The Tacoma Smelter, located on Commencement Bay in the company town of Ruston, Washington, was a visible landmark for over seventy-five years, and its parent company, ASARCO, was one of the major employers in Tacoma during that period. Under the ownership of William R. Rust, the plant began operations in 1890 as the Tacoma Smelting and Refining Company smelting high lead ores from mines in Idaho, iron from Alaska and limerock from the San Juan Islands. By 1912, the facility had been converted to a copper smelter and refinery. Rust eventually sold the business to the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO). In 1933, workers at the Tacoma Smelter organized as Local 25 of the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers. The local was involved in a number of strikes and other labor actions. By 1983, the demand for copper smelting had declined and fears over pollution had increased. In 1985, the the plant was permanently closed and later was designated as a Superfund site by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The smelter stack was demolished by implosion in 1993 and remediation work continued. Around 2006, the site was sold to private developers and redeveloped as a residential and commercial property, Point Ruston.
From the description of Oral history interviews with Curtis Dungey and Chuck O' Donahue, 1992. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 625468577
