The Anaconda Montana Smelter Smoke Stack is now a Montana state monument and is the tallest surviving masonry structure in the world. Standing 585’ tall, it was completed in 1919 and had a lightning protection system installed at the time of construction. Without a lightning protection system installed on the smoke stack, it would have surely suffered damage from lightning strikes over the last century.
There is one particular news story wrote about a large smoke stack that did not have a lightning protection system that was struck and damaged by lightning. This resulted to the stack being demolished using dynamite and a new smoke stack had to be replaced at a heavy cost. The Anaconda smoke stack lightning protection system is a true testament to the effectiveness of a lightning protection system.
