Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company
| Company type | Private (before merger) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mining, smelting, refining |
| Founded | 1887 |
| Fate | Merged with Amalgamated Copper Company in 1901 |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | Montana, Arizona, Michigan, Tennessee |
Key people | Thomas Couch (leader) |
| Products | Copper, silver |
The Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company (commonly known as "Boston and Montana" or "B&M") was a mining, smelting, and refining enterprise predominantly active in Montana. Established in 1887, it merged with the Amalgamated Copper Company in 1901, which subsequently evolved into Anaconda Copper by 1910, becoming one of the largest corporations in the United States. Historian Michael P. Malone recognized Boston and Montana as one of the leading copper firms worldwide, attributing this status to its robust financial backing and effective management.
Corporate history
Adolph and Leonard Lewisohn, German-Jewish businessmen, assumed control of their family firm Lewisohn Brothers in 1867, specializing in the trade of copper, lead, and zinc. By 1879, they had founded mining companies across Arizona, Montana, and Tennessee. The Boston and Montana was created in 1887 through a merger involving Lewisohn Brothers, the Montana Copper Company, and C. X. Larrabee’s mining properties, which included the productive Larrabee and Mountain View mines. It rapidly became Montana’s second-largest mining entity after Anaconda Copper, maintaining operations in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, and Tennessee. The company was led for many years by mining specialist Thomas Couch.
In Montana, B&M sourced much of its copper from the Leonard and Colusa mines near Butte. While it operated a modest smelter in Meaderville, the need arose for a larger facility with affordable power and water access. Leonard Lewisohn evaluated Helena and Great Falls as potential sites for this new smelter.
Great Falls emerged as the preferred location due to its rail connections via James Jerome Hill’s Great Northern Railway and its subsidiary Montana Central Railway, linking Great Falls to Helena and Butte by 1888. Hill also made substantial investments in Great Falls through the Great Falls Water Power & Townsite Company (founded in 1887) to build infrastructure and attract industrial development by offering low freight charges and inexpensive hydroelectric power. As an incentive, he granted Lewisohn 1,500 shares in the power company.
On September 12, 1889, Boston and Montana entered into an agreement with Great Falls Water Power & Townsite Company to construct a dam capable of delivering at least 1,000 horsepower by September 1890 and expanding to 5,000 horsepower by January 1891. In exchange, Boston and Montana pledged $300,000 toward building a copper smelter near the dam site. Black Eagle Dam began producing electricity in December 1890 and was completed by March 1891.
The construction of the smelter commenced in spring 1890 atop a bluff overlooking Black Eagle Dam near Black Eagle, Montana. Key components—including concentrators, furnaces, converters, an electrolytic refinery, and blast furnaces—opened between 1891 and 1893 at an initial investment of $2 million. By 1892, the smelter employed over 1,000 workers.
Together with Anaconda Copper and other major companies such as Butte and Boston Consolidated Mining Company (also established by the Lewisohns) and Montana Ore Purchasing Company (owned by F. Augustus Heinze), Boston and Montana ranked among Montana’s leading mining enterprises during the early 1890s. In 1890 alone, Montana accounted for half of all U.S. copper production; that year Boston and Montana delivered roughly 60 million pounds of copper.
In 1899 Henry Huttleston Rogers—a business partner of John D. Rockefeller—sought to consolidate smaller copper companies into a large conglomerate. After facing legal challenges from Heinze’s opposition in Montana courts, Rogers incorporated in New York to bring lawsuits under federal jurisdiction. Despite setbacks such as losing shareholder consent cases brought by Heinze-supported investors, Rogers acquired Anaconda Copper in 1899 and established Amalgamated Copper Company as a holding firm overseeing Anaconda along with other assets.
By November 1900 Amalgamated had acquired Colorado Smelter and Mining Company as well as Washoe Copper Company while also gaining control over stock in Parrott Silver and Copper Mining Company. In 1901 Rogers secured majority stakes in Boston and Montana along with Butte and Montana companies—thereby consolidating substantial market share within Amalgamated’s corporate framework.
Post-consolidation
In 1903, Amalgamated ceased its smelting activities in an attempt to compel Heinze to shut down his mining operations; nevertheless, Heinze continued working his mines, which caused friction with his workforce. The following year, he breached a federal court order by extracting ore from a contested underground region, leading to a $20,000 penalty and a charge of contempt. John D. Ryan, who was then leading Daly Bank and Trust Co. and had previously served as president of the Anaconda Company, convinced Heinze to sell his interests to Amalgamated. By 1906, Heinze agreed to a $10.5 million sale and consented to abandon more than 110 legal claims involving property valued between $70 and $100 million owned by Amalgamated.
The Boston and Montana (B&M) smelting facility in Great Falls gained recognition for its "Big Stack," a towering 506-foot chimney constructed in 1908 by the Alphonse Custodis Construction Company, which was the tallest of its kind globally at that time. The B&M smelter shut down permanently in 1980.
In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency classified the former B&M smelter site as a Superfund location due to severe heavy metal pollution stemming from historic waste disposal practices into the Missouri River near Black Eagle Dam. According to estimates by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, between 27.5 and 31 million cubic yards of waste were discharged there from 1892 to 1915. The contamination potentially extends as far as 34 miles downstream to Fort Benton and includes hazardous elements such as antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, silver, sodium, and zinc. This environmental impact continues to affect surrounding communities and highlights the enduring repercussions of past industrial activities on local ecosystems.