This picture shows the Berkeley Pit from the viewing area in Butte. You can get a good idea of how much digging has been done in and around the Berkeley Pit in this photograph. In case you're wondering, the lake you see before you is more than 1800 feet deep! And no, the water is extremely hazardous to your health - so don't drink or swim in it. The Berkeley Pit has been filling up with water ever since the former owner of it, Arco, stopped pumping out the water. Ever since, it has been filling up with water at a rate of 6 million gallons per day (recently slowed down to 3 million gallons per day due to the stoppage of water intake from another nearby active strip mine). Return to Montana Travel Guide |