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54-571: The Anaconda Smelter Stack is the tallest surviving masonry structure in the world, with an overall height of about 585 feet (178.3 m) , including a brick chimney 555 feet (169.2 m) tall and the downhill side of a concrete foundation 30 feet (9.1 m) tall. It is a brick smoke stack or chimney , built in 1918 as part of the Washoe Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM) at Anaconda, Montana , in

108-407: A CMU wall having much greater lateral and tensile strength than unreinforced walls. "Architectural masonry is the evolvement of standard concrete masonry blocks into aesthetically pleasing concrete masonry units (CMUs)". CMUs can be manufactured to provide a variety of surface appearances. They can be colored during manufacturing or stained or painted after installation. They can be split as part of

162-579: A car on a track within the duct and sent back to the smelter for more processing. After the concrete foundation was completed in May 1918, construction of the stack began on May 23, 1918 and was completed on November 30, 1918 . It was placed into operation on May 5, 1919 . It was built by the Alphons Custodis Chimney Construction Company of New York (now Hamon Custodis) under the direction of W. C. Capron, mechanical superintendent of

216-427: A darker color or an irregular shape. Others may use antique salvage bricks, or new bricks may be artificially aged by applying various surface treatments, such as tumbling. The attempts at rusticity of the late 20th century have been carried forward by masons specializing in a free, artistic style, where the courses are intentionally not straight, instead weaving to form more organic impressions. A crinkle-crankle wall

270-575: A masonry wall is not entirely dependent on the bond between the building material and the mortar; the friction between the interlocking blocks of masonry is often strong enough to provide a great deal of strength on its own. The blocks sometimes have grooves or other surface features added to enhance this interlocking, and some dry set masonry structures forgo mortar altogether. Stone blocks used in masonry can be dressed or rough, though in both examples corners, door and window jambs, and similar areas are usually dressed. Stonemasonry utilizing dressed stones

324-508: A non-staggered bond. The wide selection of brick styles and types generally available in industrialized nations allow much variety in the appearance of the final product. In buildings built during the 1950s-1970s, a high degree of uniformity of brick and accuracy in masonry was typical. In the period since then this style was thought to be too sterile, so attempts were made to emulate older, rougher work. Some brick surfaces are made to look particularly rustic by including burnt bricks, which have

378-572: A part of the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. The pit itself was added to the federal Superfund site list in 1987. The Berkeley Pit is a low spot and acts like a sump for contaminated water. For this reason, it is currently an active part of the remedy for this operable unit. A pilot water treatment project was initiated in 2019. It began treating and releasing Berkeley Pit water into Silver Bow Creek at

432-408: A permanent colored facing (typically composed of polyester resins, silica sand and various other chemicals) to a concrete masonry unit, providing a smooth impervious surface." Glass block or glass brick are blocks made from glass and provide a translucent to clear vision through the block. A masonry veneer wall consists of masonry units, usually clay-based bricks, installed on one or both sides of

486-405: A result, waterfowl protection efforts were initiated. On November 28, 2016, upwards of 60,000 snow geese landed in the pit during inclement weather. Once discovered, officials made efforts to haze the birds off of the pit's water and prevent more from landing in the area. Three to four thousand of the geese died. An official report issued in 2017 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that

540-431: A structurally independent wall usually constructed of wood or masonry. In this context, the brick masonry is primarily decorative, not structural. The brick veneer is generally connected to the structural wall by brick ties (metal strips that are attached to the structural wall, as well as the mortar joints of the brick veneer). There is typically an air gap between the brick veneer and the structural wall. As clay-based brick

594-569: A top inside diameter of 60 feet 2 inches (18.34 m) (≈ 60 feet) and a wall thickness of 22 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (0.57 m) (≈ 2 feet) just below a slightly flared top. Its cylindrical portion plus the top 5 feet (1.5 m) of the octagon are encircled by many large steel rods (called bands) for reinforcement. It has had 20 lightning rods around its rim since it was built (which are not included in its height). The stack contains 2,464,652 locally manufactured perforated tile bricks, each averaging 2.7 times larger by volume than

