Have you ever heard about countries with nicknames? Well, it sounds weird. Montana has many labels such as “Country with Big Sky”, “Land of the Shining” and “The Last Best Place”. Montana is the 43rd most populous country in the world. As Montana is one of the 50 states of U.S so it is also the 4^th extensive place. Situated in the Northwestern United States the country became a separate state of USA on 8th November, 1889. Four other states South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho borders Montana. The capital of Montana is Helena. Montana is sometimes known as “Treasure State” consisting of 56 countries. Let’s take a look at some of the most amazing Montana Facts. 

Origin of the Name Montana

The name of the country has Spanish origin. The word “montaña” was given by Spanish people which means mountains. Montana is one out of nine mountainous states in U.S. 

More Mountains

As I already explained, Montana’s area is full of snow caped mountains. The name itself originated from the Spanish word montaña. You can never visit the whole 64 mountain ranges that are concentrated mainly in the western part of the state.

Largest Grizzly Bear Population

Montana supports the largest grizzly bear population in U.S. About 800, grizzly bears are present in this state. Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park is home to many bears. In spite of large grizzly bear population, people hardly come in contact with bear. Many black bears live in wilderness areas of the state.

5-mile Long Lake

Though you are exploring fun Montana facts here in this article. But now, let me tell you an exciting and shocking fact about Montana. In August 1959, a deadly earthquake of 7.5 magnitude strike the west of Yellowstone National Park. This earthquake causes the formation of 5-mile long lake, in 1959. Due to landslide Madison River got blocked. The blockage give rise to another 190 feet deep lake, the ‘Quake Lake’.  

Low Population Density

Montana has very low population density. The total population of Montana is 1.06 million. From 56 countries of the state 46 have an average population of just 6 people or less per square mile. The countries of Montana are known as “frontier counties” because of this reason.

Borders

As I mentioned above, Montana is bordered with four American states, including Idaho, South Dakota, Wyoming, and North Dakota. Montana shares the largest international border with Canada. Montana is the only state to share land with three Canadian provinces. These provinces are British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Largest Snowflake

Many of us have never experienced a snowflake. But I can bet those of you have seen large snowflakes would have a diameter of less than 15 inches. Isn’t it?

I know, it is one of the fun facts about Montana that a record breaking 15 inches larges snowflake was seen in Fort Keogh, Montana.                 

Greatest Temperature Change

Temperature varies from day to night in every place. But greatest variations are not observed often. This happened in the city of Loma where frequent change in temperature occur in less than 24 hours. The temperature turned from a massive 103 degrees Fahrenheit to -54 Fahrenheit to 49 degrees Fahrenheit.

Coldest Temperature

In the contiguous United States, the coldest temperature ever recorded was at Rogers Pass near Helena National Forest of Montana. Above you have read about the enormous change of temperature, here is another one record. In 1954, -70 degree Fahrenheit was reported in Montana. In the United States, the only colder temperature was recorded in Alaska in 1971 when the temperature reaches to -80 degrees Fahrenheit at Prospect Creek.   

A Triple Divide

Those of you who want to see a triple divide feature should visit Montana. This divide feature lets water to flow in three directions the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and the Hudson Bay.

Yellowstone National Park

Montana doesn’t hold all the area of Yellowstone National Park. Only a single part is located in state of Montana. Hundreds and thousands of earthquake happened in this park because of the presence of super volcanoes. The “Crown of the Continent” – the Glacier National Park is also located in Montana.

More Buffalo than Human

There are more buffaloes than humans in Montana. The National Bison Range close to Missoula has many wild buffaloes which wandered freely.

Dinosaur Fossils

The museum of Rockies is famous for its largest collection of fossils. Out of which dinosaur fossils are in large collection. Only Montana museum has 13 T-Rex specimens in the world.

Discovery of the Lyme disease

Wily Burgdorfer worked hard to find the reason behind the Lyme disease. Luckily, when working at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, he came up with the reason. Even though he was researching on Rocky Mountain fever but somehow he found that tick bite spreads this disease. The bacteria that causes Lyme disease was then discovered.

Pets Lifespan

The conditions for pets are so good in Montana that they have largest lifespan there. From the Banfield Pet Hospital, a report in 2013 found that cats live more than two years longer than the national average. All these facts make it the best state in the U.S. for feline longevity. For dog lifespan, it is the second-best state, with its pups living a year and a half longer than the average. South Dakota was the first in this case.

Tallest Point in Montana

Do you know that Granite Peak is the tallest peak in Montana? Its height is 12,807 feet. Thus, Granite Peak is the highest point in U.S.

The Largest Population of Golden Eagles

Golden eagles constitute the largest population in Montana. You can see largest number of golden eagles in Montana than in any other state.

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