Standing at an elevation of 6,135 feet, the “Con” is more than a mile high and a mile deep, the deepest on the hill. Originally called the Mountain Consolidated, the name was later shortened by tongue-twisted immigrant miners.
The Con was a copper mine and one of the biggest producers in the industry. Mammoth ore bins, now gone, housed the copper until it was loaded onto horse-drawn wagons, and in later years into train cars of the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway. Mining waste was also dropped into the bins for shipment to dumping sites.
The headframe of the Con, the second tallest of those remaining on the hill, was erected in 1928.
The Con is a consolidation of the Mountain, Burnett, Loweville, and Buffalo Mines. The Mountain Consolidated Mining Company was formed to operate the mine, and by 1887 the mine was owned by the Chambers Syndicate. In 1891 it became the property of the newly incorporated Anaconda Mining Company (to be renamed the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in 1895).
The foundation for the mine superintendent’s house can still be seen among the evergreens to the east of the headframe. Today the area is a park with spectacular views of the city, and is part of a paved walking trail system.
