Western Montana is the western region of the U.S. state of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. The most restrictive definition limits western Montana only to the parts of the state west of the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not c ...

. Other common definitions add in the mountainous areas east of the divide including Beaverhead, Gallatin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark,

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, and

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...

Counties. The region is sometimes considered to be part of the Inland Northwest.

Geography, biomes and climate

Western Montana is dominated by the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. Most of Western Montana is covered in forest, prominent species being Ponderosa pine,

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (C ...

, and Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir. Common fauna include the black bear,

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

, elk, and

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...

. The

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

lives in Glacier National Park,

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

, the Bob Marshall Wilderness and surrounding areas. Precipitation is lower in the valleys, which are mostly semiarid and receive 8 to 25 inches of precipitation, largely in

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...

, and higher in the mountains, some areas of which qualify as

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American ...

, especially in the northwest around Glacier National Park and

Libby Libby as a feminine given name is typically a diminutive form of Elizabeth, which is less commonly spelled 'Libbie' or ' Libi'. In recent years, it has been used as a shortened version of the name Liberty. As a surname, it can also be spelled ' ...

. Winters are cold, sometimes bitterly cold, and summers are warm.

History

Western Montana was inhabited by the Salish, Kootenai,

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easte ...

, Flathead, and

Kalispel The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range ...

people. In the late 19th century non-indigenous people arrived and established mines and additional cities in the mountains and valleys. Gold was discovered in Last Chance Gulch in the 1860s and soon the city of Helena was born. Today Helena is the State capital of Montana. Helena still has much of the charm of a 19th-century mining town. Many of the old buildings have been renovated, and hundreds of 19th-century Victorian homes and mansions fill Helena's old neighborhoods. Helena is one of the best-preserved mining towns on the Western frontier. Copper was discovered In

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

and the surrounding areas in the 1870s. Vast quantities of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

were mined, leaving behind the largest

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

cleanup site in the history of the nation. Copper is still mined at the continental pit in Butte. Missoula is the largest city in Western Montana and the second-largest in the state after

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metro ...

. Western Montana, though faring better than much of the nation, was the portion of the state hit hardest by the current economic downturn. The closing of

Smurfit-Stone Container Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation was a global paperboard and paper-based packaging company based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois, with approximately 21,000 employees. In 2007, Smurfit-Stone was ranked 13 in Pricewaterhouse ...

in 2009 alone caused the loss of over 2000 jobs through 2012. Much of western Montana has felt the effects of a housing bust as well.

Major cities

* Missoula, Montana * Butte, Montana * Kalispell, Montana *

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city o ...

References

{{Montana Regions of Montana

Geography, biomes and climate

History

Major cities

See also

References