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Montana is an inland U.S. state largely in the Western United States, but because of its immense size stretches into the north-central United States. Although Montana is often regarded by outsiders as almost completely mountainous, about 60 percent of the state is actually prairie in the Great Plains.

 The central and western thirds of the state have numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named) of the northern Rocky Mountains; thus the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña ("mountain"). The state nickname is the "Treasure State." Other nicknames include "Land of Shining Mountains", "Big Sky Country", and the slogan "the last best place". The state ranks fourth in size (~145,000 square miles) but has a relatively low population (with only six states having fewer people) and consequently a very low population density. The economy is primarily based on agriculture (wheat, barley, sugar beets, oats, rye, seed potatoes, honey and cherries) as well as cattle and sheep ranching, and significant lumber and mineral extraction (gold, coal, silver, talc, and vermiculite) industries. Tourism is also important to the economy with millions of visitors a year to Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake, the Missouri River headwaters, the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn and 3 of the 5 entrances to Yellowstone National Park.

Montana was originally inhabited by several ethnolinguistic groups of American Indians, including the Blackfoot, (Siksika), Crow, Cheyenne, Bannock, Shoshoni, Nez Perce. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806 was the first group of European-American explorers to cross Montana. Today, most of these Native American nations still call Montana home and Montana has more Native American Indian reservations than any other state (7). Modern-day Montana became Montana Territory in 1864 by the appointment of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and later became the 41st state in 1889.

The state became the first to elect a female member of Congress, Jeannette Rankin, and was one of the first states to give women voting rights. Despite its sizable American Indian population, Montana is one of the most homogenous states— nearly nine-tenths of its residents are of European descent, with a large number of immigrants of German, Irish, Norwegian, Welsh/Cornish, Italian and Slovak heritage arriving from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. A significant portion of Chinese (Canton) immigrants also came and left an indelible mark on the state, especially in the mining cities of Helena and Butte.

The state capital is Helena (nicknamed "Queen City of the Rockies"), hometown of the late Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy.

Native Americans were the first inhabitants of modern-day Montana. Groups included the Crows in the south-central area, the Cheyenne in the southeast, the Blackfeet, Assiniboine and Gros Ventres in the central and north-central region and the Kootenai and Salish in the western sector. The smaller Pend d'Oreille and Kalispel tribes were found around Flathead Lake and the western mountains, respectively.

Subsequent to the Lewis and Clark expeditions and after the finding of gold and copper in the state in the late 1850's, Montana became a United States territory (Montana Territory) on May 26, 1864 and the 41st state on November 8, 1889.

Fort Shaw, (Montana Territory), was established in the spring of 1867. Fort Shaw is located west of Great Falls in the Sun River Valley. Fort Shaw was one of three posts authorized to be built by Congress in 1865. The other two posts in the Montana Territory were Camp Cooke on the Judith River and Fort C.F. Smith on the Bozeman Trail in southcentral Montana Territory. Fort Shaw, named after Colonel Robert G. Shaw, who commanded one of the first all African-American regiments (54th Massachusetts) during the American Civil War, was built of adobe and lumber by the 13th Infantry. The fort had a parade ground that was 400 feet square and consisted of barracks for officers, a hospital, and a trading post and could house up to 450 soldiers. Completed in 1868, the fort was used by military personnel until 1891.

After the close of the military post in 1891, the government established Fort Shaw as a school to provide industrial training to young Native-Americans. The Fort Shaw Indian Industrial School was opened on April 30, 1892. The school had at one time 17 faculty members, 11 Indian assistants and 300 students. The school made use of over twenty of the buildings originally built by the Army. In 1902, a group of female students from the Indian school began playing basketball and traveled throughout Montana, defeating high school teams as well as some college teams. In 1904, the girls basketball team traveled by train to the St. Louis World's Fair. Over five months' time the team was challenged by numerous other basketball teams and won every contest, returning to Fort Shaw with the "world champion" trophy. On May 1, 2004 a monument in honor of the basketball team was unveiled at the entrance of the present day Fort Shaw Elementary School.

The Enlarged Homestead Act of the early 1900's greatly affected the settlement of Montana. This Act expanded the land that was provided by the Homestead Act of 1862 from 160 acres to 320 acres. When the latter Act was signed by President Taft, it also reduced the time necessary to prove up from five years to three years and permitted five months absence from the claim each year.

In 1908, the Sun River Irrigation Project, west of Great Falls was opened up for homesteading. Under this Reclamation Act, a person could obtain 40 acres. Most of the people who came to file on these homesteads were young couples who were eager to live near the mountains where hunting and fishing were good. Many of these homesteaders came from the Midwest and Minnesota.

Montana was the scene of the Native Americans' last effort to keep their land. For instance, the last stand of U.S. Army Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer was fought in Montana near the present day town of Hardin. Montana was also the location of the final battles of the Nez Perce Wars.

Cattle ranching has long been central to Montana's history and economy. The Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge Valley is maintained as a link to the ranching style of the late 19th century.