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648-432: A type of noise machine, and propane cannons that mimic gunshots are placed around the rim of the pit to keep birds from landing. When waterfowl do land on the surface of the pit, personnel use firearms, hand-held lasers, and unmanned craft to haze them. A protozoan species, Euglena mutabilis , was found to reside in the pit by Andrea A. Stierle and Donald B. Stierle, and the protozoans have been found to have adapted to

702-478: A wall of a given size. Furthermore, cinder and concrete blocks typically have much lower water absorption rates than brick. They often are used as the structural core for veneered brick masonry or are used alone for the walls of factories, garages, and other industrial-style buildings where such appearance is acceptable or desirable. Such blocks often receive a stucco surface for decoration. Surface-bonding cement , which contains synthetic fibers for reinforcement,

756-558: Is a brick wall that follows a serpentine path, rather than a straight line. This type of wall is more resistant to toppling than a straight wall; so much so that it may be made of a single wythe of unreinforced brick and so despite its longer length may be more economical than a straight wall. Blocks of cinder concrete ( cinder blocks or breezeblocks ), ordinary concrete ( concrete blocks ), or hollow tile are generically known as Concrete Masonry Units (CMUs). They usually are much larger than ordinary bricks and so are much faster to lay for

810-404: Is a hollow octagon, 89 feet (27.1 m) side to side on top and 99 feet 6 inches (30.3 m) side to side across its bottom, 33 feet (10.1 m) high on its downhill side and 21 feet (6.4 m) high on its uphill side, a third of the foundation being below ground. The stepped bottom of the foundation fits the stepped rock formation upon which it rests. The floor of the stack

864-420: Is generally a highly durable form of construction. However, the materials used, the quality of the mortar and workmanship, and the pattern in which the units are assembled can substantially affect the durability of the overall masonry construction. A person who constructs masonry is called a mason or bricklayer . These are both classified as construction trades . Masonry is one of the oldest building crafts in

918-445: Is generally conical leading 17 feet (5.2 m) down below the brick chimney to a 5-by-33-foot (1.5 m × 10.1 m) rectangular grate, then into a 5-foot (1.5 m) square horizontal duct that exits the stack at the center of the downhill side of the foundation on its south-southeast side. This allowed any valuable metal dust particles left in the flue gases that precipitated down to that conical floor to be collected by

972-456: Is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry . Both rubble and ashlar masonry can be laid in coursed rows of even height through the careful selection or cutting of stones, but a great deal of stone masonry is uncoursed. Solid brickwork is made of two or more wythes of bricks with the units running horizontally (called stretcher bricks) bound together with bricks running transverse to

1026-557: Is one mile (1.6 km) long by one-half mile (800 m) wide, with an approximate maximum depth of 1,780 feet (540 m). It is filled to a depth of about 900 feet (270 m) with water that is acidic (4.1 - 4.5 pH level ), about the acidity of beer or tomatoes. As a result, the pit's water is laden with heavy metals and dissolved metals that leach from the rock in a natural process known as acid rock drainage . The dissolved metals include but are not limited to copper , arsenic , cadmium , zinc , and sulfuric acid . The mine

1080-549: Is only as long as the wire they are composed of and if used in severe climates (such as shore-side in a salt water environment) must be made of appropriate corrosion-resistant wire. Most modern gabions are rectangular. Earlier gabions were often cylindrical wicker baskets, open at both ends, used usually for temporary, often military, construction. Similar work can be done with finer aggregates using cellular confinement . Masonry walls have an endothermic effect of its hydrates , as in chemically bound water , unbound moisture from

1134-717: Is sometimes used in this application and can impart extra strength to a block wall. Surface-bonding cement is often pre-colored and can be stained or painted thus resulting in a finished stucco-like surface. The primary structural advantage of concrete blocks in comparison to smaller clay-based bricks is that a CMU wall can be reinforced by filling the block voids with concrete with or without steel rebar . Generally, certain voids are designated for filling and reinforcement, particularly at corners, wall-ends, and openings while other voids are left empty. This increases wall strength and stability more economically than filling and reinforcing all voids. Typically, structures made of CMUs will have

