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119-675: The reservation, the largest of the seven Indian reservations in Montana , is located in south-central Montana , bordered by Wyoming to the south and the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation to the east. The reservation includes the northern end of the Bighorn Mountains , Wolf Mountains , and Pryor Mountains . The Bighorn River flows north from the Montana-Wyoming state line, joining

238-425: A keystone species and the primary protein source that Native people had survived on for many centuries, were being destroyed. Experts estimate that around 13 million bison roamed Montana in 1870. In 1875, General Philip Sheridan pleaded to a joint session of Congress to authorize the slaughtering of bison herds to deprive Native people of their source of food. By 1884, commercial hunting had brought bison to

357-493: A 2004 effort to foster positive public opinion of coal, many large coal mining companies, electric utilities, and railroads in the U.S. launched a high-profile marketing campaign to convince the American public that coal-fired power can be environmentally sustainable, despite the fact that coal is the largest contributor of CO 2 emissions in the electricity sector. However, some environmentalists condemned this campaign as

476-545: A completed battleship being named for it. Alaska and Hawaii have both had nuclear submarines named after them. Montana is the only state in the union without a modern naval ship named in its honor. However, in August 2007, Senator Jon Tester asked that a submarine be christened USS Montana . Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced on September 3, 2015, that Virginia Class attack submarine SSN-794 will become

595-635: A decade earlier, in 1998, at 26.2 quadrillion BTU. The energy value of US coal mined in 2016 was 14.6 quadrillion BTU, 44 percent lower than the peak. Mine disasters have still occurred in recent years in the US, Examples include the Sago Mine disaster of 2006, and the 2007 mine accident in Utah 's Crandall Canyon Mine , where nine miners were killed and six entombed. In the decade 2005–2014, US coal mining fatalities averaged 28 per year. The most fatalities during

714-513: A derisive manner at homesteaders, who were perceived as being "greenhorns", "new at his business", or "unprepared". However, most of these new settlers had farming experience, though many did not. Honyocker, scissorbill, nester ... He was the Joad of a [half] century ago, swarming into a hostile land: duped when he started, robbed when he arrived; hopeful, courageous, ambitious: he sought independence or adventure, comfort and security ... The honyocker

833-559: A district court judge from Forsyth was impeached . Burnings of German-language books and several near-hangings occurred. The prohibition on speaking German remained in effect into the early 1920s. Complicating the wartime struggles, the 1918 influenza epidemic claimed the lives of more than 5,000 Montanans. The suppression of civil liberties that occurred led some historians to dub this period "Montana's Agony". An economic depression began in Montana after World War I and lasted through

952-662: A joint U.S.-Canadian commando-style force that trained at Fort William Henry Harrison for experience in mountainous and winter conditions before deployment. Air bases were built in Great Falls, Lewistown, Cut Bank, and Glasgow , some of which were used as staging areas to prepare planes to be sent to allied forces in the Soviet Union . During the war, about 30 Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs were documented to have landed in Montana, though no casualties nor major forest fires were attributed to them. In 1940, Jeannette Rankin

1071-692: A major open-range cattle operation in Fergus County in 1879. The Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge is maintained today as a link to the ranching style of the late 19th century. Operated by the National Park Service , it is a 1,900-acre (7.7 km ) working ranch. Tracks of the Northern Pacific Railroad (NPR) reached Montana from the west in 1882 and from the east in 1883. However,

1190-598: A per capita basis. Montana's Remount station in Miles City provided 10,000 cavalry horses for the war, more than any other Army post in the country. The war created a boom for Montana mining, lumber, and farming interests, as demand for war materials and food increased. In June 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917 , which was extended by the Sedition Act of 1918 . In February 1918,

1309-642: A railroad trestle, considered a lynching . Little's murder and the strikes that followed resulted in the National Guard being sent to Butte to restore order. Overall, anti-German and antilabor sentiment increased and created a movement that led to the passage of the Montana Sedition Act the following February. In addition, the Council of Defense was made a state agency with the power to prosecute and punish individuals deemed in violation of

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1428-597: Is Helena , while the most populous city is Billings . The western half of the state contains numerous mountain ranges, while the eastern half is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands , with smaller mountain ranges found throughout the state. Most of Montana first came under American sovereignty with the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 and was explored by the Lewis and Clark Expedition shortly thereafter. Fur trappers followed and were

1547-592: Is 0.3 percent of the states’ 2014 total coal shipments of 439.8 million short tons (399 million metric tons). As of 2013, 41 percent of US coal production was mined from federal land, almost all of it in the western US, where federal coal makes up about 80 percent of mined production. The federal coal program is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the US Department of Interior . Federal coal lands are leased by competitive sealed bids, for

1666-660: Is Montana was St. Mary's , established in 1841 near present-day Stevensville . In 1847, Fort Benton was built as the uppermost fur-trading post on the Missouri River. In the 1850s, settlers began moving into the Beaverhead and Big Hole valleys from the Oregon Trail and into the Clark's Fork valley. The first gold discovered in Montana was at Gold Creek near present-day Garrison in 1852. The Gold rush in

1785-630: Is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States . It borders Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta , British Columbia , and Saskatchewan to the north. It is the fourth-largest state by area , but the eighth-least populous state and the third-least densely populated state . Its capital

1904-465: Is contributing to global climate change . In addition to the respiratory and cardiac illnesses that remain a threat to coal miners, these individuals are also at risk for mental health related issues. While short term, coal extraction companies can create more jobs within communities and increase capital investment, research has shown that these heavily coal dependent communities have suffered when it comes to their mental and emotional health. According to

