Montana
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State flag
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MONTANA,
one of the Mountain states of the U.S., bounded on the N by
the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan;
on the E by North Dakota and South Dakota; on the S by Wyoming and
Idaho; and on the W by Idaho. The Continental Divide forms much
of the SW boundary.
Montana entered the Union on Nov. 8, 1889, as the 41st
state.
Historically, Montana has had an economy based on its diversified
natural resources. The state is divided into two distinct physical and
economic regions: the Rocky Mts. in the W produce lumber and metal
ores, and the Great Plains in the E produce petroleum, coal, and
agricultural goods. The name of the state is derived from a
Spanish word meaning mountainous and was first applied to the territory
in 1864. Montana is called the Treasure State.
| MONTANA STATE FACTS |
| DATE OF STATEHOOD: |
November 8, 1889; 41st state |
| CAPITAL: |
Helena |
| MOTTO: |
Oro y plata (Gold and Silver) (The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law) |
| NICKNAME: |
Treasure State |
| STATE SONG: |
"Montana" (words by Charles C. Cohen; music by Joseph E. Howard) |
| STATE TREE: |
Ponderosa pine |
| STATE FLOWER: |
Bitterroot |
| STATE BIRD: |
Western meadowlark |
| POPULATION (2000 census): |
902,195; 44th among the states |
| AREA: |
380,850 sq km (1490 sq mi);
largest state; includes 3859 sq km (1490 sq mi) of inland water |
| HIGHEST POINT: |
Granite Peak, 390 m (12,799 ft) |
| LOWEST POINT: |
549 m (1800 ft), along the Kootenai River in the northest |
| ELECTORAL VOTES: |
3 |
| U.S. CONGRESS: |
2 senators; 1 representative |
| GOVERNOR: |
Judy Martz (Rep.)
office January 2001 |
Montana, with an area of 380,850 sq km (147,046 sq mi), is
the fourth largest state in the U.S.; 29.4% of the land
area is owned by the federal government. The state is roughly rectangular
in shape, and its extreme dimensions are about 515 km (about 320
mi) from N to S and about 885 km (about 550 mi) from E to W. Elevations
range from a low of 549 m (1800 ft) along the Kootenai R. at the
NW border of the state to a high of 3901 m (12,799 ft) atop Granite
Peak in the S near Yellowstone National Park. The approximate mean elevation
is 1036 m (3400 ft).
Montana contains parts of two major U.S. physiographic regions:
the Rocky Mts., which occupy the W third of the state, and the Great
Plains in the E. Water and glacial ice have carved Montana’s
mountain landscape; in the S, the mountain profiles are subdued,
but at the Canadian border is a scenic, angular, alpine landscape.
The Bitterroot Range, along the W border, one of the many ranges
of the Montana Rockies, is among the most rugged and inaccessible
areas of the U.S. Just E of the Bitterroot Range is a series of
long and fairly broad valleys, extending in a generally N-S direction; Flathead
Valley is the largest and most important of these. Soils in the
Rockies are generally poor and thin. The Montana Great Plains region
has a high elevation and is gently rolling or flat, but it is broken
by scattered foothills (such as the Highwood and Little Belt mountains
in the W) and by badlands in the SE. The N third of this region
was covered by continental glacial ice during the last Ice Age,
leaving a surface veneered with glacial drift.
The rivers W of the Continental Divide drain to the Pacific
Ocean via the Columbia R.; major rivers of this system within the
state are the Kootenai, Clark Fork, and Flathead. To the E of the
Divide, the Missouri R. and its numerous tributaries, including
the Marias, Milk, and Yellowstone rivers, drain through the Mississippi
R. to the Gulf of Mexico. Flathead Lake, in the mountains N of Missoula, is
the state’s largest natural lake, but the largest body
of water is the artificial Fort Peck Lake, on the Missouri R., which
is formed behind Fort Peck Dam.
