Montana

Archaeological evidence shows human presence in present-day Montana about 7,000 years ago. From the 17th century, Plains Indians began arriving from the east, drawn by migratory wildlife. At the start of the 19th century, the Crow, Cheyenne, Assiniboin, Atsina, Blackfoot, Kutenai, Pend d’Oreille, Kalispell and Flathead occupied various parts of the present state, while the southwest was disputed territory.⁠[1]

By region, the Crow lived in the south-central area, the Cheyenne in the southeast, the Blackfeet, Assiniboine and Gros Ventres in the central and north-central areas, the Kootenai and Salish in the west, the Pend d’Oreille around Flathead Lake, and the Kalispel in the western mountains.⁠[2]

Through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States acquired most of what is now Montana.⁠[3][1]

The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806 was the first known exploration of the Montana region by non-Native Americans.⁠[1]

The fur trade that followed brought alcohol and disease and had largely faded by the 1840s.⁠[2]

In 1841 Roman Catholic missionaries established St. Mary’s Mission near present-day Stevensville in the Bitterroot Valley, generally regarded as Montana’s first permanent settlement. The missionaries promoted agriculture and built a sawmill.⁠[1][2]

Fort Benton was established in 1846; it is the only early trading post that survives as a present-day town. In the same year Britain gave up its claim to the western part of present-day Montana.⁠[1][3]

The discovery of rich placer gold deposits in the early 1860s drew large numbers of prospectors.⁠[1][2]

Cattle ranching took hold in the western valleys during the 1860s, and after 1870 open-range cattle operations spread across the high plains.⁠[2]

On May 26, 1864, Congress created Montana Territory from land previously part of the OregonOregonOregon (officially the State of Oregon) is a state on the Pacific coast of the western United States; its capital is Salem and its largest city is Portland. It was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859, as the 33rd state. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 4,237,256.Open the full entry, Washington, NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state of the United States bordered by South Dakota to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the east, Kansas to the south, and Colorado to the southwest, with its panhandle bordering Wyoming to the west; its capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha. It was admitted to the Union on March 1, 1867, as the 37th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,961,504.Open the full entry, Dakota and IdahoIdahoIdaho is a state in the northwestern United States, often classed as a Mountain state and also considered part of the Pacific Northwest; its capital and largest city is Boise. It was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,839,106.Open the full entry territories. The territorial capital was first at Bannack and then at Virginia City.⁠[4][1]

“Montana” is both a Latin and a Spanish word for a mountainous region, and it was first applied to the region in 1864. Persuaded by Sidney Edgerton, chief justice of the Idaho territorial Supreme Court, Congressman James M. Ashley carried the territorial bill forward and named the new territory “Montana.”⁠[5]

In June 1876 the Dakota (Sioux) and Cheyenne defeated U.S. Cavalry led by Gen. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, their last major victory.⁠[1][2]

In 1877 Chief Joseph’s Nez Percé won a battle in the Big Hole Basin and were then defeated by U.S. troops a few miles south of the Canadian border.⁠[1]

From 1877 the Native peoples of the region ceased fighting and were placed on reservations; with U.S. westward expansion, the Flathead were forcibly moved to their present reservation in the Flathead valley.⁠[3][1]

Railroads crossed Montana during the 1880s. In the same decade hard-rock mining began in Butte, shifting to shaft mining after vast copper deposits were found, and Butte became known for silver and copper.⁠[2][1]

The Anaconda Copper Company, led by Marcus Daly, became a major copper producer, and the world’s largest smelter was built at Anaconda; Daly won the “War of the Copper Kings.”⁠[2][1]

A severe winter in 1886–1887 nearly wiped out the cattle herds on the Great Plains.⁠[1]

On November 8, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed Montana a state, with Helena as its capital at statehood.⁠[4][1]

On April 16, 1890, after a Senate vote of 32 to 26, Wilbur F. Sanders and Thomas C. Power, both of Helena, were seated as Montana’s first U.S. senators.⁠[4]

From about 1900 homesteaders began settling the plains to grow grain, and the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 drew many more farmers to the state. After World War I, drought and falling wheat prices ruined many of them.⁠[1][2]

Glacier National Park was established on May 11, 1910. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was established in 1932, the year Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed; the park became an International Biosphere Reserve in 1974 and was inscribed as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park World Heritage Site in 1995. It covers 1,012,837 acres (1,583 square miles) and had 3,049,839 visitors in 2019.⁠[6]

Petroleum and natural gas production began on the Great Plains in 1915, expanded in the 1950s and peaked in the 1960s.⁠[1]

On November 7, 1916, Henry Lee Myers of Hamilton became Montana’s first U.S. senator directly elected by voters under the Seventeenth Amendment.⁠[4]

A postwar depression lasted through the 1920s and into the Great Depression of the 1930s. New Deal programs in the state included the Fort Peck Dam project, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration.⁠[2]

World War II ended the Depression’s grip on Montana; federal spending increased, but many young people left the state for military service or wartime jobs on the West Coast.⁠[2]

Between 1945 and 2000 Montana’s economy shifted from resource extraction toward services, and transportation moved from railroads to highways; after 1970 tourism overtook mining as the state’s second-largest industry.⁠[2]