2023-713: Is one of few geographic areas in the world whose rivers form parts of three major watersheds (i.e. where two continental divides intersect). Its rivers feed the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico , and Hudson Bay . The watersheds divide at Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park. If Hudson Bay is considered part of the Arctic Ocean, Triple Divide Peak is the only place on Earth with drainage to three different oceans. All waters in Montana west of

2142-791: Is the largest continuous land mass over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) high in the continental United States. It contains the state's highest point, Granite Peak , 12,799 feet (3,901 m) high. North of these ranges are the Big Belt Mountains , Bridger Mountains , Tobacco Roots , and several island ranges, including the Crazy Mountains and Little Belt Mountains . Between many mountain ranges are several rich river valleys. The Big Hole , Bitterroot , Gallatin , Flathead , and Paradise Valleys have extensive agricultural resources and multiple opportunities for tourism and recreation. East and north of this transition zone are

2261-604: Is the largest customer, peaked in 2012. In 2015, the U.S. exported 7.0 percent of mined coal. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) , in 2015, Wyoming , West Virginia , Kentucky , Illinois , and Pennsylvania produced about 639 million short tons (580 million metric tons), representing 71% of total coal production in the United States. In 2015, four publicly traded U.S. coal companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, including Patriot Coal Corporation , Walter Energy , and

2380-404: Is to the west and southwest, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia , Alberta , and Saskatchewan are to the north, making it the only state to border three Canadian provinces. With an area of 147,040 square miles (380,800 km ), Montana is slightly larger than Japan or Germany . It is the fourth-largest state in the United States after Alaska , Texas , and California , and

2499-759: The Blackfeet . Indigenous peoples in the region were also decimated by diseases introduced by fur traders to which they had no immunity. The trading post Fort Raymond (1807–1811) was constructed in Crow Indian country in 1807. Until the Oregon Treaty of 1846, land west of the continental divide was disputed between the British and U.S. governments and was known as the Oregon Country . The first permanent settlement by Euro-Americans in what today

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2618-581: The Fred Robinson Bridge at the western boundary of Fort Peck Reservoir was designated a National Wild and Scenic River in 1976. The Missouri enters North Dakota near Fort Union , having drained more than half the land area of Montana (82,000 square miles (210,000 km )). Nearly one-third of the Missouri River in Montana lies behind 10 dams: Toston , Canyon Ferry , Hauser , Holter , Black Eagle , Rainbow , Cochrane , Ryan , Morony , and Fort Peck. Other major Montana tributaries of

2737-1030: The Garnet Range , the Sapphire Mountains , and the Flint Creek Range . The divide's northern section, where the mountains rapidly give way to prairie, is part of the Rocky Mountain Front . The front is most pronounced in the Lewis Range , located primarily in Glacier National Park . Due to the configuration of mountain ranges in Glacier National Park, the Northern Divide (which begins in Alaska's Seward Peninsula ) crosses this region and turns east in Montana at Triple Divide Peak . It causes

2856-506: The Great Depression until the beginning of World War II . This caused great hardship for farmers, ranchers, and miners. By the time the U.S. entered World War II on December 8, 1941, many Montanans had enlisted in the military to escape the poor national economy of the previous decade. Another 40,000-plus Montanans entered the armed forces in the first year following the declaration of war, and more than 57,000 joined up before

2975-670: The Great Northern Railroad (GNR) reached eastern Montana in 1887 and when they reached the northern Rocky Mountains in 1890, the GNR became a significant promoter of tourism to Glacier National Park region. The transcontinental GNR was completed on January 6, 1893, at Scenic, Washington and is known as the Hi Line , being the northernmost transcontinental rail line in the United States. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C. November 7, 1889 To Hon. Joseph K. Toole, Governor of

3094-620: The Great Sioux War of 1876 . The transcontinental NPR was completed on September 8, 1883, at Gold Creek . In 1881, the Utah and Northern Railway , a branch line of the Union Pacific , completed a narrow-gauge line from northern Utah to Butte. A number of smaller spur lines operated in Montana from 1881 into the 20th century, including the Oregon Short Line , Montana Railroad , and Milwaukee Road . Tracks of

3213-567: The Little Bighorn just east of Hardin . Part of the reservation boundary runs along the ridgeline separating Pryor Creek and the Yellowstone River. The city of Billings is approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the reservation boundary. It has a land area of 3,593.56 square miles (9,307.3 km) and a total area of 3,606.54 square miles (9,340.9 km), making it either the fifth or sixth-largest reservation in

3332-727: The Marias Massacre (1870), Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), Battle of the Big Hole (1877), and Battle of Bear Paw (1877). The last recorded conflict in Montana between the U.S. Army and Native Americans occurred in 1887 during the Battle of Crow Agency in the Big Horn country. Native survivors who had signed treaties were generally required to move onto reservations . Simultaneously with these conflicts, bison ,

3451-458: The Netherlands (12.9 million short tons), India (6.4 million short tons), Brazil (6.3 million short tons), and South Korea (6.1 million short tons). Coal exports to China , formerly one of the major markets, declined from 8.3 million short tons in 2013, down to 0.2 million tons in 2015. In 2012, six coal export terminals were in the planning stages in

3570-479: The Oregon Territory (1848–1859), Washington Territory (1853–1863), Idaho Territory (1863–1864), and Dakota Territory (1861–1864). Montana Territory became a territory of the United States on May   26, 1864. The first territorial capital was located at Bannack . Sidney Edgerton served as the first territorial governor. The capital moved to Virginia City in 1865 and to Helena in 1875. In 1870,

3689-751: The Pacific Northwest . They were scheduled to be supplied by strip mines in the Powder River Basin . The export markets were South Korea, Japan, China, and other Asian nations. Like the Keystone Pipeline the building of the terminals raised environmental concerns with respect to global warming . As of February 2016, four proposals for coal terminals had been withdrawn, leaving two still applied for. The withdrawals were ascribed to loss of demand and consequent lower coal prices. In 2013, 92.8 percent of US internal coal consumption