The Continental Divide is a sharp climatic boundary between
the modified N Pacific maritime climate in a narrow strip of territory
to the W and the cold continental climate of the E part of the state.
At the crest of the divide annual average precipitation changes
abruptly from about 1090 mm (about 43 in) on the windward (western)
side, to less than 508 mm (less than 20 in) on the eastern side. Average
annual temperature for the state is about 5.6° C (about
42° F); seasonal extremes are greater to the E of the Divide.
The Great Plains are subject to waves of frigid arctic air 6 to
12 times each winter. Most rivers and lakes in Montana freeze over,
causing occasional serious stream flooding when ice breaks up in
the early spring. The state’s recorded temperature has
ranged from –56.7° C (–70° F)
in 1954 to 47.2° C (117° F) in 1937.
| MONTANA AVERAGE CLIMATE |
| |
Billings |
Missoula |
| Average January temperature range |
–10.6° to – 0.6° C |
13° to 31° F |
–10.6° to 1.7° C |
13° to 29° F |
| Average July temperature range |
14.4° to 30° C |
58° to 86° F |
9.4° to 28.9° C |
49° to 84° F |
| Average annual temperature |
7.8° C |
46° F |
6.7° C |
44° F |
| Average annual precipitation |
356 mm |
14 in |
330 mm |
13 in |
| Average annual snowfall |
1422 mm |
56 in |
1219 mm |
48 in |
| Mean number of days per year with appreciable precipitation |
95 |
122 |
| Average daily relative humidity |
48% |
58% |
| Mean number of clear days per year |
90 |
76 |
The Rocky Mts. of Montana are clothed in a discontinuous cover
of coniferous forest. Forests cover about 23% of the state’s
land area; nearly two-thirds of this is of commercial value. Western
yellow pine and Douglas fir, at lower elevations, and larch and
western white pine, at intermediate elevations, are the most valuable
commercial trees. Spruce and fir, at the highest elevations, are
the least valuable, because of their remoteness. Wildlife in the
mountain zone is both abundant and diverse, including mountain goat,
bighorn sheep, elk (wapiti), moose, mule and white-tailed deer,
grizzly and black bear, mountain lion, and fox; salmon and trout
are found in the mountain streams. The Great Plains region has a
natural vegetation cover of short and medium-height grasses, principally
grama, buffalo, and bluestem grass. The plains have for many years
sustained a livestock-grazing and spring-wheat ranching economy.
Wildlife here includes mule deer, pronghorn antelope, coyote, grouse,
pheasant, and migratory waterfowl.
Montana is rich in mineral resources, with large reserves
of petroleum and natural gas, copper, and coal. Petroleum and coal
deposits are concentrated in the E section of the Great Plains;
the largest known petroleum deposits are found in the NE and SE
parts of the state. Copper ores are concentrated in the vicinity
of Butte. Other important minerals include gold, silver, limestone, antimony,
phosphates, gypsum, and sand and gravel.
According to the 2000 census, Montana had 902,195 inhabitants,
an increase of 12.9% over 1990. The population density
in 2000 was only 6.2 persons per sq mi of land area. Whites made
up 90.6% of the population and blacks 0.3%; additional
population groups included 56,068 American Indians (6.2% of
the total population), 4691 persons of Asian origin, and 470 Native
Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders. (These figures do not include
the 1.7% of the population who reported more than one race.)
Among the most prominent of Montana’s many Indian groups
were the Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Flathead, and Ojibwa; nearly
two-thirds of the state’s Indian population lived on reservations.
Montana also had a total of 18,081 persons, or 2.0%, of
Hispanic background. The state had no large urban centers. The biggest
communities were Billings; Missoula; Great Falls; Butte; and Bozeman.
Helena is the capital.