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1188-496: Is usually not completely waterproof, the structural wall will often have a water-resistant surface (usually tar paper ) and weep holes can be left at the base of the brick veneer to drain moisture that accumulates inside the air gap. Concrete blocks, real and cultured stones , and veneer adobe are sometimes used in a very similar veneer fashion. Most insulated buildings that use concrete block, brick, adobe, stone, veneers or some combination thereof feature interior insulation in

1242-459: The United States. A terra cotta coating covered the entire brick chimney when new, but by the time the smelter closed in 1981, most had eroded away except for the upper 40%, exposing most of its bricks and reinforcing rods. The inside diameter at the bottom of the brick chimney is 76 feet (23.2 m) while that at the top is about 60 feet (18.3 m) . The stack and its viewing area are now

1296-656: The Washoe Smelting Company. Much of the ore the smelter processed after 1955 came from the Berkeley Pit just north of Butte, Montana . At the time it was built, the stack was the tallest masonry , brickwork structure and chimney of any kind in the world and it remains the world's tallest surviving masonry structure. Taller masonry chimneys have existed but have since been demolished. Taller chimneys that still exist are made of reinforced concrete. See List of tallest chimneys . The Washington Monument would fit inside

1350-534: The concrete block, and the poured concrete if the hollow cores inside the blocks are filled. Masonry can withstand temperatures up to 1,000 °F (538 °C) and it can withstand direct exposure to fire for up to 4 hours. In addition to that, concrete masonry keeps fires contained to their room of origin 93% of the time. For those reasons, concrete and masonry units hold the highest flame spread index classification, Class A. Fire cuts can be used to increase safety and reduce fire damage to masonry buildings. From

1404-420: The confluence with Blacktail Creek. This was done to protect the local groundwater from eventually becoming contaminated by rising pit water. The plant cost $ 19 million and was designed to treat ten million gallons of water per day. In 1996, 342 snow geese carcasses were recovered from the pit by researchers performing water quality testing. ARCO , the custodian of the pit, denied that the toxic water caused

1458-648: The cores remain unfilled. Filling some or all of the cores with concrete or concrete with steel reinforcement (typically rebar ) offers much greater tensile and lateral strength to structures. One problem with masonry walls is that they rely mainly on their weight to keep them in place; each block or brick is only loosely connected to the next via a thin layer of mortar. This is why they do not perform well in earthquakes, when entire buildings are shaken horizontally. Many collapses during earthquakes occur in buildings that have load-bearing masonry walls. Besides, heavier buildings having masonry suffer more damage. The strength of

1512-402: The dead geese succumbed due to drinking the acidic metalliferous water. After this event, Atlantic Richfield (AR) and Montana Resources (MR) further enhanced the waterfowl protection efforts which had been in place since 1996. A new Waterfowl Protection Plan was developed and allowed for adaptive management, testing, and incorporation new tools and techniques. Deterrents such as Phoenix Wailers,

1566-454: The death of the geese, attributing the deaths to an acute aspergillosis infection that may have been caused by a grain fungus, as substantiated by necropsy findings from Colorado State University . These findings were disputed by the State of Montana on the basis of its own lab tests. Necropsies showed their esophagi were lined with burns and sores from exposure to acidic metalliferous water. As

1620-599: The entire surface of the chimney just as it covered its top; by the time of its closure, the bottom 60% had eroded, including the brick octagon, exposing its bricks and reinforcing rods. The terra cotta is now darker than the exposed bricks. 46°06′36.58″N 112°54′48.92″W  /  46.1101611°N 112.9135889°W  / 46.1101611; -112.9135889 Masonry The common materials of masonry construction are bricks and building stone , rocks such as marble , granite , and limestone , cast stone , concrete blocks , glass blocks , and adobe . Masonry

1674-464: The first year of operation, the pit extracted 17,000 tons of ore per day at a grade of 0.75% copper. Ultimately, about 1,000,000,000 tons of material were mined from the Berkeley Pit. Copper was the principal metal produced, although other metals were also extracted, including silver and gold . Two communities and much of Butte's previously crowded east side were consumed by land purchases to expand