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3808-705: The Reclamation Act was passed, allowing irrigation projects to be built in Montana's eastern river valleys. In 1909, Congress passed the Enlarged Homestead Act that expanded the amount of free land from 160 to 320 acres (0.6 to 1.3 km ) per family and in 1912 reduced the time to "prove up" on a claim to three years. In 1916, the Stock-Raising Homestead Act allowed homesteads of 640 acres in areas unsuitable for irrigation. This combination of advertising and changes in

3927-594: The Seventh Cavalry Regiment commanded by George Armstrong Custer . Local Crow scouts defending their reservation guided Custer. Chief Plenty Coups (Alek-Chea-Ahoosh) State Park and Home is located near the town of Pryor. It has a small museum dedicated to Chief Plenty Coups and the Crow Tribe. The chief's two-floor lodge house and grocery store is preserved. Since 1904, the Crow have organized

4046-652: The Waterton River , Belly , and Saint Mary rivers to flow north into Alberta , Canada. There they join the Saskatchewan River , which ultimately empties into Hudson Bay . East of the divide, several roughly parallel ranges cover the state's southern part, including the Gravelly Range , Madison Range , Gallatin Range , Absaroka Mountains , and Beartooth Mountains . The Beartooth Plateau

4165-546: The 1970s. In 2000, the majority of coal was produced west of the Mississippi. In 2018, coal mining decreased to 755 million short tons, and American coal consumption reached its lowest point in nearly 40 years. In 2017, U.S. coal mining had increased to 775 million short tons. In 2016, US coal mining declined to 728.2 million short tons, down 37 percent from the peak production of 1,172 million tons in 2008. In 2015, 896.9 million short tons of coal were mined in

4284-539: The 2000s. all 260 employees terminated, 24 to be rehired. In 2018, the production owned by the top ten companies was 71.6% of total US coal production. In 2018, the production owned by the top 23 companies was 87.9% of the total US coal production. At the end of July 2022, the coal industry employed approximately 38,400 miners. US employment in coal mining peaked in 1923, when there were 863,000 coal miners. Since then, mechanization has greatly improved productivity in coal mining, so that employment has declined at

4403-630: The 2005–2014 decade were 48 in 2010, the year of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia, which killed 29 miners. Accidents are not the only threat to modern coal miners and those living in coal regions. Respiratory disorders from coal dust and heart disease are both prevalent, especially in the West Virginia Appalachian coal mining region. When mountaintop removal mining is used, not only do

4522-483: The Act. The council also passed rules limiting public gatherings and prohibiting the speaking of German in public. In the wake of the legislative action in 1918, emotions rose. U.S. Attorney Burton K. Wheeler and several district court judges who hesitated to prosecute or convict people brought up on charges were strongly criticized. Wheeler was brought before the Council of Defense, though he avoided formal proceedings, and

4641-764: The BLM had rejected the initial bids as too low. However, the GAO found that some BLM offices did not have the personnel to prepare adequate estimates of market value. A Boston-based think tank, the Institute for Energy Economic & Financial Analysis study estimated that, since 1991, $ 29 billion over a 30-year period was lost in the Powder River Basin , due to lack of competitive bidding. The institute's mission statement notes that its goals include: “… to reduce dependence on coal and other non-renewable energy resources.” The average heat content of mined US coal has declined over

4760-715: The Columbia. East of the divide the Missouri River , which is formed by the confluence of the Jefferson , Madison , and Gallatin Rivers near Three Forks , flows due north through the west-central part of the state to Great Falls . From this point, it then flows generally east through fairly flat agricultural land and the Missouri Breaks to Fort Peck reservoir . The stretch of river between Fort Benton and

4879-403: The Crow Indian territory described in the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty . Pressure from Europeans north of Yellowstone River and a Lakota (Sioux) invasion into Crow treaty guaranteed land from the east (the lead-up to Red Cloud's War ) made the 1860s a trying time for the Crow. " Oglalas under Crazy Horse and Red Cloud and Hunkpapas and Minneconjous under Sitting Bull continued to follow

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4998-637: The Gallup-Healthways Index, in the years 2009 and 2010, West Virginia, one of the top contributors of coal in the United States, ranked last in "Physical Health," “Emotional Health," “Life Evaluation," as well as "Overall Well-Being." On top of that, it was also found that individuals who were closely involved or located near mountaintop removal sites were more at risk for higher mortality rates, developing life-threatening diseases, and total poverty than those who extracted coal underground. Critics of coal mining in West Virginia sometimes refer to

5117-480: The Great Falls land office alone had more than a thousand homestead filings per month, and at the peak of 1917–1918 it had 14,000 new homesteads each year. Significant drops occurred following the drought in 1919. As World War I broke out, Jeannette Rankin , representative of Montana and the first woman in the United States to be a member of Congress, voted against the United States' declaration of war. Her actions were widely criticized in Montana, where support for

5236-468: The Homestead Act drew tens of thousands of homesteaders, lured by free land, with World War I bringing particularly high wheat prices. In addition, Montana was going through a temporary period of higher-than-average precipitation. Homesteaders arriving in this period were known as "honyockers", or "scissorbills". The word honyocker possibly derived from the ethnic slur hunyak and was applied in

5355-451: The Midwest and western United States. Montana did not see a large influx of immigrants from this act because 160 acres were usually insufficient to support a family in the arid territory. The first homestead claim under the act in Montana was made by David Carpenter near Helena in 1868. The first claim by a woman was made near Warm Springs Creek by Gwenllian Evans, the daughter of Deer Lodge Montana pioneer, Morgan Evans. By 1880, farms were in

