State facts at a glance...
Montana is the 41st state;
it became a state on November 8, 1889.
State Abbreviation - MT
State Capital - Helena
Largest City - Billings
State Motto - "Oro y plata" - Gold and Silver
Native Americans have inhabited this land for hundreds of years. 200 years ago Lewis and Clark traversed what would one day be known as Montana. Discovered in the 1860s, gold attracted men with visions of riches. Outlaws, cattle, cowboys and railroads quickly followed. The story of the 20th century became a saga of ranching, mining, logging, tourism and the preservation of nature's treasures. Today, Montana's treasures are found in the state's environment, while technology transforms old industries and creates new economies. In Montana, the old and new await you.
Click HERE for Montana's Historical Timeline
The Expedition Begins
In 1804 a hopeful Thomas Jefferson sent Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find the fabled River of the West. From the time of Columbus, explorers and statesmen had dreamed of a Northwest Passage, an all-water route connecting the trade routes of the Pacific to the Old World of the Atlantic. As president of a still-young nation, Jefferson had pressed for the Louisiana Purchase to strengthen American trade and settlement. The final $15 million-dollar agreement with France doubled America's size overnight.
Lewis & Clark in Montana
On April 25, 1805, the Corps of Discovery camped by the riverside near the future site of Fort Union. Lewis and Clark hoped they were only weeks away from the Pacific via an all-water route, the mythical Northwest Passage. The group rested and celebrated their arrival at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. The expedition journals noted the spot's potential as a trade location between two navigable rivers, the early highways of commerce. Entering what would be Montana led the expedition into the land of the Blackfeet. Their first contact with this tribe had been less than promising.
The Northwest Passage was not Jefferson's only priority. In fact, of the tasks assigned them, Lewis and Clark accomplished the most within the modern borders of Montana. Contact and negotiations with native tribes, the reconnaissance of suitable sites for trading posts and forts, and scientific accounts of the land's plants, animals, and scenic resources were all in keeping with Jefferson's hopes for the expedition.
Montana Unspoiled Adventure
Today, much of the Montana landscape that Lewis & Clark crossed remains unchanged. From solitary sandstone through river canyons to mountain meadows, Montana's rivers and highways flow past scores of landmarks related to the expedition.
For dyed in the wool history buffs, Wikipedia has an excellent Montana History Page detailing this state's interesting history, from Montana's original Native American inhabitants, to the Louisiana Purchase, to the famous Battle of Little Big Horn.
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"Montana was built from the back of the horse. Those who continue in their footsteps can be seen in the rodeo arena spotlight and out on the working ranches of today.”………Flint Rasmussen, Choteau, Montana - Professional Barrelman
"Spanish explorers brought the horse to the New World, and the first herds cantered onto the Montana high plains around 1730. Almost immediately, it can be assumed, somebody here got on a horse that didn't like it and promptly fell off.
This interaction between human and horse is replayed again and again during three days every May in one of America's most exhilarating -- and remote -- parties: the annual Miles City Bucking Horse Sale. By day it is a lot like a rodeo, but it isn't a rodeo. At night it is a street celebration billed as the "cowboy Mardi Gras," but that doesn't get it right either.
This is a raw, beer-soaked anachronism closer in mood and action to the annual bullfighting festival in Pamplona, Spain, than to anything else, though you won't hear many people in eastern Montana use the word aficionado....." - William Souder. Read more of this WashingtonPost.com article HERE.
I yearn for the life that I used to know
When the range was free and wide,
When a man could see where the sunsets go
'Way out past the Great Divide.
Oh I want to mount my old cayuse
And gallop off with a song,
To twirl my rope and to throw the noose
And chase the dogies along.
I long for the roads of yesterday,
For the trails I used to ride,
For the cowboy's life, his yip-oo-ray
As he roamed the countryside.
What's a man to do who rode all day
Through shortgrass and mesquite,
With tractors and plows and a paved-highway
And fenced-in fields of wheat?
My sad heart pines for the prairies still,
I long to follow the trail,
I miss the call of the whippoorwill
And the coyote's lonesome wail.
