Nostalgia & History > Worlds tallest smokestack?

X-7803 west headed by an Alco Century C-630 passes the old smelter at Selby California in the mid-60's. I was once told that the smokestack was the tallest in the world does anyone out there know if this was true or not? Also it was brought down with dynamite when the smelter closed.I always thought the smelter was a cool background for eastbay railfanning.

Photobobs website:
http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index1.html

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That's not a smokestack. It's a cannon at the secret NASA facility. It was built as NASA's first attempt to put a man on the moon. It didn't work out.

Selby Smelting and Lead height : 606 feet
INCO Smelter, Sudbury,ON height : 1,246 feet (world's tallest)

IIRC Bob, it was brought down around '73-'74 or so. You used to be able to get into where you shot your nice color pic, but that's been closed for years. SP had a small building there lettered Selby, but the area around it was (and may still be) known as Tormey.

The site is now one BIG asphalt pad - seems that the ground was so saturated with lead that it was easier to pave it over than clean it up. They park environmental cleanup rigs on it now.

TrackOne Wrote:
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> Selby Smelting and Lead height : 606 feet
> INCO Smelter, Sudbury,ON height : 1,246 feet
> (world's tallest)

Proof that the Canadians are evil...LOL!
Wow Sudbury, huh? I haven't been there but I heard it's pretty industrial...

NH2006 Wrote:
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> TrackOne Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Selby Smelting and Lead height : 606
> feet
> > INCO Smelter, Sudbury,ON height : 1,246
> feet
> > (world's tallest)
>
> Proof that the Canadians are evil...LOL!
> Wow Sudbury, huh? I haven't been there but I
> heard it's pretty industrial...


Interesting, suspect that they were not both standing at the same time, not sure though. Heard that some of the smokestacks for the modern coal buning plants around South-eastern Colorado were very tall so as to 'disperse' (ie: inject) the smoke at higher altitudes.

Sudbury is a major supplier, if not the major supplier, of nickle. In fact at one time they had a statue/replica of the U.S. five cen t piece on display.

Assuming they both existed at the same time, there's no contest.

-andrew

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FWIW, Detroit Edison has twin 800 ft stacks in Monroe, Mi. Gene

I'm starting to get smokestack envy....

--jag

Cool shot.... Is this the smelter that the Mococo Line was orignally built to serve?

Mike in Tracy