5474-422: The Missouri include the Smith , Milk , Marias , Judith , and Musselshell Rivers . Montana also claims the disputed title of possessing the world's shortest river, the Roe River , just outside Great Falls . Through the Missouri, these rivers ultimately join the Mississippi River and flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Coal mining in the United States Coal mining is an industry in transition in

5593-423: The Montana Sedition Act. The Montanans who opposed U.S. entry into the war included immigrant groups of German and Irish heritage, as well as pacifist Anabaptist people such as the Hutterites and Mennonites , many of whom were also of Germanic heritage. In turn, pro-War groups formed, such as the Montana Council of Defense, created by Governor Samuel V. Stewart and local "loyalty committees". War sentiment

5712-508: The Montana legislature had passed the Montana Sedition Act, which was a model for the federal version. In combination, these laws criminalized criticism of the U.S. government, military, or symbols through speech or other means. The Montana Act led to the arrest of more than 200 individuals and the conviction of 78, mostly of German or Austrian descent. More than 40 spent time in prison. In May 2006, then-Governor Brian Schweitzer posthumously issued full pardons for all those convicted of violating

5831-475: The Montana prairie for three years, did little to irrigate the land and then abandoned it without paying the final fees. Some farmers came with the arrival of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads throughout the 1880s and 1890s, though in relatively small numbers. In the early 1900s, James J. Hill of the Great Northern began to promote settlement in the Montana prairie to fill his trains with settlers and goods. Other railroads followed suit. In 1902,

5950-655: The Obama administration announced a three-year moratorium on federal coal lease sales on public land , effective immediately, and leaving around 20 years-of coal production under way. He noted that the program had not had a "top-down review" for the past 30 years. This would affect 50 licenses. The Trump administration reversed the moratorium. The Government Accountability Office has questioned whether bonus and royalty rates reflect coal's market value. Per GAO, since 1990 Colorado earned about $ 22 million less from bonus bids than Utah, though Colorado leased out almost 76 million tons more coal than Utah. BLM personnel noted that

6069-439: The Shining Mountains", and " The Last Best Place ". Its economy is primarily based on agriculture , including ranching and cereal grain farming. Other significant economic resources include oil , gas , coal , mining , and lumber . The health care, service, defense, and government sectors are also significant to the state's economy. Montana's fastest-growing sector is tourism, with 12.6 million tourists (as of 2019) visiting

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6188-631: The State of Montana: The president signed and issued the proclamation declaring Montana a state of the union at 10:40 o'clock this morning. Under Territorial Governor Thomas Meagher , Montanans held a constitutional convention in 1866 in a failed bid for statehood. A second constitutional convention held in Helena in 1884 produced a constitution ratified 3:1 by Montana citizens in November 1884. For political reasons, Congress did not approve Montana statehood until February 1889 and President Grover Cleveland signed an omnibus bill granting statehood to Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington once

6307-405: The U.S. were sent to Montana during the war as smokejumpers and for other forest fire-fighting duties. In 1942, the U.S. Army established Camp Rimini near Helena for the purpose of training sled dogs in winter weather. During World War II, the planned battleship USS Montana was named in honor of the state but it was never completed. Montana is the only one of the first 48 states lacking

6426-556: The U.S., the Powder River Basin, with most of the coal buried too deeply to be economically accessible, declined 16 percent, the Appalachian Basin declined 32 percent 2008 to 2014 and the Illinois Basin increased its production 39 percent from 2008 to 2014. In 2015, five states—Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and Pennsylvania—produced almost 3/4 of all coal production nationwide. Wyoming produced 375.8 million short tons representing 42% of U. S. coal production, West Virginia produced 95.6 million short tons or 11%, Kentucky

6545-487: The US – especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Al Gore 's receipt of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his raising awareness of climate change – temporarily increased public opposition to new coal-fired power plants. Simultaneously with these events, the anti-coal movement in the US – similar to that in the UK and Australia – had made coal-fired power projects more politically costly, and spurred further shifts in public opinion against coal-fired power. In

6664-587: The US, with total nominal capacity of 335.8 GW (compared to 1024 units at nominal capacity of 278 GW in 2000). Actual power generated from coal in 2006 was 227.1 GW ( 1991 TWh per year ), the highest in the world and still slightly ahead of China ( 1950 TWh per year ) at that time. In 2000, US production of electricity from coal was 224.3 GW ( 1966 TWh per year ). In 2006, the US consumed 1,027 million short tons (932 million metric tons) or 92.3% of coal mined for electricity generation. As of 2013, domestic coal consumption for power production

6783-407: The United States has forced the tribe to lay off 1,000 of its 1,300 employees. Every tribal citizen receives a $ 225 coal payment every four months. Half of the reservation's adult population is unemployed. In 2013, the tribe and Cloud Peak Energy agreed to open the Big Metal mine, which would have brought the company $ 10 million in revenue over the first five years. President Barack Obama blocked

6902-429: The United States approved in 1882, 1892 and 1906 cut the western and northernmost part of the 1868 reservation. Crow chief Plenty Coups , Robert Yellowtail and others stopped efforts to open the reservation in 1917. In a hotel room in Washington, D.C., they opened a bundle over the incense of buffalo chips from animals in the National Zoo and prayed for help. "The next day the attempted appropriation of their land

7021-404: The United States, with an average price of $ 31.83 per short ton, worth $ 28.6 billion. The three regions producing the largest amount of coal are Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana , the Appalachian Basin and the Illinois Basin . In the United States, coal production declined from 2008 but the decline was unevenly distributed. Production from the largest coal mining-region in