According to the 1990 census, Roman Catholics formed the largest
single religious group (27.6%), followed by Lutherans (12.2%) and Methodists (9.4%). In 1990 about 53% of Montana’s
residents lived in areas defined as urban, a figure considerably
below the national average of 75%, and the remainder lived
in rural areas.
| POPULATION OF MONTANA SINCE 1870 |
| Year of Census |
Population |
Classified As Urban |
| 1870 |
21,000 |
15% |
| 1890 |
143,000 |
27% |
| 1900 |
243,000 |
35% |
| 1920 |
549,000 |
31% |
| 1940 |
559,000 |
38% |
| 1960 |
675,000 |
50% |
| 1970 |
694,000 |
53% |
| 1980 |
787,000 |
53% |
| 1990 |
799,065 |
53% |
| 2000 |
902,195 |
-- |
|
POPULATION OF TEN LARGEST COMMUNITIES IN MONTANA |
| |
2000 Census |
1990 Census |
| Billings |
89,847 |
81,151 |
| Missoula |
57,053 |
42,918 |
| Great Falls |
56,690 |
55,097 |
| Butte |
34,606 |
33,941 |
| Bozeman |
27,509 |
22,660 |
| Helena |
25,780 |
24,569 |
| Kalispell |
14,223 |
11,917 |
| Havre |
9,621 |
10,201 |
| Anaconda |
9,417 |
10,278 |
| Miles City |
8,487 |
8,461 |
Many of Montana’s educational and cultural institutions
are in its few cities.
In 1865 the first territorial legislative assembly passed
an act establishing a school system in Montana. That same year,
the first public school was founded in Virginia City. The state legislature
provided for free public schools in 1893. By the late 1980s Montana
had 758 public elementary and secondary schools with a combined
annual enrollment of about 109,800 elementary pupils and 41,500 secondary
students. About 8000 students attended private schools.
In the same period Montana had 19 institutions of higher education,
with a total enrollment of about 37,700 students. The state university
system, established in 1893, includes the University of Montana
(1893), in Missoula; Montana State University (1893), in Bozeman;
Eastern Montana College (1927), in Billings; Western Montana College
(1893), in Dillon; Northern Montana College (1929), in Havre; and
Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology (1893), in Butte.
Also noteworthy are Carroll College (1909), in Helena, and Rocky
Mountain College (1878), in Billings.
Many of the state’s museums have collections depicting Montana’s
early history and pioneer days. Included among these are the C.
M. Russell Museum, in Great Falls; the Museum of the Rockies, on
the Montana State University campus, in Bozeman; the Montana Historical
Society, in Helena; and the Museum of the Plains Indian and Craft
Center, in Browning. The Yellowstone Art Center, in Billings, exhibits
both representational and contemporary art.
The heritage of the Old West is preserved in some of
Montana’s important
historical sites, such as Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument,
site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, in Crow Agency; and
Big Hole National Battlefield, site of warfare between the U.S.
Army and Nez PercÉ Indians in 1877, in Wisdom. Other points
of interest include Saint Mary’s Mission (est. 1841), the
remains of an early religious settlement, in Stevensville; Bannack
State Monument, a ghost town, in Dillon; and the Copper King Mansion,
in Butte.
Montana’s vast and scenic mountain ranges and wilderness areas,
including Glacier National Park and Lewis and Clark Caverns State
Park, make it a haven for camping, hiking, hunting, and skiing enthusiasts.
The state has more than ten major ski areas, such as Big Sky Ski
Area, Big Mountain Ski Area, and Red Lodge-Grizzly Peak. Other popular
outdoor sports are fishing, boating, swimming, golfing, and horseback
riding.
In the early 1990s Montana had 52 AM and 59 FM radiobroadcasting
stations and 19 television stations. The state’s first
radio station, KFBB in Havre, was licensed in 1922. KXLF-TV in Butte,
Montana’s first commercial television station, began operation
in 1953. The Montana Post, the first newspaper
of note published in the state, went into print in 1864 in Virginia
City. By the early 1990s Montana had 11 daily newspapers with a
total daily circulation of about 188,700. Some of the influential
dailies included the Billings Gazette in Billings;
the Great Falls Tribune, in Great Falls; the Missoulian, in
Missoula; and the Montana Standard, in Butte.