Coal mining increased dramatically in the 1970s; in the early 1980s the Butte and Anaconda copper operations and the Great Falls copper refinery closed.⁠[1]

In 1951 the Montana Legislature established the Office of Indian Affairs, now the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs.⁠[7]

On March 19, 1959, a bronze statue of Charles Marion Russell by John B. Weaver was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol as Montana’s first contribution to the National Statuary Hall Collection.⁠[4]

On January 3, 1961, Mike Mansfield of Missoula was elected Senate Democratic leader and majority leader, serving 16 years until he retired in 1977; he held the record as the Senate’s longest-serving party leader until Mitch McConnell surpassed it in 2023. From 1977 to 1988 Mansfield served as U.S. ambassador to Japan.⁠[4]

Montana adopted a new state constitution in 1972.⁠[2]

The constitutional convention adjourned on March 22, 1972, and voters went to the polls to ratify the new constitution on June 6, 1972.⁠[8]

On May 1, 1985, a bronze statue of Jeannette Rankin by Terry Minmaugh was presented as Montana’s second contribution to the National Statuary Hall Collection. Rankin, of Missoula, was the first woman to serve in Congress.⁠[4]

In the apportionment based on the 1990 census, Montana’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives fell from two to one, and it kept one seat after the 2000 and 2010 apportionments.⁠[9][2]

In the 1990s the state’s natural environment drew many newcomers, notably retirees from the East and West Coasts.⁠[1]

Montana’s population first surpassed one million in 2012.⁠[2]

On April 26, 2021, the Census Bureau released the 2020 census apportionment results: Montana gained one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, for a total of two, with an average of 542,704 people per seat; the reapportioned 118th Congress convened in January 2023.⁠[10][9]

Based on the 2020 census, Montana has four electoral votes in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.⁠[11]

The state legislature is the Montana State Legislature, made up of two chambers: the House of Representatives has 100 members serving two-year terms, all elected every two years, and the Senate has 50 members serving four-year terms, half elected every two years. Its Legislative Services Division was established in 1957 as the Montana Legislative Council, the Legislature’s first permanent agency.⁠[12][13]

The Montana Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices; it hears direct appeals from all of the state’s district courts and has original jurisdiction under the state constitution. The judicial branch also includes the district courts, the Workers’ Compensation Court, the Water Court and courts of limited jurisdiction such as justice, municipal and city courts.⁠[14]

As of November 2026 the governor is Greg Gianforte, who was sworn in at Helena on January 4, 2021, as Montana’s 25th governor and took the oath for a second term on the steps of the State Capitol on January 6, 2025. The lieutenant governor is Kristen Juras.⁠[15][16][17]

The governor’s office states that Gianforte spent 34 years in the private sector before becoming governor and in 1997 founded RightNow Technologies with his wife, Susan, from their Bozeman home.⁠[17]

Montana’s U.S. senators are Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, and its U.S. representatives are Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing.⁠[18]

In the Census Bureau’s state area measurements (boundaries as of January 1, 2010), Montana has a total area of 147,040 square miles (380,831 square kilometers), of which 145,546 square miles (376,962 square kilometers) is land and 1,494 square miles (3,869 square kilometers) is water. It is the fourth-largest U.S. state by area, after AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest U.S. state by area and borders Canada to the east; its capital is Juneau and its largest city is Anchorage. Alaska was admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959, as the 49th state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 733,391.Open the full entry, TexasTexasTexas is a U.S. state in the south-central United States, with its capital at Austin and its largest city Houston. It was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 29,145,505 residents.Open the full entry and California.⁠[19][20]

Montana borders the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the north, North DakotaNorth DakotaNorth Dakota is a state in the north-central United States; its capital is Bismarck. It was admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, as the 39th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 779,094.Open the full entry and South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a U.S. state bordered by North Dakota to the north, Minnesota and Iowa to the east, Nebraska to the south, and Wyoming and Montana to the west. Its capital is Pierre and its largest city is Sioux Falls. It was admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, as the 40th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 886,667 residents.Open the full entry to the east, WyomingWyomingWyoming is a U.S. state, the ninth largest by area, with its capital at Cheyenne. Wyoming was admitted to the Union on July 10, 1890, as the 44th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 576,851 residents.Open the full entry to the south and Idaho to the west.⁠[21]

The state’s average elevation is about 3,400 feet (1,040 meters), the lowest of the Mountain states. Its rivers drain into three major watersheds: the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay. The Missouri River and its tributary the Milk River run through the Great Falls, Havre and Glasgow area, the Yellowstone River runs past Billings, Miles City, Glendive and Sidney, and Fort Peck Dam impounds Fort Peck Lake.⁠[20][3][22]

U.S. Geological Survey data list Granite Peak, at 12,799 feet, as the state’s highest point and the Kootenai River, at 1,800 feet, as its lowest point.⁠[23]

