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Home > Montana
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Montana
The state of Montana is located in the Western United States. The western third of the state has several mountain ranges, about 77, of the northern Rocky Mountains; therefore the state's name, obtained from the Spanish word montaña meaning mountain. The Treasure State is the state nickname. Other nicknames include "Big Sky Country"", Land of Shining Mountains", and the slogan "the last best place". The state ranks 4th in area, but 44th in populace, and thus has the third lowest population mass in the United States. The economy is above all based on hard rock mining in the west, coal and oil in the east, tourism and lumber in the west, and wheat farming and ranching in the east. Millions of tourists yearly visit the Battle of Little Bighorn site, Glacier National Park, and 3 of the 5 entrances to Yellowstone National Park.
Native Americans were the first residents of the state of Montana. Groups included the Kootenai and Salish in the west, the Cheyenne in the southeast, Assiniboine and Gros Ventres in the central and north-central area, the Blackfeet, and the Crow in the south-central area. The smaller Kalispel and Pend d'Oreille tribes lived near the western mountains and Flathead Lake, respectively.
In 1803, Montana east of the continental divide was a part of the Louisiana Purchase. In the late 1850s, following to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and after the finding of copper and gold in the state, Montana joined a United States on May 26, 1864, and turned into the 41st state on November 8, 1889.
Fort Shaw was recognized in Spring 1867. The other two posts in the Montana area were Fort C.F. Smith on the Bozeman Trail and Camp Cooke on the Judith River in south central Montana Territory. Named after Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Fort Shaw commanded, one of the first all African-American regiments during the American Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts was constructed of lumber and adobe by the 13th Infantry. It had a parade ground that was 120 m² (400 ft²), and made up of a trading post, a hospital, and barracks for officers, and could accommodate up to 450 soldiers. Finished in 1868, it was used by military personnel up to the year 1891.
After the close of the fort, the government reused Fort Shaw as a school to offer industrial training to Native Americans. The school, Fort Shaw Indian Industrial School, was erected and opened on April 30, 1892. It had once300 students, 11 Indian assistants and 17 faculty members. The school made use of in excess of 20 of the buildings constructed by the Army.
The adjusted Homestead Act of the early 1900s significantly affected the arrangement of Montana. This act extended the land that was given by the Homestead Act of 1862 from 0.6 km2 (160 acres) to 1.3 km2 (320 acres). It also decreased the time needed to verify up from 5 years to 3 years and allowed 5 months' absence as of the claim annually when the second act was signed and approved by President William Howard Taft.
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