7140-429: The United States. Production in 2019 was down 40% from the peak production of 1,171.8 million short tons (1,063 million metric tons ) in 2008. Employment of 43,000 coal miners is down from a peak of 883,000 in 1923. Generation of electricity is the largest user of coal, being used to produce 50% of electric power in 2005 and 27% in 2018. The U.S. is a net exporter of coal. U.S. coal exports, for which Europe

7259-531: The amount of US electricity generated from coal (2020 TWh ) peaked in 2007. By 2015, electrical generation from coal had declined to 1360 TWh and 966 TWh in 2019, as coal's share of total electrical generation in the US fell from 48.5 percent in 2007, to 33.1 percent in 2015, to 23 percent in 2019, and 19% in 2020. Most of the decrease in coal electricity was offset by an increase in generation from natural gas -fired power plants. In 2006, there were 1493 coal-powered generating units at electrical utilities across

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7378-589: The appropriate state constitutions were crafted. In July 1889, Montanans convened their third constitutional convention and produced a constitution accepted by the people and the federal government. On November 8, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed Montana the union's 41st state. The first state governor was Joseph K. Toole . In the 1880s, Helena (the state capital) had more millionaires per capita than any other United States city. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided free land to settlers who could claim and "prove-up" 160 acres (0.65 km ) of federal land in

7497-565: The big Crow Fair , forming the "Teepee Capital of the World". By tradition, it is held the third week in August. The PBS TV series Reading Rainbow partially filmed its tenth episode, "The Gift of the Sacred Dog", on the reservation on June 17, 1983. The title was based on a book by Paul Goble and was narrated by actor Michael Ansara . 45°23′08″N 107°44′48″W  /  45.38556°N 107.74667°W  / 45.38556; -107.74667 Montana Montana ( / m ɒ n ˈ t æ n ə / mon- TAN -ə )

7616-414: The city of Helena now stands, Confederate Gulch , Silver Bow, Emigrant Gulch, and Cooke City . Gold output between 1862 and 1876 reached $ 144 million, after which silver became even more important. The largest mining operations were at Butte, with important silver deposits and expansive copper deposits. Before the creation of Montana Territory (1864–1889), areas within present-day Montana were part of

7735-424: The coal mined in Utah was closer to its market, and so was more valuable due to lower transportation cost. The GAO report noted that the BLM publishes little information on federal coal lease sales, also does not include their appraisal report, because some of this information is "sensitive and proprietary"; this violates BLM's own guidance. The GAO also noted that the competitiveness of federal coal lease sales

7854-404: The country (alternating with the Standing Rock Reservation depending on whether water areas are counted). Reservation headquarters are in Crow Agency, Montana . The reservation is located in old Crow country. In August 1805, fur trader Francois-Antoine Larocque camped at the Little Bighorn River and traveled through the area with a Crow group. The contemporary reservation lies at the center of

7973-439: The creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. As settlers began populating Montana from the 1850s through the 1870s, disputes with Native Americans ensued, primarily over land ownership and control. In 1855, Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated the Hellgate Treaty between the United States government and the Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai people of western Montana, which established boundaries for

8092-441: The decades following the Lewis and Clark Expedition , European, Canadian and American traders operated a fur trade , trading with indigenous peoples in both western and eastern portions of the area. Though the increased interaction between fur traders and indigenous peoples frequently proved to be a profitable partnership, conflicts broke out when indigenous interests were threatened, such as the conflict between American trappers and

8211-406: The divide flow into the Columbia River . The Clark Fork of the Columbia (not to be confused with the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River) rises near Butte and flows northwest to Missoula , where it is joined by the Blackfoot River and Bitterroot River . Farther downstream, it is joined by the Flathead River before entering Idaho near Lake Pend Oreille . The Pend Oreille River forms

8330-417: The dwindling buffalo herds west from the Powder River , while gold seekers travelled north into the [Crow] region along the Bozeman [Trail] ." Steamboats on the Missouri River brought additional prospectors into the Yellowstone area. The situation called for a new Crow treaty. On May 7, 1868, the Crow sold around 30 million acres of their 1851 territory and agreed to live in a reservation. The border to

8449-424: The enormous amount of coal under the surface in the old tribal territory became clear to the reservation Crows after the Arab Oil Embargo in the 1970s. The Crow Tribe owns 1.4 billion tons of coal, enough to supply the United States for a year. The reservation's Absaloka coal mine provides half of the tribe's nonfederal budget. The single-pit mine opened in 1974 and employs 170 people. The decline of coal mining in

8568-486: The environment. Weather and agricultural conditions are much harsher and drier west of the 100th meridian. Then, the droughts of 1917–1921 proved devastating. Many people left, and half the banks in the state went bankrupt as a result of providing mortgages that could not be repaid. As a result, farm sizes increased while the number of farms decreased. By 1910, homesteaders filed claims on over five million acres, and by 1923, over 93 million acres were farmed. In 1910,

8687-656: The expansive and sparsely populated Northern Plains , with tableland prairies, smaller island mountain ranges, and badlands . The isolated island ranges east of the Divide include the Bear Paw Mountains, Bull Mountains , Castle Mountains , Crazy Mountains , Highwood Mountains , Judith Mountains , Little Belt Mountains , Little Rocky Mountains , the Pryor Mountains , Little Snowy Mountains , Big Snowy Mountains , Sweet Grass Hills , and—in

8806-433: The fact that communities with no mining had lower levels of poverty than the communities with mining. Perdue and Pavela blamed this on the fact that "dependency on natural resources resulted in stifled development and negative socioeconomic outcomes." According to the article, West Virginia is one of the top producers of coal. Regardless, West Virginia only contributed 7% to the gross product. Concern about global warming in

