The Battle of Little Bighorn
The 1876 battle commonly known as “Custer’s Last Stand” was really the last stand of the Lakota chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse against the encroaching U.S. Army.
In the spring of 1876, more than 10,000 Lakota and Cheyenne gathered at a camp along the Little Bighorn River in Montana. They had been driven from their land in South Dakota after gold was discovered in the Black Hills. The camp at Little Bighorn—which the Native Americans called Greasy Grass—was organized by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, who defied from the U.S. government to relocate to reservations.
In June, federal troops led in part by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, arrived at Little Bighorn with orders to round up the Lakota and Cheyenne holdouts and force them onto reservations. The plan was for Custer and several other generals to surround the encampment, but Custer made the rash decision to launch his own “surprise attack.”
On June 25, 1876, Custer led the charge at Little Bighorn and was immediately outmanned and outgunned. Custer was killed along with all 210 of the men under his command. The Battle of Little Bighorn was the worst U.S. defeat of the Plains Indian Wars.
Railroads and Homesteaders
The arrival of railroads in the 1880s transformed Montana and tied it to the rest of the fast-growing country. Building them was a massive undertaking that relied heavily on immigrant labor from China, Japan and European countries such as Italy, Sweden, Norway and Bulgaria, some of whose workers stayed and settled in Montana.
Montana became the 41st state on November 8, 1889. Around the same time, rich silver and copper deposits were discovered near Butte, launching a boom in hardrock mining. Over the next few decades, the Anaconda Copper Company of Butte grew to become one of the largest mining operations in the world.
Homesteaders came to Montana in droves in the early 20th century after Congress doubled the land allotment in the Homestead Act from 160 to 320 acres. Railroad companies ran advertisements promoting the fertility of Montana farmland and the ease of growing wheat.
Severe drought struck in 1917, leading to massive dust storms in the 1920s. Many of the new arrivals abandoned their claims and moved farther west.
Montana Today
Montana’s population topped 1 million for the first time in 2012. Roughly two-thirds of residents live in the western part of the state. While ranching and farming remain the state’s biggest industries, tourism became its second-largest revenue source in the 1970s. Most tourist dollars are concentrated in gateway communities serving Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park, which Montana shares with Wyoming and Idaho.
Date of Statehood: November 8, 1889
Population: 1,084,225 (2020)
Size: 147,039 square miles
Nickname(s): Treasure State; Big Sky Country
Motto: Oro y Plata (“Gold and Silver”)
Bird: Western Meadow Lark
Interesting Facts
Carved by glaciers more than 10,000 years ago, Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. It is 28 miles long, 5 to 15 miles wide and covers nearly 200 square miles.
The National Bison Range was established in 1908 in western Montana to preserve wild bison from extinction. In addition to elk, deer, antelope, bears and other animals, roughly 500 bison live in the wildlife refuge.
The world’s first international peace park was established in 1932 when Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, were combined. In 1995, UNESCO listed the two parks as a joint World Heritage site for their diverse and abundant plant and wildlife species and outstanding scenery.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in the 48 contiguous states was minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Rogers Pass on January 20, 1954. In January 1972, Loma, Montana, broke the national record for the greatest 24-hour temperature change, with a 103-degree jump from minus 54 to 49 degrees Fahrenheit.
Eleven tribal nations live on seven reservations in Montana. A 12th tribe, the Little Shell Band of Chippewa, lives within the state without its own land.
Montana’s large gold and silver mines gave rise to its nickname, the Treasure State, and its motto, Oro y Plata (Spanish for “Gold and Silver”).