Anaconda Saddle Club

Anaconda, Montana was founded in 1883 by Montana mining baron Marcus Daly. Established as the site of the Washoe Works, the processing arm of Daly’s mammoth Anaconda Mining Company, Anaconda became home to a polyglot community of immigrant smelter workers and laborers in related industries. Daly, the Anaconda Company, and the Anaconda community were progressive when it came to providing recreational outlets in the community for residents. Associated projects included the construction of a horse-racing track west of town in 1888, the development of Washoe Park northwest of town in 1890, the donation of a city block to the City of Anaconda in 1901 for the town’s first urban park – the Kennedy Commons, and the establishment of an employee’s club on Main Street in the late 1940s. As a result of these projects, Anaconda offered a wealth of recreational opportunities for townspeople and residents of the outlying area. The founding of the Anaconda Saddle Club in the mid-1940s represented a continuation of the commitment to the social health of the Anaconda community. 

The Anaconda Saddle Club is a non-profit organization established in 1944. An informal gathering of local horse enthusiasts met at the barn of Dr. Milo Snodgrass in Anaconda’ West Valley and organized the club, which held monthly meetings at the Montana Hotel in Anaconda until an actual facility and clubhouse were completed at its present site. In January 1945, the Anaconda Saddle Club land committee, led by Dr. Wilbur Beal, Dr. Turton, and Lou Heppler, purchased thirty acres of land west of town for the construction of a saddle club and horse-boarding facility. The property was bordered to the south by the Butte, Anaconda, and Pacific Railway right of way, on the north by the Jones and Craig ranches, and on the east and west ends by “open land”.  

Martin “Abe” Nelson designed plans for the facility, and within weeks of acquiring the land, saddle club members began clearing away the brush and rocks in the field. The members solicitated donations of building materials, which were scarce during the immediate end of WWII. Members also served as the construction crew on the project, erecting all of the buildings and structures on the site. The log Blacksmith shop was the first building to be completed, and it served as the temporary headquarters and clubhouse of the organization until the main clubhouse was finished in 1946.  

A public grand opening on September 22, 1946 celebrated the official completion of the Saddle Club complex, though some work would continue into the next year. During the grand opening, a huge crowd estimated at one-thousand-five-hundred people enjoyed guided tours and a colt show, won by a four-month-old sorrel and white colt from the Anaconda valley named Rambler. The same day as the grand opening, Martin Nelson acquired five additional acres of land west of the clubhouse for future expansion.  

Over the years, the Anaconda Saddle Club has served as the center of recreation and social activity in Anaconda’s West Valley. The Club offered a full venue of horse shows, trail rides, rodeos, barbeques, dances, parades, and dinners. Men, women, and children alike participated in activities. In 1958, the rodeo grounds were completed, and by 1960, the grounds were established in the configuration used through the present. 

Anaconda Saddle Club, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 13th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71974647.

Anaconda Saddle Club, Wikipedia. Accessed January 13th 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaconda_Saddle_Club.

Anaconda Saddle Club Website. Accessed January 13th 2021. https://www.anacondasaddleclub.org/.