Most of Great Plains Montana is semiarid, with hot summers and cold winters; annual precipitation averages about 13 inches (330 mm), frost or freezing occurs on more than 200 days a year, chinook winds periodically bring warmth, and January temperatures average in the upper 10s °F (about −8 °C). In the Rocky Mountains the climate varies with elevation, becoming cooler, wetter and snowier at higher levels. Rocky Mountain Montana is largely forested and Great Plains Montana largely grassland.⁠[22]

Slightly more than half of the population is urban; Missoula, Butte, Helena, Bozeman, Kalispell, Anaconda and Livingston lie in irrigated broad-valley districts.⁠[22]

The 2010 census (April 1, 2010) counted 989,415 residents. The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimates put the population at 1,144,694 on July 1, 2025, up 5.6% from the April 1, 2020, estimates base of 1,084,221; population density in 2020 was 7.4 people per square mile.⁠[24]

In 2020–2024 American Community Survey data, Montana had 458,859 households, a median household income of $72,509 (in 2024 dollars), 35.2% of people aged 25 and over held a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 2.3% of residents were foreign-born.⁠[24]

Most residents trace their ancestry to western, northern and eastern Europe, and the population is older than the national average. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries population growth exceeded the national average, mainly through in-migration to the south-central and western regions. About half of residents are affiliated with organized religions; the Roman Catholic Church is the largest single denomination, while Protestants as a whole form the largest group.⁠[22]

Montana has eight tribal nations: the Blackfeet Nation (Blackfeet Reservation), the Crow Nation (Crow Reservation), the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (Flathead Reservation), the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Fort Belknap Reservation), the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes (Fort Peck Reservation), the Northern Cheyenne Tribe (Northern Cheyenne Reservation), the Chippewa Cree Tribe (Rocky Boy’s Reservation) and the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which has no reservation.⁠[25][7]

The state prepares an annual State-Tribal Relations Report under section 2-15-143 of the Montana Code Annotated and has presented it to tribal governments since 2003; the Legislature’s State-Tribal Relations Committee is an interim committee that promotes cooperation between state and tribal governments.⁠[25]

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data put Montana’s nominal gross domestic product at $82,357.8 million in 2025, up from $78,441.0 million in 2024.⁠[26]

By industry in 2025, government and government enterprises contributed $10,056.3 million; arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services $4,734.1 million; manufacturing $4,070.2 million; and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting $2,486.2 million (nominal values, Bureau of Economic Analysis data).⁠[27][28][29][30]

Eastern Montana grazes millions of cattle and sheep; tourism is now the main emphasis of the economy, and outdoor recreation such as hunting and fishing is central to the state’s identity.⁠[20][3]

Montana’s nicknames are “Treasure State” and “Big Sky Country.” The state motto is the Spanish “Oro y Plata” (gold and silver), referring to the metals that gave rise to the “Treasure State” nickname; the designer’s original wording was “Oro el Plata,” and a proposal to use “Eldorado” instead was voted down.⁠[31][32]

The basic design of the seal was submitted by Francis McGee Thompson, a Beaverhead County representative, at the First Territorial Legislative Assembly at Bannack in the winter of 1864–1865, and the territorial resolution accepting it passed on February 9, 1865; after statehood the Third Legislative Assembly adopted it as the Great Seal of the State by a resolution passed on March 2, 1893. The seal shows a plow and a miner’s pick and shovel in the center, the Great Falls of the Missouri River on the right, mountain scenery on the left and the motto below; it is 2½ inches in diameter and ringed by the words “The Great Seal of the State of Montana.”⁠[32]

The state flag derives from the banner carried by Montana Volunteers in the Spanish-American War of 1898, including in the Philippines. In 1905 Representative Jacob M. Kennedy of Silver Bow County introduced House Bill 157 to adopt the banner, without the infantry designation, as the state flag; the House passed it without a dissenting vote on February 7, 1905, and the Senate concurred on February 19. The original banner, 60 by 44 inches with a 3-inch gold fringe, is preserved by the Historical Society of Montana.⁠[33]

Under section 1-1-502 of the Montana Code Annotated (enacted as Chapter 42, Laws of 1905, and amended by Chapter 49, Laws of 1981, and Chapter 335, Laws of 1985), the flag has a blue field with the Great Seal in the center, a gold fringe along the upper and lower edges and the word “MONTANA” in gold bold Helvetica letters above the seal. In 1981 the Legislature required the word “Montana” above the seal, an idea proposed by Representative Mel Williams of Laurel and his wife Eugenia because the flag looked too much like other state flags.⁠[33][34]

The state flower is the bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), designated the floral emblem by the Political Code of 1895. The state bird is the western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), chosen by a referendum vote of Montana schoolchildren and designated by Chapter 149, Laws of 1931.⁠[35][36]

Other state symbols include the mourning cloak (state butterfly), the grizzly bear (state animal), the blackspotted cutthroat trout (state fish), sapphire and agate (state gemstones) and Scobey soil (state soil); the state song is “Montana.”⁠[37][31]

State of Montana: Official website: https://mt.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[18]

Office of the Governor: Official website: https://governor.mt.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[38]

Montana State Legislature: Official website: https://www.legmt.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs: Official website: https://tribalnations.mt.gov/About/index (opens in a new window).⁠[7]