Montana

HISTORY

Montana became a United States territory (Montana Territory) on May 26, 1864.

As white settlers began populating Montana from the 1850s, disputes with Native Americans ensued, primarily over land ownership and control.&;U.S. cavalrymen killed 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what became known as the Marias Massacre on January 23, 1870.

Chief Joseph and Col. John Gibbon met again on the Big Hole Battlefield site in 1889

The first ever cafeteria was set up in the YWCA in Kansas City, Montana in 1890. It provided cheap, self-service meals to working women and was modeled on a Chicago luncheon club for women where some aspects of self-service were already in practice.

The U.S. government opened up western Montana to settlers in 1892. The 1.8 million acres were bought from the Crow Indians for 50 cents per acre.

The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges and the state's name is derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain).

The current flag was adopted in 1905. The ribbon contains the state motto, "Oro y plata" (Spanish for: "Gold and silver").

The first Gideon Bible was placed in a room in the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountain, Montana in 1908.

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was the first woman to hold national office in the United States when, in 1916, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives by the state of Montana. As April 2019, she remains the only woman Montana has elected to Congress.

Jeannette Pickering Rankin 

About 8 percent of the state’s population went off to fight during World War I, a greater percentage of its population than any other state.

Cat Creek was the site of the first commercially successful oil field in Montana, producing oil so pure it could be used in Model T cars straight from the ground.

The infamous Dust Bowl era began on November 11, 1933 when a dust storm started in Montana. The drought and the resulting dust bowl eventually stretched as far south as Georgia, leaving 500,000 people homeless before it came to an end when normal rainfall resumed in 1939.

Mennonite family in Montana, c. 1937

57,000 Montanans served in World War II, around 10 percent of the population. again a greater percentage of its population than any other state.

Until 1999, Montana didn't have a speed limit on the interstate, and instead encouraged drivers to be "reasonable and prudent."

FUN FACTS

Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña, or mountain. The state is home to 64 mountain ranges.

Montana is the only US state constitutionally mandated to teach and preserve Native American tribal history and culture.

Montana and Canada share a 545-mile (877-km) part of the world's longest undefended border.

Montana is the only state to border three Canadian provinces—Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.

It’s the largest landlocked American state, and the fourth largest state overall, after Alaska, Texas, and California. However, it is only 44th in population and 48th in population density.

Montana terrain

The largest natural snowflake ever recorded, measuring 15 inches (38 cm) in diameter, fell at Fort Keogh, Montana on January 28, 1887.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States was in Montana. On January 20, 1954, −70 °F or −56.7 °C was measured at a gold mining camp near Rogers Pass. Located at an elevation of 5,610 feet above sea level on the Continental Divide, Rogers Pass experiences harsh winter conditions due to its high altitude and remote location. The combination of these factors contributed to the record-breaking temperature reading. The only colder temperatures recorded in the entire United States were in Alaska. 

The greatest temperature swing in a 24-hour period is a staggering 103 degrees Fahrenheit (57.2 degrees Celsius) and belongs to the town of Loma, Montana between January 14 and January 15  1972. This dramatic change happened due to a phenomenon called a chinook wind. Chinook winds occur when warm, dry air descends a mountain slope, rapidly compressing and heating up as it goes. In Loma's case, the temperature plunged to a bone-chilling -54°F (-47.8°C) at 9 am on January 14th, but a chinook wind event swept through, boosting the temperature to a balmy 49°F (9.4°C) by 8 am the next day.

Loma, Montana. By J.B. Chandler - Wikipedia

Mentalfloss.com