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1728-411: The form of fiberglass batts between wooden wall studs or in the form of rigid insulation boards covered with plaster or drywall . In most climates this insulation is much more effective on the exterior of the wall, allowing the building interior to take advantage of the aforementioned thermal mass of the masonry. This technique does, however, require some sort of weather-resistant exterior surface over

1782-456: The harsh conditions of the water. Intense competition for the limited resources caused these species to evolve the production of highly toxic compounds to improve survivability. Natural products such as berkeleydione , berkeleytrione , and berkelic acid have been isolated from these organisms which show selective activity against cancer cell lines. Some of these species ingest metals and are being investigated as an alternative means of cleaning

1836-464: The insulation and, consequently, is generally more expensive. Gabions are baskets, usually now of zinc -protected steel ( galvanized steel ) that are filled with fractured stone of medium size. These will act as a single unit and are stacked with setbacks to form a revetment or retaining wall . They have the advantage of being well drained, flexible, and resistant to flood, water flow from above, frost damage, and soil flow. Their expected useful life

1890-399: The loss of its terra cotta covering. But the inner surface of the octagon is circular with an inside diameter of 76 feet (23.16 m) (≈ 75 feet) across its bottom. The wall thickness of the octagon at its bottom ranges from 64 inches (1.63 m) (≈ 6 feet) at the center of a side to 102 inches (2.59 m) at each vertex. The rest of the chimney is a slightly tapering cylinder with

1944-457: The manufacturing process, giving the blocks a rough face replicating the appearance of natural stone, such as brownstone . CMUs may also be scored, ribbed, sandblasted, polished, striated (raked or brushed), include decorative aggregates, be allowed to slump in a controlled fashion during curing, or include several of these techniques in their manufacture to provide a decorative appearance. "Glazed concrete masonry units are manufactured by bonding

1998-485: The monument's aluminum apex. The stack was designed to discharge exhaust gases from the various roasting and smelting furnaces at the smelter. The smelter had a large network of exhaust flues from the furnaces that all fed a main flue, which carried them a half-mile south up the hill to the stack. The flue system and stack combined to provide a natural draft capable of carrying 3–4 million cubic feet (85,000–113,000 m) per minute of exhaust gases. The Washoe Smelter

2052-449: The octagonal portion, each 12.5 by 60 feet (3.8 m × 18.3 m) , on its east-southeast and south-southwest sides. When operational, the main flue carried hot exhaust gases to these openings and then into the stack from the smelter which was on the north side of the hill upon which the stack rests. The base of the octagon was 86 feet 7 ⁄ 8  inch (26.24 m) (≈ 86 feet) side to side across its bottom before

2106-499: The pit during the 1970s. The Anaconda Company bought the homes, businesses and schools of the working-class communities of Meaderville, East Butte, and McQueen, east of the pit site. Many of these homes were either destroyed, buried, or moved to the southern end of Butte. Residents were compensated at market value for their acquired property. The Berkeley Pit is located within the Butte Mine Flooding Operable Unit,

2160-499: The point of view of material modeling, masonry is a special material of extreme mechanical properties (with a very high ratio between strength in compression and in tension), so that the applied loads do not diffuse as they do in elastic bodies, but tend to percolate along lines of high stiffness. Berkeley Pit The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine in the western United States , located in Butte, Montana . It

2214-481: The size of a normal brick. Most are radial bricks that are curved to match a sector of a cylindrical wall. The brick chimney weighs 23,810 short tons (21,600 t) . The lowest part of the stack is a concrete foundation or footing that is built on sloped ground with a grade of 21% (12°) because it is just below the top of a hill. It is 30 feet (9.14 m) high above ground at its downhill side and 10 feet (3.05 m) high above ground at its uphill side. It

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2268-418: The stack's brick portion except for their lowest 100 feet (30 m) where an overlap of as much as one foot (0.3 m) at each corner of the monument would occur. The stack's brick portion is about 6 inches (15 cm) taller than the monument's 2015 height. The masonry portion of the stack is about 15 inches (38 cm) taller than the above ground portion of the monument's masonry, which disregards

