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 Facts About Montana
 
After Merriwether Lewis and William Clark explored the area now called
Montana in 1805, and rumors about the riches of this land spread east,
missionaries, mountain men, gold prospectors, trappers and traders soon
followed. Once home to huge herds of buffalo, Montana is rich in American
Indian lore, and powerful names like Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Nez Perce
and Sioux come quickly to mind. It was here in 1876, on the Little Bighorn
River, that the American Indians fought their last great battle.
Subsequently their hunting grounds were lost, their way of life destroyed,
and they scattered into the winds of history. Home to over 40 mountain
ranges and the incomparable Glacier National Park, the vistas here almost
defy description. This enormous state with vast open plains is called the
Big Sky Country, and if ever a nickname fit, this is it.
Capital: Helena
Population: 909,453
Entered the Union: November 8, 1889
As
the: 41st state
Motto: "Gold and Silver"
Nickname: "Big Sky Country" and
"Treasure State"
Flower: Bitterroot
Bird: Western Meadowlark
Song: "Montana"
Origin of Name: It's from the Spanish
word meaning Mountainous
Points of Interest: Glacier National
Park, Little Bighorn Battlefield and National Monument, Ski Resorts,
Yellowstone National Park, and much, much more.
Bordering States: North Dakota, South
Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho. Also the Canadian Provinces of British
Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Numerous Facts & Trivia:
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.
At the Rocky Mountain Front Eagle Migration Area west of Great Falls more
golden eagles have been seen in a single day than anywhere else in the
country.
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.
At Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge it is possible to see up to 1,700
nesting pelicans.
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.
Flathead Lake in northwest Montana contains over 200 square miles of water
and 185 miles of shoreline. It is considered the largest natural
freshwater lake in the west.
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.
The town of Ekalaka was named for the daughter of the famous Sioux chief,
Sitting Bull.
Fife is named after the type of wheat grown in the area or, as some locals
contend, by Tommy Simpson for his home in Scotland.
Fishtail is named for either a Mr. Fishtail who lived in the area or as
the area Indians prefer for some of the peaks in the nearby Beartooth
Mountain Range which look like the tail of a fish.
The Yaak community is the most northwestern settlement in the state.
Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states.
Near the Pines Recreation Area as many as 100 sage grouse perform their
extraordinary spring mating rituals.
The first luge run in North America was built at Lolo Hot Springs on Lolo
Pass in 1965.
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.
Montana is nicknamed the Treasure State.
The bitterroot is the official state flower.
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. It lies along Montana's northern border and
adjoins Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, forming the world's first
International Peace Park.
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.
The Old West comes to life through the brush and sculpture of famed
western artist Charlie Russell at the Charles M. Russell Museum Complex in
Great Falls. The museum contains the world's largest collection of
Russell's work, his original log-cabin studio and his Great Falls home.
The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman gained fame through the work of its
chief paleontologist, Jack Horner. Horner was the prototype for the
character Dr. Alan Grant in the best selling novel/movie, "Jurassic Park."
Montana's rivers and streams provide water for three oceans and three of
the North American continent's major river basins.
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 western meadowlark is the official state bird.
The first inhabitants of Montana were the Plains Indians.
Montana is home to seven Indian reservations.
Every spring nearly 10,000 white pelicans with a wingspan of nine feet
migrate from the Gulf of Mexico to Medicine Lake in northeastern Montana.
The Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park is considered one of the most
scenic drives in America.
The state's official animal is the grizzly bear.
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.
Hill County has the largest county park in the United States. Beaver Creek
Park measures 10 miles long and 1 mile wide.
Competing with the D River in Lincoln City, Oregon for the title of the
world's shortest river, the Roe River flows near Great Falls. Both rivers
lengths vary from 58 feet to 200 feet. The source for this small river is
Giant Springs, the largest freshwater spring in the United States.
Learn more at 50states.com
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