McGill 1982 – 2024
Welcome to this weeks edition of White Pine: Then & Now!
In this edition we take a look at the town of McGill as seen from the highway about two miles north of town. The original photo, shot in July 1982 by Peter Yamagata, shows the Kennecott smelter in operation but operations were nearing the end as the mines that kept the furnaces going had closed four years prior. In less than a year, Kennecott would close the facility and begin dismantling it.
In the current photo, the town hasn’t changed much from this perspective physically, but it’s painfully evident that the smelter has been erased from the landscape forever. The tall stack visible in the 1982 photo remained standing as a silent monument to the mining that took place in the area and to Kennecott, who for many years took care of McGill, Ely and Ruth. On September 3, 1993, due to safety concerns by the EPA that the stack was unsafe, it was blown up to huge fanfare as residents from all around the county gathered to watch it fall. Although Kennecott’s departure led McGill to start a rapid decline, that for the most part has all but stopped as town residents have stepped up to revitalize a number of public spaces and are actively trying to attract new business to help the town grow and thrive.
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