8925-515: The fourth-largest Alpha Natural Resources . By January 2016, more than 25% of coal production was in bankruptcy in the United States including the top two producers Peabody Energy and Arch Coal . When Arch Coal filed for bankruptcy protection, the price of coal had dropped 50% since 2011 and it was $ 4.5 billion in debt. On October 5, 2016, Arch Coal emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In October 2018, Westmoreland Coal Company filed for bankruptcy protection. On May 10, 2019,

9044-417: The highest bonus (initial payment) offered. In addition, the government receives an annual rental of $ 3 per acre, and a fixed percentage royalty of the market value of coal produced. The royalty is 8 percent for underground mines and 12.5 percent for surface mines. In 2014, the program generated about $ 1.2 billion in lease bonuses, rentals, and royalties for coal mining on federal lands. In January 2016,

9163-509: The hole", referring directly to the Minuteman missiles in Montana. Montana eventually became home to the largest ICBM field in the U.S. covering 23,500 square miles (61,000 km ). Montana is one of the eight Mountain States , located in the north of the region known as the Western United States . It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east. Wyoming is to the south, Idaho

9282-613: The land that is now Montana. Historic tribes encountered by Europeans and settlers from the United States included the Crow in the south-central area, the Cheyenne and Lakota in the southeast, the Blackfeet , Assiniboine , and Gros Ventres in the central and north-central area, and the Kootenai and Salish the ( Séliš or “Flathead” ) in the west. The ( Ql̓ispé or Pend d'Oreilles ) and Kalispel tribes lived near Flathead Lake and

9401-469: The largest landlocked state. The state's topography is roughly defined by the Continental Divide , which splits much of the state into distinct eastern and western regions. Most of Montana's hundred or more named mountain ranges are in the state's western half, most of which is geologically and geographically part of the northern Rocky Mountains . The Absaroka and Beartooth ranges in

9520-833: The longest continuous ranges in the Rocky Mountain chain from Alaska to Mexico —along with smaller ranges, including the Coeur d'Alene Mountains and the Cabinet Mountains , divide the state from Idaho. The southern third of the Bitterroot range blends into the Continental Divide. Other major mountain ranges west of the divide include the Cabinet Mountains , the Anaconda Range , the Missions ,

9639-611: The main economic activity in the area until gold was discovered in 1852. The ensuing gold rush, along with the passage of the Homestead Acts in 1862, brought large numbers of American settlers to Montana. Rapid population growth and development culminated in statehood on November 8, 1889. Mining, particularly around Butte and Helena , would remain the state's main economic engine through the mid-20th century. Montana has no official nickname but several unofficial ones, most notably "Big Sky Country", "The Treasure State", "Land of

9758-547: The mine and then imposed a moratorium on any new coal leasing on public lands. In March 2017, the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation sued Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to stop his attempt to lift the moratorium. The biggest attraction in the reservation is the Little Bighorn National Monument . On June 25, 1876, combined forces from the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne , and Arapaho tribes defeated

9877-483: The mine locations as energy sacrifice zones , being loosely defined as areas where the health of the people and the environment has been sacrificed for the energy, jobs and profits that can be derived from the activity. Because of the poor economy in the region, coal mining is many miners' only economic option. While data can be misleading about the creation of jobs in mining regions, The authors, Perdue and Pavela, of "Addictive Economies and Coal Dependency," highlight

9996-401: The miners suffer, but people living in the regions develop health issues. Excess rock, also known as overburden , removed from the mountains is dumped into valleys creating toxic runoff, that often pollutes streams used for local water sources or even the groundwater and wells. Flooding and air pollution is also common in mining regions. Burning coal releases CO 2 into the atmosphere which

10115-492: The more verdant valleys of central and western Montana, but few were on the eastern plains. The Desert Land Act of 1877 was passed to allow settlement of arid lands in the west and allotted 640 acres (2.6 km ) to settlers for a fee of $ .25 per acre and a promise to irrigate the land. After three years, a fee of one dollar per acre would be paid and the settler would own the land. This act brought mostly cattle and sheep ranchers into Montana, many of whom grazed their herds on

10234-800: The most scenic badlands regions in the state. The Hell Creek Formation in Northeast Montana is a major source of dinosaur fossils . Paleontologist Jack Horner of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman brought this formation to the world's attention with several major finds. Montana has thousands of named rivers and creeks, 450 miles (720 km) of which are known for "blue-ribbon" trout fishing. Montana's water resources provide for recreation, hydropower , crop and forage irrigation, mining, and water for human consumption. Montana

10353-502: The name. Cox complained that the name was a misnomer given that most of the territory was not mountainous, and thought a Native American name would be more appropriate than a Spanish one. Other names, such as Shoshone , were suggested, but the Committee on Territories decided that they had discretion to choose the name, so the original name of Montana was adopted. For thousands of years, various indigenous peoples have inhabited

10472-687: The newly formed Metal Mine Workers' Union, opposed the war on grounds it mostly profited large lumber and mining interests. In the wake of ramped-up mine production and the Speculator Mine disaster in June 1917, Industrial Workers of the World organizer Frank Little arrived in Butte to organize miners. He gave some speeches with inflammatory antiwar rhetoric. On August 1, 1917, he was dragged from his boarding house by masked vigilantes , and hanged from

10591-866: The non-Indian population of the Montana Territory was 20,595. The Montana Historical Society , founded on February   2, 1865, in Virginia City, is the oldest such institution west of the Mississippi (excluding Louisiana). In 1869 and 1870 respectively, the Cook–Folsom–Peterson and the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expeditions were launched from Helena into the Upper Yellowstone region. The extraordinary discoveries and reports from these expeditions led to

