State of Montana

1. The state of Montana is located in the Western United States.
2. With a land area of 145,552 square miles (376,980 km2) the state of Montana is the fourth largest in the United States (after Alaska, Texas, and California).
3. Yellowstone National Park in southern Montana and northern Wyoming was the first national park in the nation.
4. 46 out of Montana's 56 counties are considered "frontier counties" with an average population of 6 or fewer people per square mile. No state has as many different species of mammals as Montana.
5. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other island ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain).
6. Montana's rivers and streams provide water for three oceans and three of the North American continent's major river basins.
7. Montana has several nicknames, none official, including: "The Treasure State" and "Big Sky Country," and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains," and more recently, "The Last Best Place."
8. The first luge run in North America was built at Lolo Hot Springs on Lolo Pass in 1965. The density of the state is six people per square mile.
9. Montana is bordered by the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan on the north, Idaho on the west, Wyoming on the south and North Dakota and South Dakota on the east.
10. The Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park is considered one of the most scenic drives in America.
11. To the north, Montana and Canada share a 545 miles (877 km) border.
12. Every spring nearly 10,000 white pelicans with a wingspan of nine feet migrate from the Gulf of Mexico to Medicine Lake in northeastern Montana.
13. The economy is primarily based on ranching, wheat farming, oil and coal in the east; lumber, tourism, and hard rock mining in the west.
14. Among the approximately 100 species of mammals in Montana are elk, black bears, grizzly bears, antelope, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, caribou, and mountain lions.
15. More than 6 million tourists visit Yellowstone and Glacier national parks annually.
16. In the Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought near Hardin in 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and all his command were killed by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors.