Portal:Montana

The Montana Portal

East face of the Crazy Mountains in the northern Rocky Mountains of Montana (2015)

Montana (/mɒnˈtænə/ ^ⓘ mon-TAN-ə) is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan to the north. It is the fourth-largest state by area, but the eighth-least populous state and the third-least densely populated state. Its capital is Helena, while the most populous city is Billings. The western half of the state contains numerous mountain ranges, while the eastern half is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands, with smaller mountain ranges found throughout the state.

Most of Montana first came under American sovereignty with the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 and was explored by the Lewis and Clark Expedition shortly thereafter. Fur trappers followed and were the main economic activity in the area until gold was discovered in 1852. The ensuing gold rush, along with the passage of the Homestead Acts in 1862, brought large numbers of American settlers to Montana. Rapid population growth and development culminated in statehood on November 8, 1889. Mining, particularly around Butte and Helena, would remain the state's main economic engine through the mid-20th century.

Montana has no official nickname but several unofficial ones, most notably "Big Sky Country", "The Treasure State", "Land of the Shining Mountains", and "The Last Best Place". Its economy is primarily based on agriculture, including ranching and cereal grain farming. Other significant economic resources include oil, gas, coal, mining, and lumber. The health care, service, defense, and government sectors are also significant to the state's economy. Montana's fastest-growing sector is tourism, with 12.6 million tourists (as of 2019) visiting the state each year. (Full article...)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park is a national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress through the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

While Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park originally fell under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the first secretary of the interior to supervise the park being Columbus Delano. However, the U.S. Army was eventually commissioned to oversee the management of Yellowstone for 30 years between 1886 and 1916. In 1917, the administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than a thousand indigenous archaeological sites. (Full article...)

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This is a list of the counties in the U.S. state of Montana. There are 56 counties in the state.

Montana has two consolidated city-counties—Anaconda with Deer Lodge County and Butte with Silver Bow County. The portion of Yellowstone National Park that lies within Montana was not part of any county until 1978, when part of it was nominally added to Gallatin County, and the rest of it to Park County. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Montana-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1100 pound native Montana wolf taken in 1928 (from Montana)
Image 2Montana population density map (from Montana)
Image 3Relief map of Montana (from Montana)
Image 4General locations of Indian reservations in Montana (from Montana)
Image 5Clark Fork River, Missoula, in autumn (from Montana)
Image 6Joseph M. Dixon, Congressman (1903–1913) and Governor of Montana (1921–1925) (from History of Montana)
Image 7Köppen climate types of Montana, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Montana)
Image 8Montana Rail Link freight haulage in 2005 (from Transportation in Montana)
Image 9From Frank Bond, "Louisiana" and the Louisiana Purchase.
Government Printing Office, 1912 Map No. 4. (from History of Montana)

Map of counties in Montana by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census

Legend

Non-Hispanic White

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

80–90%

90%+

Native American

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

(from Montana)

Image 11The Big Sky Resort (from Montana)
Image 12Population of Montana 1870–2018 (from Montana)
Image 13Guided snowmobile tours in Yellowstone Park (from Montana)
Image 14Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, Deer Lodge, MT, date unknown (from History of Montana)
Image 15Montana ranks 2nd nationally in craft breweries per capita. (from Montana)
Image 16Dancers at Crow Fair in 1941 (from Montana)
Image 17Montana State Bobcats football at Bobcat Stadium (Montana State University), Bozeman (from Montana)
Image 18Ethnic origins in Montana (from Montana)
Image 19Temperature and precipitation for Montana's capital city, Helena (from Montana)
Image 20Montana Territory in 1865 (from Montana)
Image 21Chief Joseph (from History of Montana)
Image 22U.S. Route 93 in Montana (from Transportation in Montana)
Image 23Swedish gold panners in 1860s Montana. The Montana gold rush began in 1862. (from History of Montana)
Image 24Mining headframes in Butte, MT (from History of Montana)
Image 25Map of Williston Basin oil fields with reservoirs in Bakken Formation (from History of Montana)
Image 26The Palisades area on the north end of the ski area at Red Lodge Mountain Resort (from Montana)
Image 27Early tribal treaty territories in Montana (from History of Montana)
Image 28Mennonite family in Montana, c. 1937 (from Montana)
Image 29The Empire Builder in Essex (from Transportation in Montana)
Image 30Map of Montana (from Montana)
Image 31Mountain Line buses queue to pick up passengers in Missoula. (from Transportation in Montana)
Image 32Quake Lake was created by a landslide during the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake. (from Montana)
Image 33Map of domestic flights available from the largest airport in Montana (Click to enlarge) (from Transportation in Montana)
Image 34Jeannette Rankin, August 1916 (from History of Montana)
Image 35Missoula, the second-largest city in Montana (from Montana)
Image 36Missouri Breaks region in central Montana (from Montana)
Image 37Buffalo Soldiers, Ft. Keogh, Montana, 1890. The nickname was given to the "Black Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought. (from Montana)
Image 38Treemap of the popular vote by county, 2016 presidential election. Areas are in proportion to the number of votes cast in each county. (from Montana)
Image 39Pretty Nose at Fort Keogh, 1879 (from History of Montana)
Image 40Assiniboine family, Montana, 1890–91 (from Montana)
Image 41Pompeys Pillar National Monument (from Montana)
Image 42Lone Mountain at Big Sky Ski Resort (from Montana)
Image 43Chief Joseph and Col. John Gibbon met again on the Big Hole Battlefield site in 1889. (from Montana)
Image 44An Airbus A319 waits at Billings Logan International Airport. (from Transportation in Montana)
Image 45Saint Mary Lake in Glacier National Park (from Montana)
Image 46First Interstate Center, in downtown Billings, is the tallest building in Montana. (from Montana)
Image 47Early Indian treaty territories in Montana (from Montana)
Image 48Click to enlarge detailed map (from Transportation in Montana)
Image 49Stump Horn and family (Northern Cheyenne); showing home and horse-drawn travois. (from History of Montana)
Image 50The Scout in Winter, Crow, 1908 by Edward S. Curtis (from History of Montana)
Image 51Main Street in Red Lodge, 2000, showing iron facades on buildings (from History of Montana)
Image 52Yellowstone Airport, West Yellowstone, Montana (from Montana)

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... that the owner of a Montana TV station bought an American Legion hall, gutted by fire, to use as a studio building?
... that 16 Montana youths are plaintiffs in the lawsuit Held v. Montana, the first constitutional climate change lawsuit to go to trial in the United States?
... that Absaroka was a proposed U.S. state that would have included parts of Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana?

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