Montana is governed under a constitution adopted in 1972 and
put into effect in 1973, as amended. It replaced the state’s
first constitution, adopted in 1889. An amendment to the constitution
may be proposed by the legislature, by initiative, or by a constitutional
convention. To become effective, an amendment must be approved by
a majority of the persons voting on the issue in a general election.
The chief executive of Montana is a governor, who is popularly
elected to a 4-year term and who may be reelected any number of
times. The same regulations apply to the lieutenant governor, who
succeeds the governor should the latter resign, die, or be removed
from office. Other elected executive officials include the secretary
of state, attorney general, auditor, and superintendent of public instruction.
The bicameral Montana legislature is composed of a senate and a house of representatives. The 50 members of the senate are
elected to 4-year terms, and the 100 members of the house are elected
to 2-year terms. Special sessions may be called by the governor
or by a majority of each body.
Montana’s highest court, the supreme court, has 7
justices elected to serve 8-year terms. The major trial courts are
the district courts, with 41 judges elected to 6-year terms.
Montana has 56 counties and 128 municipalities. Most of the counties
are governed by a three-member board of commissioners, and a large
majority of the state’s cities employ a mayor-council form
of government. Anaconda and Butte have unified city-county governments. Montana’s
seven Indian reservations are governed by elective councils.
Montana elects two senators and one representative to the U.S.
Congress. The state has three electoral votes in presidential elections.
Since statehood, Republicans have been most successful
in presidential and gubernatorial elections, while Democrats have fared
best in congressional contests. Montana’s most distinguished political
figure was Michael Joseph (Mike) Mansfield (1903-2001), who was
majority leader of the U.S. Senate from 1961 to 1977; he served as U.S.
ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1989.
Since its early settlement, in a gold rush of the
1860s, Montana
has had an economy based on its natural resources. By the late 19th
century, cattle ranching and copper mining were well established, and
wheat farming on the prairies was expanding. Droughts and lower
prices resulted in a serious setback to the farming economy, however,
in the 1920s and ’30s. The completion of the Fort Peck
Dam in 1940 provided both irrigation for farming and low-cost power.
Petroleum production expanded by a great extent with the discovery
of new reserves in the 1950s and ’60s. Today Montana has
a relatively diversified economy. Government, manufacturing, and
service industries have recently increased in importance.
| MONTANA STATE ECONOMY (early 1990s) |
| STATE BUDGET |
|
| General revenue |
$1.8 billion |
| General expenditure |
$1.7 billion |
| Accumulated debt |
$1.4 billion |
 |
| STATE AND LOCAL TAXES, PER CAPITA |
$1,795 |
| PERSONAL INCOME, PER CAPITA |
$11,213 |
| POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LEVEL |
16.1% |
| ASSETS, INSURED COMMERCIAL BANKS (167) |
$7.0 billion |
|
| LABOR FORCE (CIVILIAN NONFARM) |
291,000 |
| Employed in wholesale and retail trade |
27% |
| Employed in services |
25% |
| Employed in government |
24% |
| Employed in manufacturing |
8% |
|
| MAJOR INDUSTRIES |
% CONTRIBUTED TO GSP* |
| Commercial, financial, and professional services |
47% |
| Government |
14% |
| Manufacturing and construction |
14% |
| Transportation, communications, and public utilities |
11% |
| Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries |
7% |
| Mining |
7% |
Gross State Product = total value of goods and services produced in a year.
