MONTANA 



3903 



MONTANA 



ONTANA, montah'na, a northwest- 

 ern state of the American Union, popularly 

 named THE TREASURE STATE because of its 

 great wealth in copper, silver, gold and coal, its 

 large production of wool, and its beautiful nat- 

 ural scenery. The name is derived from the 

 Spanish word montana, which means mountain- 

 ous, and clearly indicates the physical character 

 of the state. One of the great beauty spots in 

 the United States, the Glacier National Park, is 

 within its borders, while one entrance to the 

 Yellowstone National Park is also in this state. 

 As its flower, Montana has chosen the bitter- 

 root. 



Size and Location. Among the states of the 

 Union only Texas and California are larger 

 than Montana, which has an area of 146,997 

 square miles. It is therefore about three times 

 the size of New York, and is equal in extent to 

 the combined areas of the United Kingdom, 

 the Netherlands and Belgium. Its greatest 

 length from east to west is 540 miles, as far as 

 from Duluth to Saint Louis, and its average 

 width from north to south is 275 miles. 



Its People. With 376,053 inhabitants in 1910, 

 Montana ranks fortieth among the states. It 

 contains about the same number of inhabitants 

 as the province of Alberta, one of its neighbors 

 across the international boundary; the latter is, 

 however, of much larger size, having 400,000 

 square miles more territory. The most thickly- 

 settled regions are the western mining districts. 

 The average density of population for the state 

 in 1910 was 2.6 persons to the square mile. 

 On January 1, 1917, the Federal Census Bureau 

 estimated the population at 466,214. A charac- 

 teristic feature of its population is the great 

 preponderance of males, who numbered 226,872 

 in 1910, as against 149,181 females. This means 

 that there were 152 men to every 100 women. 

 Of the population in 1910, 43.1 per cent were 

 native whites of native parentage; 28.4 per 

 cent were native whites of foreign or mixed 

 parentage; 24.4 per cent were foreign-born 

 whites. Of the foreign-born population 14.7 



per cent came from Canada; 10.3 per cent from 

 Ireland; 9.8 per cent from England, and about 

 the same proportion from Germany, Austria, 

 Norway, Sweden and Italy, respectively. 



Nearly two-thirds of the people live under 

 rural conditions. The principal cities are Hel- 

 ena, the capital ; Butte, the most populous city ; 

 Great Falls, Billings, Bozeman, Anaconda, Miles 

 City and Missoula. 



Indians. In 1910 the Indians numbered 10,- 

 745, and formed 2.9 per cent of the total popu- 

 lation. They belonged chiefly to the Assini- 

 boin, Blackfeet, Chippewa, Gros Ventres, Pend 

 d'Oreille and Sioux tribes. All of them live 

 now on government reservations in various 

 parts of the state; these contain 4,312,452 acres 

 of agricultural and grazing lands. 



Education. Considering its scattered popula- 

 lation, educational conditions in Montana are 

 excellent. The permanent school fund consists 

 of public school lands of great extent, and this 

 source of income is supplemented by state and 

 local taxation. The state has a good compul- 

 sory education law; the schools are under the 

 supervision of a state board of education and of 

 a state superintendent of public instruction, 

 elected by the people for four years. Each 

 county has its own superintendent, elected for 

 two years. The percentage of those unable to 

 read or write was 4.7 in 1910. 



At the head of the educational institutions 

 stand the University of Montana at Missoula, 

 opened in 1895; the College of Agriculture and 

 Mechanical Arts at Bozeman, opened in 1893; 

 the School of Mines at Butte, opened in 1900, 

 and the State Normal College at Dillon. These 

 four state institutions are administered under 

 one head, the Chancellor of the University of 

 Montana. Other educational institutions are 

 the Montana Wesleyan University at Helena, 

 and the College of Montana at Deer Lodge, 

 maintained by the Presbyterians. A number of 

 experimental substations in agriculture and 

 horticulture are maintained, and the United 

 States Department of Agriculture established 



