Anaconda

Nicknamed the Smelter City, Anaconda is a window on the age of the copper barons, who ran this town from the 1880s through the 1950s. A number of sites preserve traces of Anaconda’s rough-and-tumble history, including the dormant 585-foot smokestack, visible for miles, of the copper-smelting works around which the town was built. Copper is no longer the chief industry here, but even the Jack Nicklaus–designed golf course uses smelter-tailings slag for sand traps. Anaconda is also an ideal spot for fishing and hiking, and it sits at the base of the rugged Pintler Mountains, popular for cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, and backcountry adventures.