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Berkeley Pit, Butte, MT

Photo: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

SightseeingQuirky FunHistory Buff

Berkeley Pit

Look out from a viewing stand over a mile-long former open-pit copper mine that is slowly filling with acidic water.

350 Shields Ave · Butte, MT

About Berkeley Pit

The Berkeley Pit was opened by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in 1955 and closed in 1982. It is about one mile long, half a mile wide and roughly 1,780 feet deep, and it has been filling with acidic, metal-laden water ever since. You see it from a viewing stand on the southwest rim at the east end of Park Street in Uptown Butte, next to a gift shop. The pit sits within a federal Superfund site, and a water treatment plant has operated there since 2019.

  • #mining history
  • #viewing stand
  • #open pit mine
  • #copper mine

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What's around here?

The closest stops to Berkeley Pit, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Museums

    World Museum of Mining

    Under $25

    An outdoor-heavy museum built on the historic Orphan Girl Mine yard in Butte, with a recreated 1890s mining camp and an underground mine tour.

    2.3 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing
    Local Gem

    Anaconda

    No admission fee

    Historic copper-smelting town in southwest Montana between Yellowstone and Glacier, with a downtown visitor center.

    22 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Montana Zipline Adventures

    $50+

    Montana's longest zipline course, seven lines totaling over 9,300 feet through the Pintler Wilderness.

    22 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Stay
    Family Favorite

    Fairmont Hot Springs Resort

    $50+

    Year-round mineral hot springs resort near Anaconda with four spring-fed pools, a waterslide, golf and lodging.

    22 mi awaySwitch it up: Stay

  • Sightseeing
    History Buff

    Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site

    No admission fee

    Tour a working cattle ranch from the open-range era, with a historic ranch house, living history and walking trails.

    29 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing

    Granite Ghost Town State Park

    Under $25

    Preserved remains of an 1890s silver mining town reached by a steep, winding mountain road.

    41 mi awayMore like this

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