-profit organizations, except for large companies and listed companies, still have what ESG is? You don't seem to know what to prepare and run. So, the May webinar was held under the theme of 'ESG, SSI and Digital Trust'. The Government of British Columbia, Canada, demonstrates a demo along with an explanation of how to manage and trust the data generated by the self-sovereign identity technology to reduce GHGs generated during various operational activities in copper mines. Please refer to the video below................ "No business is allowed on a dead planet." This message from environmental activist David Brower is, in a way, the best way to explain the origins of ESG. This is because if the market collapses due to the climate crisis and social problems, the company loses the ground to continue doing business. - One-book ESG class (Jihyun Shin, JoongAng Books) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHWzo4mQaNBkZpY

[@JasonEvans-ls7uf]

I live here and its baddest town in America.....❤🎉😂😊

[@ag-bk5wf]

Los Angeles at a taco stand geez haha..it was the aerospace industry

[@RobJoswiak]

Among other things.

[@christinawebb6663]

My dad was laid off in 1976 so we moved.

[@justinnampui4757]

butte is a good place to drink

[@RobJoswiak]

Why delete my comments?!

[@gus473]

Is that what copper mining will look like in the 🛶 Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Minnesota.....? 🤔

[@kinziek3190]

No, I don't believe so. What you are looking at in the video is over 100 years of mining history. Before environmental impact studies, safety laws, permits, etc.

[@TheTonialadd]

Little did the man (talking about the mine closing) know at the time how wrong he was…

[@peternagy-im4be]

Jerkwater USA

[@Parkhurst12-79]

Produced over 48 billion in 100 years. Home of Evel Knievel and Robert O'Neill

[@peternagy-im4be]

@@Parkhurst12-79 love the sense of humour!!!

[@battles423]

I wonder if any black people lived there around this time. Didn’t see any. But it is Montana so it’s understandable.

[@paulmc3457]

Cmon, I've met many great black folks there, idiot. 😴 😒

[@taylor7772]

Wow, make everything about race? 😐😐

[@caseymurphy244]

Lol. Yeah there was . And many other nationalities. My mother's father worked there for quite a few years. The "Red light " District had every color of woman imaginable For Your Entertainment..

[@starloszelson4541]

I wonder if black women lived there ​@@caseymurphy244

[@jaydaawg.8191]

I was watching a documentary about a tribe in Africa and I didn't see any whites. How racist of them.

[@bobedwards7455]

GOOD RIDDANCE

[@emmesummerlin3668]

One of the worst shows on television.

[@hnc098]

It’s a great show. You are confused, old lady.