Welcome to Deer Lodge County

Published: 2022
By Kayleen Kidwell

Located in southwestern Montana near the Continental Divide, Anaconda was founded in 1865 by Marcus Daily as a site to build a smelter to refine copper ore from local mines. 122 years later, in 1977, Anaconda merged with Deer Lodge County to form one of two consolidated city-county governments within the state. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County consisted of 736 square miles of land and 4.7 square miles of water, making it the second smallest county by land mass.