Sources: U.S. government publications |
| PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS OF MONTANA (early 1990s) |
|
Quantity Produced |
Value |
| FARM PRODUCTS |
|
$1.8 billion |
|
| CROPS |
|
$894 million |
| Wheat |
4.0 million metric tons |
$398 million |
| Hay |
4.1 million metric tons |
$301 million |
| Barley |
1.2 million metric tons |
$127 million |
| Sugar beets |
1.1 million metric tons |
$45 million |
|
| LIVESTOCK AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS |
|
$864 million |
| Cattle |
453,000 metric tons |
$733 million |
| Milk |
147,000 metric tons |
$46 million |
| Hogs |
37,000 metric tons |
$43 million |
| Sheep, lambs |
22,000 metric tons |
$19 million |
|
| MINERALS |
|
$1.4 billion |
| Coal |
34.2 million metric tons |
$412 million |
| Petroleum |
21.0 million barrels |
$357 million |
| Gold |
12,400 kg |
$153 million |
| Natural gas |
1.5 billion cu m |
$80 million |
| Silver |
190 metric tons |
$34 million |
|
| |
|
Annual Payroll |
| MANUFACTURING |
|
$474 million |
| Lumber and wood products |
|
$177 million |
| Food and kindred products |
|
$45 million |
| Printing and publishing |
|
$40 million |
| Petroleum and coal products |
|
$30 million |
| Stone, clay, and glass products |
|
$21 million |
| Chemicals and allied products |
|
$14 million |
| Industrial machinery and equipment |
|
$13 million |
|
| OTHER |
|
$4.5 billion |
| Government |
|
$1.5 billion |
| Services |
|
$994 million |
| Retail trade |
|
$574 million |
| Transportation, communications, and public utilities |
|
$393 million |
| Wholesale trade |
|
$305 million |
| Finance,insurance, and real estate |
|
$239 million |
| Construction |
|
$218 million |
| Sources: U.S. government publications |
Agriculture accounts for nearly 7% of the annual
gross state product in Montana. The state has some 24,800 farms and
ranches, which average 983 ha (2431 acres) in size. Livestock and
livestock products—principally beef cattle, dairy products,
hogs, and sheep and lambs—account for about 48% of
Montana’s yearly agricultural income. The leading crops
are wheat, hay, barley, and sugar beets. Agricultural activity is
concentrated in the E half of the state, although livestock production
is important in the mountain basins and river valleys of the W half.
Most of the state’s 809,000 ha (2 million acres) of irrigated
land is devoted to the production of hay, which is used as feed
for livestock.
The forest industry is a dominant segment of the local economy
in NW Montana, where most commercial forests are under federal jurisdiction.
The harvested timber is primarily softwoods, consisting largely
of Douglas fir, pine, spruce, and cedar.
The mining industry accounts for about 7% of the
annual gross state product in Montana. The leading minerals are
coal, petroleum and natural gas, gold, and silver. Zinc and lead are
obtained as by-products of copper mining. The state’s mineral
output also includes platinum, palladium, gems, clays, talc, phosphates,
vermiculite, stone, and sand and gravel. During the 1970s the mining
of coal, oil, and natural gas expanded considerably. Most of the
energy resources are located E of the Rocky Mts., and the metallic
minerals are concentrated in the W. The production of copper is
centered in the area surrounding Butte.
Enterprises engaged in manufacturing account for about 8% of
the annual gross state product in Montana and employ some 22,000
workers. Most of the state’s major industries are involved
in processing local raw materials from forests, mines, and farms.
The leading manufactures include lumber and wood products, processed
foods, printed materials, petroleum and coal products, and chemicals.
Other important products are stone, clay, and glass items and industrial
machinery. Missoula, Billings, Flathead Co., and Great Falls are
the most important industrial centers. For many years Montana discouraged
industrial development, fearing that such activities would bring
a detrimental change in the way of life and adversely affect the
natural environment. Recently, however, the establishment of light,
clean manufacturing industries has been encouraged.
Each year nearly 6 million visitors produce in excess
of $1.8
billion for the Montana economy. Yellowstone and Glacier national
parks are the most popular tourist attractions; Montana also contains
a number of other areas administered by the National Park Service and
has extensive national forest lands. In addition, the state
maintains a system of about 130 park and recreation areas. Many
small communities in Montana depend heavily on tourism.
