The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-10

From them 1t will be seen that the
Montana Ore Purchasing company dis
claim any responsibility for any NUS
ance existing in and about Butte from
smoke, but report that they have made
arrangements with Mr.. j. r. Burfe,nd
to construct an experimental plant for
the purpose of removing all the ee-
ments of sulphur from the fumes pass
ing off from our furnaces
1.-The Boston e. Montana Consolidated
Copper and Silver Mining company and
the Butte & Boston Consolidated Min
ing company report that owing to the
price of iron and steel having advanced
the plan for erecting a tall stack or
chimney or a combination of a long
f1ue and stack to the top of one of the
surrounding hills has become simply
prohibitory, because of the great cost
with no assurance that such remedy
would be effective. and that further IN
vestigation has only more clearly prov
en- that no remedy can be found IN tne
various forms of smoke precipitation
or condensat ton. The only remedy sus-
gested by these companies IS that' py
a composition or agreement with the
other smelling companies, all plants
close down during the 10 or II weeks
in winter in which the smoke trouble
is most serious.
1.-THE Colorado Smelling & Mining
company report that they are at
loss to suggest any remedy which could
be adopted, at a reasonable cost to
surely and certainly remove the smoke,
but that they are willing to close down
their smelter in the months in which
the trouble is at its maximum, and
they likewise report that, in their judg-
ment, this is the only method of rad
ically curing the trouble.
From these communications and
from others heretofore had from the
smelling companies, it would appear
that, after investigation and expert
ments and after ample time allowed
therefor, thetsare unable to report any
method by which the people of the
community may be relieved from the
discomforts, annoyances and possible
dangers of what is commonly known as
the smoke nuisance. Having arrived at
this result, it would seem to be time for
some action on the part of the officers
entrusted with the solution Of this diff
ficulty if solution can be had. EXper-
fence has shown that there have been
times in the remote and recent past.
and that at any time repetition may
occur, when prompt and assertlve
measures have been and will be require
ed to suppress the nuisance. The clos
ing down of the various plants during
period of two or three months in the
year would work grave hardship upon
the men employed in such plants. for
the reason that they would be compell-
ed each year to go without employment
for that length of time, and thus fall
behind the remainder of the year or
seek employment elsewhere. In addi-
ton, this is a matter entirely within
the discretion of the smelling compan-
les and not a matter over which, at
this time, the court could exercise any
control.
1.-THE smelters now operating in and
about Butte, it may not be out of place
place to state, We're built. when they
We're built, at some distances from the
center of population, and long before
the city of Butte acquired the proper
tons it now possesses, and when the
inconvenience from the smoke nuisance
affected only small proportion of the
people now affected. The history of
these concerns throughout the country
is that, the disagreeable features of
their operation being generally known,
they are built at a distance from the
centers of population. There appears
to be a well-settled principle of law
that where the suppression or abate-
ment of a nuisance would result in a
greater hardship on the community
than the existence of the nuisance,
the interests and prosperity of the