All About Montana
Montana is a constituent state of the United States of America. Only three states - Alaska, Texas, and California - have an area larger than Montana's 147,046 square miles (380,848 square kilometres), and only two states - Alaska and Wyoming - have a lower population density. Although its name is derived from the Spanish montaña (mountain, or mountainous region), Montana has an average elevation of only 3,400 feet (1,040 metres), the lowest among the Mountain states. The mountains sweep down from the Canadian province of British Columbia, trending northwest–southeast into western Montana, into Idaho on Montana's western and southwestern border, and southward into Wyoming. The eastern portion of the state, however, is a gently rolling landscape, with millions of grazing cattle and sheep, and with only scattered evidence of human habitation. It forms a part of the northern Great Plains, shared with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan to the north, with the U.S. states of North and South Dakota to the east, and with northeastern Wyoming to the south. Helena is the capital.
The residents of Montana are relatively far from markets for their products, as well as from the nation's manufacturing and supply centres. The state is strongly oriented toward the outdoors, toward summer and winter sports, toward hunting and fishing, and toward the long-distance trip for socializing and entertainment or as a cure for prairie- or mountain-born restlessness. In spite of its northern location, Montana is very much a Western state. The main street of Helena is Last Chance Gulch, the city's original name and a reminder of the prospectors who invaded the hills in the 1860s to pan for gold. By 1889, when Montana became the 41st state of the Union, the cattle drive was an institution, and the state had begun to emerge as one of the leading copper-mining centres of the nation.
The western two-fifths of Montana falls within the Rocky Mountains, and the eastern three-fifths lies upon the Great Plains. Rocky Mountain Montana is a land of high mountains, deep valleys, green forests, and treeless crest lines, whereas Great Plains Montana is a vast, horizontal sweep of yellow rangeland, golden grainfields, and brown fallow strips. This contrast between mountain and plain is the most powerful geographic feature of the state. In Rocky Mountain Montana the mountain ranges are aligned generally from north-northwest to south-southeast. They are made up of ancient, hard rocks that were compressed, folded, faulted, and otherwise contorted by the mountain-building forces that created the Rockies.
There is a contrast within Rocky Mountain Montana between mountains with narrow valleys and those with broad valleys. In the narrow-valley regions, which are the most rugged and spectacular of the state, the valley floors are humid and forested. There are two narrow-valley regions. One is northwestern Montana, which includes Glacier National Park with most of Montana's glaciers. The other lies in south central Montana at the northern end of Yellowstone National Park; this area contains the highest point in Montana, Granite Peak, which has an elevation of 12,799 feet (3,901 metres) above sea level. These two narrow-valley regions are separated by a broad-valley area in west central and southwestern Montana. There the valley bottoms are wide, dry, and grassy, permitting sweeping panoramic views of the mountain ranges.
Montana's economy is dominated by the primary sector - agriculture, forestry, mining, and energy production. The outdoor recreation industry, however, has also become important, and some high-technology industries have come to the state. Petroleum was discovered in commercial quantities at Elk Basin in 1915. The Elk Basin, Kevin-Sunburst, and Cut Bank fields led in production of petroleum and natural gas for several years. The great Williston Basin was developed in 1951, but the Bell Creek field in Powder River county has been the most productive. Large petroleum refineries are located at Billings and Laurel.
Tourism has become a significant component of Montana's economy. Montana's spectacular scenery is one of its premier recreational attractions. A large proportion of the state's land is given over to state and national parks, forests, recreational areas, wildlife refuges, and wildernesses, which provide venues for a wide range of outdoor recreational activity. Montana is well known as a destination for skiiers in the Winter.
Railroad passenger service and total route length in Montana have decreased since the 1960s. Total highway mileage in Montana is relatively low, but there is a well-developed network of interstate and primary highways between population centres. Several major airlines and air-taxi lines serve the state, and many small planes are privately owned.