Early travel in Montana was by steamboat up the Missouri R.
as far as Fort Benton. By 1880, railroads had reached the state.
Today some 3880 km (2410 mi) of Class I railroad track serve the
state. A network of about 114,890 km (about 71,390 mi) of federal,
state, and local roads serves all but the most rugged areas, and
1912 km (1188 mi) of interstate highways link the major cities. Montana
has 199 airports and 19 heliports that link isolated communities and the major transportation centers.
Electricity generating plants in Montana have a total capacity
of 4.9 million kw and produce about 25.7 billion kwh of electricity
each year. Approximately 41% is derived from hydroelectric
sources; most of the remainder of the electricity is generated in
coal-fired installations. Montana ranks as one of the nation’s
top ten states in hydroelectric capacity. Increasingly, since the
early 1970s, the state’s ample coal resources have been
utilized to fire newly constructed generating plants.
Before the advent of Europeans, the Indian tribes inhabiting
the area of present-day Montana included the Salish (Flatheads),
Kalispel, and Kootenai in the west, the Crow and Cheyenne in the
southeast, and the Blackfoot in the north.
The first recorded white exploration of Montana was by the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805–6. Shortly afterward (1807), the Canadian explorer and fur trader David Thompson came down from Canada to Flathead Lake and went up Clark
Fork to the site of present-day Missoula. Hostile Blackfoot Indians prohibited
trappers from the mountains, but the fur trade thrived on the upper
Missouri. There, in 1828, the American Fur Co. built a large post,
called Fort Union, to handle the trade. Paddle wheel steamers that
came upriver from Saint Louis were Montana’s main contact
with the East until the Northern Pacific Railroad reached the mountains
in 1883.
Thousands of prospectors flocked to the Virginia City area
when gold was discovered there in 1863. The following year Congress
created the Montana Territory. The 645-km (400-mi) Bozeman Trail,
connecting the Oregon Trail in Wyoming with Virginia City, crossed
the cherished hunting grounds of the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians,
just as the railroad was disrupting their life in Wyoming. During
the next decade their resentment led to a series of wars, culminating
in 1876 in the Battle of Little Bighorn. A year later Chief Joseph and
700 Nez Percé Indians fled from Oregon across Montana in
an attempt to reach Canada but were forced to surrender to the U.S.
Army near the Bear Paw Mountains.
Montana was admitted to the Union as the 41st state on
Nov.
8, 1889. Its main city, Butte, was built on a mountain of copper
atop the Continental Divide and became known as the “richest
hill on earth.” About the turn of the century its wealth
was controlled by three feuding “copper kings”—Marcus
Daly (1842–1900), William A. Clark (1839–1925), and F. Augustus Heinze
(1869–1914)—who kept the
region in chaos as they fought for dominance. The Anaconda Copper and
Montana Power companies wielded great influence in state affairs,
and, in the heyday of Daly and Clark, it was difficult for anyone
to win election to office in Montana without the support of the
“Montana Twins.”
Montana’s eastern plains began to fill up in 1902
with the increase of homesteading, irrigation, and dry farming.
The 1930s were hard for the homesteaders, but in 1940 Fort Peck
Dam brought electric power, irrigation, flood control, and improved
navigation on the upper Missouri. The state’s growth slowed
in the three decades after 1940. Stock raising, farming, oil
production, and copper mining were the mainstays of the economy. Summer
tourism was also important; millions visited Glacier National Park and Little
Bighorn (then called Custer) Battlefield National Monument, near
Hardin.
Politically, Montana has been unpredictable, sometimes sending
liberal Democrats to Washington but often electing more conservative
state legislatures. In the 1980s coal production expanded rapidly
in the Colstrip fields and at other sites east of Billings, and
many Montanans became concerned about damage done to the plains
by strip-mining for the benefit of out-of-state power users and
absentee conglomerates.