Nicknames: Treasure State

Capitol: Helena

Motto: Oro y plata; Gold and Silver

Song: Montana words by: Charles C. Cohen, music by: Joseph E. Howard

Flower: Bitterroot , Lewisia rediviva

Tree: Ponderosa pine Pinus ponderosa

Bird: Western Meadowlark

Gained Statehood: November 8,1889

Name Origin: Based on Spanish word for "mountainous"

Montana is the fourth-largest State, after Alaska, Texas and California, covering 94 million acres. Almost a quarter of Montana is national forest or public lands, with almost 5 million acres protected. If you are looking for wide open vistas and spectacular wildlife then Montana is your state. Elk, deer, antelope, wolves and bears can all be seen in Montana. Montana is filled with adventurous possibilities: rafting, hiking, Skiing, horseback riding, rock climbing, & mountain biking.

First explored for France by François and Louis-Joseph Verendrye in the early 1740s, most of Montana was acquired by the U.S. from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Louisiana Purchase included the region of west central North America between the Mississippi River & the Rockies, approximately 885,000 square miles of unexplored rugged wilderness. Western Montana was obtained from Great Britain in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. Many American trading posts and forts had been established in the territory by this time. Thomas Jefferson paid fifteen million dollars to purchase the entire area from Napoleon Bonaparte. The purchase was quite a deal in today's real estate market at an average of three cents/acre. The purchase created almost thirteen states eventually. The Louisiana Purchase states include: Kansas, Wyoming, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Colorado, Montana, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. In 1864, John Bozeman led a wagon train over Bozeman Pass into the Gallatin Valley, where W. J. Beall and D. E. Rouse staked out the townsite for the city of Bozeman. The major Indian Wars (1867-1877) included the famous 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, known as "Custer's Last Stand," in which Cheyenne and Sioux defeated George A. Custer in southeast Montana. On November 9, 1889 Montana became the 41st state admitted into the Union. The first organized exploration of Montana was executed by Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. At one point in history the Butte area supplied over half of the copper supply in the U.S. The Montana State University was established in 1893
Today Montana produces wheat, barley, rye, oats, flaxseed, sugar beets, and potatoes. The state also contributes sheep and cattle.

Dorothy Baker , Dirk Benedict , W. A. (Tony) Boyle , Gary Cooper , John Cowan ,Alfred Bertram Guthrie , Chet Huntley ,Will James , Dorothy Johnson , Evel Knievel ,Myrna Loy , David Lynch , Mike Mansfield , George Montgomery , Jeannette Rankin , Martha Raye ,Charles M. Russell , Michael Smuin , Lester C. Thurow