2322-730: The tension force present in modern thin, light, tall building systems. Masonry has both structural and non-structural applications. Structural applications include walls, columns, beams, foundations, load-bearing arches, and others. On the other hand, masonry is also used in non-structural applications such as fireplaces chimneys and veneer systems. Brick and concrete block are the most common types of masonry in use in industrialized nations and may be either load-bearing or non-load-bearing. Concrete blocks, especially those with hollow cores, offer various possibilities in masonry construction. They generally provide great compressive strength and are best suited to structures with light transverse loading when

2376-418: The terra cotta that covered the top course of bricks since then reduced its height one or more inches. The lowest 68 feet (20.7 m) of the brick chimney is an octagon , the vertices of which point to the cardinal and intercardinal directions , north, northeast, east, etc., while its sides face the secondary-intercardinal directions, north-northeast, east-northeast, etc. Two large vertical openings are in

2430-410: The top course of blocks in the walls filled with concrete and tied together with steel reinforcement to form a bond beam. Bond beams are often a requirement of modern building codes and controls. Another type of steel reinforcement referred to as ladder-reinforcement , can also be embedded in horizontal mortar joints of concrete block walls. The introduction of steel reinforcement generally results in

2484-408: The town of Anaconda and the smoke stack about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) southeast of the viewing area. Although the site of the smelter underwent some environmental cleanup, the general public is not allowed access to the stack itself because the soil around it is still hazardous due to contamination by the toxic metalloid arsenic as well as copper , cadmium , lead and zinc . Terra cotta covered

2538-402: The two-part Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park . The overall height of the stack is 585 feet 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  inches (178.35 m) (≈ 585 feet) , including a brick chimney 555 feet 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  inches (169.20 m) (≈ 555 feet) tall and the downhill side of a concrete foundation 30 feet (9.1 m) high. This was the height when new in 1918, but loss of

2592-587: The wall (called "header" bricks). Each row of bricks is known as a course. The pattern of headers and stretchers employed gives rise to different 'bonds' such as the common bond (with every sixth course composed of headers), the English bond, and the Flemish bond (with alternating stretcher and header bricks present on every course). Bonds can differ in strength and in insulating ability. Vertically staggered bonds tend to be somewhat stronger and less prone to major cracking than

2646-411: The water level in the pit has risen to within 150 feet (46 m) of the "protective water level", above which the polluted water might flow into a nearby creek and other local water sources. As a result, a water treatment plant has been operating at the site since October 2019. The Berkeley Pit can be visited by tourists, with a viewing stand and small visitor center. The underground Berkeley Mine

2700-679: The water. The mine is at an altitude of 4,698 feet (1432 m) above mean sea level. According to the Record of Decision, the pit water lever is not to exceed 5,410 feet above sea level. The Butte mining district is characterized by the Late Cretaceous boulder batholith which metamorphosed surrounding rocks during the Laramide orogeny . Ore formation occurred with the intrusion of the Butte quartz monzonite pluton . Mining of sulfide minerals began in

2754-413: The world. The construction of Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts, and medieval cathedrals are all examples of masonry. Early structures used the weight of the masonry itself to stabilize the structure against lateral movements. The types and techniques of masonry used evolved with architectural needs and cultural norms. Since mid-20th century, masonry has often featured steel-reinforced elements to help carry

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2808-618: Was demolished after its closure in 1981. The stack alone, however, remains standing because the citizens of Anaconda organized to "Save the Stack." It is commonly referred to as "The Stack" or "The Big Stack" and is a well-known landmark in western Montana. In 1986 it was designated the Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park. The park has two parts: the Washoe Smelter Stack Viewing Center constructed in 2000 just east of

2862-579: Was located on a prominent vein extending to the southeast from the main Anaconda vein system (sometimes called "the richest hill on earth" ). When open pit mining operations began in July 1955, near the Berkeley Mine shaft, the older mine gave its name to the pit. The open-pit style of mining superseded underground operations because it was far more economical and much less dangerous than underground mining. Within

2916-505: Was opened in 1955 and operated by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company , and later by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), until its closure on April, 22 in 1982. When the pit was closed, the water pumps in the nearby Kelley Mine, 3,800 ft (1,200 m) below the surface, were turned off, and groundwater began to slowly fill the Berkeley Pit, rising at about the rate of one foot (30 cm) per month. Since its closure,

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