Deseret News, September 30, 1980)
December 3, 1980
Anaconda announced that they would ship copper ore from their Butte mine to Japan to take advantage of excess smelter capacity in other nations. (Spokesman-Review [Spokane, Wash.], December 4, 1980)
Anaconda closed its Butte mining operations at the Berkley Pit. By early January 1983, Anaconda still employed 700 people at its East Berkley Pit mine, and its ore concentrator and general offices. (The Day [New London, Conn.], January 9, 1983, Associated Press news item)
January 6, 1983
Anaconda announced that they would close the Butte copper mine, effective June 30, 1983. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, January 8, 1983, Associated Press news item)
In response to decision on February 6, 1985 by the federal Interstate Commerce Commission that ARCO and its BA&P subsidiary were liable for employee benefits for furloughed railroad employees following its shutdown of BA&P operations, ARCO donated and sold the entire railroad to the State of Montana.
The track and land of the Butte Anaconda & Pacific Railroad was donated by ARCO and its Anaconda Minerals Co. subsidiary to the State of Montana. (Spokane Chronicle, April 11, 1985)
May 1, 1985
A group of three former BA&P management employees (Dave Bisch, John Greene, and William McCarthy) organized the Rarus Railway and leased the former BA&P from the State of Montana for operation. Rarus purchased the buildings, eight locomotives, and other rolling stock and equipment. The lease from the State of Montana for the track and land was for a period of five years, with an option for purchase at the end of the lease. There were 25 miles of mainline track, and a total of 115 miles of track that included all switching yards and sidings. Included in the arrangement was the $180,000 sale by Anaconda to the state, of the BA&P switching facilities at Silver Bow, Montana. (Spokane Chronicle, April 11, 1985, summary of a telephone interview with McCarthy)
The BA&P switching facilities at Silver Bow were adjacent to industrial development properties owned and/or controlled by both state and local economic development organizations, including Port of Butte (later Port of Montana). The Silver Bow yard was where Union Pacific interchanged with BN (BNSF) and Montana Western. Rarus Railway had access by way of an interchange track. Today  the overall site is known as the Montana Connections Business Development Park, and includes the Port of Montana, a foreign trade zone that allows duty free storage, and relief from Montana's inventory tax.
(Rarus Railway was named for the well-known Rarus Mine from the historic period of the Butte mining district.)
Anaconda Copper Mining Co. sold its Butte mining operations to the Washington Corporation, with no provision to protect any of Anaconda's employees. Washington Corp. then organized a new non-union subsidiary called Montana Resources, Inc., to operate the Butte properties. Mining operations resumed in mid-July 1986. The sale and resumption of mining operations were the result of a $12 million loan from Montana's mineral severance tax fund, and a three-year tax break for Washington Corp. The sale was completed in December 1985, and production was planned to be 40,000 tons per day by August 11, 1986. (Spokesman-Review [Spokane, Wash.], June 24, 1986; October 19, 1986; Victoria Advocate [Victoria, Texas], July 17, 1986, Associated Press news item)
According to information on file with the Railroad Retirement Board, a company by the name of BGM [Bisch-Greene-McCarthy] Equipment Company was formed on December 23, 1986, and leased equipment, locomotives, truck, track equipment, and land to its affiliated carriers, Montana Western Railway, and Rarus Railway. BGM Equipment was formally merged with Rarus Railway on October 1, 2007.
Rarus Railway purchased the former BA&P from the State of Montana. Most of Rarus' traffic was bridge traffic moving between Union Pacific at Silver Bow, and Montana Rail Link at Garrison. Both Rarus and Montana Western had separate customers in the Silver Bow area. Montana Western's main sourc