Montana: State Flag, Bird and Facts

About Montana

By area, Montana is the fourth-largest state, yet only about 1.08 million people lived there in 2020, so it is one of the emptiest states per square mile. Mountain ranges, including the Rockies, fill the west, while prairie and badlands stretch across the east. Helena is the capital and Billings the largest city. Three Canadian provinces lie along the northern border.

Lewis and Clark explored the land soon after the Louisiana Purchase. Fur trapping came first, then gold turned up in 1858, and the rush that followed brought waves of settlers. Statehood arrived in 1889, and mining around Butte and Helena drove the economy for decades. The flag puts the state seal on a blue field with Montana written above it, a label added in 1981 and set in Helvetica Bold in 1985.

Did you know?

• Granite Peak, at 12,807 feet, is the highest point in Montana.
• Montana has no official nickname, though Big Sky Country and the Treasure State are widely used.
• Montana also goes by The Last Best Place and Land of the Shining Mountains.