10710-609: The outflow of Lake Pend Oreille. The Pend Oreille River joined the Columbia River, which flows to the Pacific Ocean—making the 579-mile (932 km) long Clark Fork/Pend Oreille (considered a single river system) the longest river in the Rocky Mountains. The Clark Fork discharges the greatest volume of water of any river exiting the state. The Kootenai River in northwest Montana is another major tributary of

10829-675: The railroad played a major role in sparking tensions with Native American tribes in the 1870s. Jay Cooke , the NPR president, launched major surveys into the Yellowstone valley in 1871, 1872, and 1873, which were challenged forcefully by the Sioux under chief Sitting Bull . These clashes, in part, contributed to the Panic of 1873 , a financial crisis that delayed the construction of the railroad into Montana. Surveys in 1874, 1875, and 1876 helped spark

10948-543: The rapid rise in U.S. solar jobs. A recent study indicated that this was technically possible and would account for only 5% of the industrial revenue from a single year to provide coal workers with job security in the energy industry as whole. The U.S. is a net exporter of coal. US net coal exports increased ninefold from 2006 to 2012, peaked at 117 million short tons in 2012, and were 97 million short tons in 2017. In 2015, 60% of net US exports went to Europe, 27% to Asia. The largest individual country export markets were

11067-424: The region commenced in earnest starting in 1862. A series of major mineral discoveries in the western part of the state found gold, silver, copper, lead, and coal (and later oil) which attracted tens of thousands of miners to the area. The richest of all gold placer diggings was discovered at Alder Gulch, where the town of Virginia City was established. Other rich placer deposits were found at Last Chance Gulch, where

11186-655: The region during the Oligocene 33 to 23 million years ago. Tablelands are often topped with argillite gravel and weathered quartzite, occasionally underlain by shale. The glaciated plains are generally covered in clay, gravel, sand, and silt left by the proglacial Lake Great Falls or by moraines or gravel-covered former lake basins left by the Wisconsin glaciation 85,000 to 11,000 years ago. Farther east, areas such as Makoshika State Park near Glendive and Medicine Rocks State Park near Ekalaka contain some of

11305-475: The same time coal production increased. The average number of coal mining employees declined to 41,600 in 2020. This was below the previous low of 70,000 in 2003, and the lowest number of US coal miners in at least 125 years. Because of the sharp declines in the U.S. coal industry, the Harvard Business Review discussed retraining coal workers for solar photovoltaic employment because of

11424-542: The second commissioned warship to bear the name. In the post-World War II Cold War era, Montana became host to U.S. Air Force Military Air Transport Service (1947) for airlift training in C-54 Skymasters and eventually, in 1953 Strategic Air Command air and missile forces were based at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. The base also hosted the 29th Fighter Interceptor Squadron , Air Defense Command from 1953 to 1968. In December 1959, Malmstrom AFB

11543-565: The sedimentary rock. The underlying surface consists of sandstone and shale . Surface soils in the area are highly diverse, and greatly affected by the local geology, whether glaciated plain, intermountain basin, mountain foothills, or tableland. Foothill regions are often covered in weathered stone or broken slate , or consist of uncovered bare rock (usually igneous, quartzite , sandstone, or shale). The soil of intermountain basins usually consists of clay , gravel , sand , silt , and volcanic ash , much of it laid down by lakes which covered

11662-432: The south was the 45th degree of north latitude, while the 107th degree of longitude west was the eastern border. Both borderlines met the Yellowstone at a point. The connection of these two points followed the course of the river and made up the last border of the 1868 reservation. It comprised about eight million acres. Major F. D. Pease was the first civil agent at the Crow reservation, from 1870 to 1874. Land cessions to

11781-636: The state each year. The name Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña , which in turn comes from the Latin word montanea , meaning "mountain" or more broadly "mountainous country". Montaña del Norte ('Northern Mountain') was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the entire mountainous region of the west. The name Montana was added in 1863 to a bill by the United States House Committee on Territories (chaired at

11900-542: The state's south-central part are technically part of the Central Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountain Front is a significant feature in the state's north-central portion, and isolated island ranges that interrupt the prairie landscape common in the central and eastern parts of the state. About 60 percent of the state is prairie, part of the northern Great Plains . The Bitterroot Mountains —one of

12019-693: The state's southeastern corner near Ekalaka —the Long Pines . Many of these isolated eastern ranges were created about 120 to 66 million years ago when magma welling up from the interior cracked and bowed the earth's surface here. The area east of the divide in the state's north-central portion is known for the Missouri Breaks and other significant rock formations . Three buttes south of Great Falls are major landmarks: Cascade, Crown, Square, Shaw, and Buttes. Known as laccoliths , they formed when igneous rock protruded through cracks in

12138-402: The third largest U.S. coal company by production, Cloud Peak Energy , filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On October 29, 2019, Murray Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Coal, primarily from underground mines east of the Mississippi was the nation's primary fuel source until the early 1950s. Surface (strip) and mountaintop removal mining overtook underground mines in

12257-472: The time by James Ashley of Ohio ) for the territory that would become Idaho Territory . The name was changed by representatives Henry Wilson (Massachusetts) and Benjamin F. Harding (Oregon), who complained that Montana had "no meaning". When Ashley presented a bill to establish a temporary government in 1864 for a new territory to be carved out of Idaho, he again chose Montana Territory . This time, representative Samuel Cox , also of Ohio, objected to

12376-650: The tribal nations. The treaty was ratified in 1859. While the treaty established what later became the Flathead Indian Reservation , trouble with interpreters and confusion over the terms of the treaty led Whites to believe the Bitterroot Valley was opened to settlement, but the tribal nations disputed those provisions. The Salish remained in the Bitterroot Valley until 1891. The first U.S. Army post established in Montana

