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.

[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.

[johnnycashh]

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. 🇺🇸🍻

[jones]

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

[dudeguy]

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

[christopherquinn]

Montana is on my bucket list, its so Beautiful

[CapnCody]

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

[gerrynightingale]

*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!*

[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.

[debbiecooper]

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

[Parkhurst-]

Home of Evel Knievel and Robert J. O'Neill

[PACstove]

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

[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.

[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!!!

[Mtoutdoorsman]

M&M bar and grill burned down last year

[jakesarag]

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

[SSIKorea]

Recently, ESG 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

"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) -

[dondoyle]

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

[christinawebb]

My dad was laid off in 1976 so we moved.

[TheTonialadd]

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