I want to feel the wind in my face
And to give my horse the word,
To wheel and turn as he sets the pace
And cuts through a longhorn herd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Montana has the largest migratory elk herd in the nation.
- The state boasts the largest breeding population of trumpeter swans in the lower United States.
- North of Missoula is the largest population of nesting common loons in the western United States.
- The average square mile of land contains 1.4 elk, 1.4 pronghorn antelope, and 3.3 deer.
- The Freezeout Lake Wildlife Management Area contains as many as 300,000 snow geese and 10,000 tundra swans during migration.
- The Montana Yogo Sapphire is the only North American gem to be included in the Crown Jewels of England.
- In 1888 Helena had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world.
- 46 out of Montana's 56 counties are considered "frontier counties" with an average population of 6 or fewer people per square mile.
- At Egg Mountain near Choteau dinosaur eggs have been discovered supporting the theory some dinosaurs were more like mammals and birds than like reptiles.
- Montana is the only state with a triple divide allowing water to flow into the Pacific, Atlantic, and Hudson Bay. This phenomenon occurs at Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park.
- The notorious outlaw, Henry Plummer, built the first jail constructed in the state.
- No state has as many different species of mammals as Montana.
- The moose, now numbering over 8,000 in Montana, was thought to be extinct in the Rockies south of Canada in the 1900s.
- Miles City is known as the Cowboy Capitol.
- Yellowstone National Park in southern Montana and northern Wyoming was the first national park in the nation.
- Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states.
- Combination, Comet, Keystone, Black Pine, and Pony are names of Montana ghost towns.
- Virginia City was founded in 1863 and is considered to be the most complete original town of its kind in the United States.
- The density of the state is six people per square mile.
- The highest point in the state is Granite Peak at 12,799 feet.
- The most visited place in Montana is Glacier National Park, known as the crown jewel of the continent.
- Buffalo in the wild can still be viewed at the National Bison Range in Moiese, south of Flathead Lake and west of the Mission Mountains.
- Montana's first territorial capital, Bannack, has been preserved as a ghost town state park along once gold-laden Grasshopper Creek.
- Just south of Billings, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his troops made their last stand. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument features the Plains Indians and United States military involved in the historic battle.
- The first inhabitants of Montana were the Plains Indians.
- Montana is home to seven Indian reservations.
- The Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park is considered one of the most scenic drives in America.
- The state's motto Oro y Plata means gold and silver.
- Montana's name comes from the Spanish word mountain.
- In Montana the elk, deer and antelope populations outnumber the humans.
- Glacier National Park has 250 lakes within its boundaries.
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.......discovers a destination where the outdoors dominates the senses. Here are rustic Montana cabins, amazing Montana mountain vistas, rivers and streams for fishing, canoes and rafts for water sports, and places for reflection. This is Lewis and Clark territory with two national parks and millions of acres of public access lands. In Montana, you see the world as it was meant to be seen: unspoiled, high, wide and handsome, filled with wildlife experiences and incredible scenic vistas. One of the most intriguing aspects of Montana is its great size. There are miles and miles of open road, of back country and mountain vistas and the distances between any two points can be vast, much larger than the entire land area of entire European countries as we are the fourth largest state in the union.
The Montana visitor can spend time searching out historic sites or enjoy the wide open playgrounds of fishing, hiking, wildlife viewing, skiing, camping, white water rafting, and river boarding. You can journey into the wilds of Glacier or Yellowstone National Parks for unspoiled scenery and outdoor adventure or spend time in the more social world of guest ranches and small specialized resorts. Montana is home to more than 50 state parks and ten national forests. There are literally millions of acres of public lands for you to enjoy. Accommodations range from rustic cabin rentals and tipi rentals, to resorts with great options. The most popular outdoor activities, are wildlife viewing, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, boating, snowmobiling, fly fishing, camping. Montana is Big Sky Country! Bring your blue jeans, boots, hat, camera, and plan for a great adventure!
With appreciation to the following websites...
Montana Recipes
Montana Travel
Montana Facts and Trivia
Bruce Gourley Photography
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