12495-606: The verge of extinction; only about 325 bison remained in the entire United States. Cattle ranching has been central to Montana's history and economy since Johnny Grant began wintering cattle in the Deer Lodge Valley in the 1850s and traded cattle fattened in fertile Montana valleys with emigrants on the Oregon Trail. Nelson Story brought the first Texas Longhorn cattle into the territory in 1866. Granville Stuart , Samuel Hauser , and Andrew J. Davis started

12614-438: The war and patriotism was strong. In 1917–1918, due to a miscalculation of Montana's population, about 40,000 Montanans, 10% of the state's population, volunteered or were drafted into the armed forces. This represented a manpower contribution to the war that was 25% higher than any other state on a per capita basis. Around 1,500 Montanans died as a result of the war and 2,437 were wounded, also higher than any other state on

12733-577: The war ended. These numbers constituted about ten percent of the state's population, and Montana again contributed one of the highest numbers of soldiers per capita of any state. Many Native Americans were among those who served, including soldiers from the Crow Nation who became Code Talkers . At least 1,500 Montanans died in the war. Montana also was the training ground for the First Special Service Force or "Devil's Brigade",

12852-595: The western mountains, respectively. A part of southeastern Montana was used as a corridor between the Crows and the related Hidatsas in North Dakota. As part of the Missouri River watershed, all of the land in Montana east of the Continental Divide was part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, except for a tiny portion in the northeast that is part of the Hudson Bay drainage . Subsequent to and particularly in

12971-411: The years as higher-rank coal production (anthracite, and then bituminous coal) declined, and production of lower rank coal (Sub-bituminous and lignite) increased. The average heat content of US-mined coal decreased 21% from 1950 to 2016, and 6.8% in the 20 years from 1996 to 2016. The tonnage of mined coal hit a peak in 2008, and has declined since. The energy value of mined US coal hit its all-time peak

13090-542: Was Camp Cooke in 1866, on the Missouri River, to protect steamboat traffic to Fort Benton. More than a dozen additional military outposts were established in the state. Pressure over land ownership and control increased due to discoveries of gold in various parts of Montana and surrounding states. Major battles occurred in Montana during Red Cloud's War , the Great Sioux War of 1876 , and the Nez Perce War and in conflicts with Piegan Blackfeet . The most notable were

13209-507: Was again elected to Congress. In 1941, as she had in 1917, she voted against the United States' declaration of war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Hers was the only vote against the war, and in the wake of public outcry over her vote, Rankin required police protection for a time. Other pacifists tended to be those from "peace churches" who generally opposed war. Many individuals claiming conscientious objector status from throughout

13328-531: Was being displaced by natural gas, but production from strip mines utilizing thick deposits in the western United States such as the Powder River Basin in northern Wyoming and Southern Montana for export to Asia increased. In 2014, 3.0 percent of the coal shipments from Montana and Wyoming were exported. The 2014 coal exports from the two states of 13.4 million short tons represented an increase of 1.2 million tons over 2012 export levels, which

13447-399: Was complicated by labor issues. The Anaconda Copper Company , which was at its historic peak of copper production, was an extremely powerful force in Montana, but it also faced criticism and opposition from socialist newspapers and unions struggling to make gains for their members. In Butte, a multiethnic community with a significant European immigrant population, labor unions, particularly

13566-617: Was farmer, spinster, deep-sea diver; fiddler, physician, bartender, cook. He lived in Minnesota or Wisconsin, Massachusetts or Maine. There the news sought him out—Jim Hill's news of free land in the Treasure State ... However, farmers faced a number of problems. Massive debt was one. Also, most settlers were from wetter regions, unprepared for the dry climate, lack of trees, and scarce water resources. In addition, small homesteads of fewer than 320 acres (130 ha) were unsuited to

13685-451: Was for electricity generation. Other uses were industrial (4.7 percent), coke manufacture (2.3 percent), and commercial and institutional (0.2 percent). In 2016, the EIA calculated that coal would provide 30% of electricity generation nationwide with natural gas providing 34%, nuclear, 19%, and renewables, 15%. Both the tonnage of coal used for electricity (1047 million short tons) and

13804-421: Was limited by lack of multiple bids. Of the 107 tracts leased since 1990, 96 drew only a single bidder. This was attributed to the fact that most leased tracts were close to a single existing mine, and the large capital cost of installing a new mine discouraged competition. The BLM can reject bids which do not meet its estimate of fair market value, and 18 of the coal tracts leased since 1990 were tracts re-bid after

13923-548: Was selected as the home of the new Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile . The first operational missiles were in place and ready in early 1962. In late 1962, missiles assigned to the 341st Strategic Missile Wing played a major role in the Cuban Missile Crisis . When the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, President John F. Kennedy said the Soviets backed down because they knew he had an "ace in

14042-477: Was soundly defeated." Yellowtail made headlines when he became superintendent of his own tribe's reservation in 1934, the first Indian to do so. The reservation got its present shape after moderate land cuts in 1937 and in connection with the construction of the Bighorn Canyon Dam in the 1960s. During the 1960s, Pauline Small became the first woman Crow reservation tribal official. The value of

14161-606: Was third with 61.4 or 7%, Illinois was fourth with 56.1 or 6% and Pennsylvania was fifth with 50.0 or 6%. As of 2014 , twenty-five states produced coal. The coal-producing states were, in descending order, with annual production in millions of short tons: The hardest coal, anthracite , originally used for steel production, heating, and as fuel for ships and railroads, had by 2000 dwindled to an insignificant portion of production. Softer bituminous coal replaced anthracite for steel production. The even softer sub-bituminous and lignite coals overtook bituminous for power generation in

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