Montana, MT.

Treasure State

Montana is an inland U.S. state with around 60% of the state dominated by the vast expanse of the Great Plains, partly contributing to the state nickname of "Big Sky Country." Other well-known nicknames include the "Treasure State" and "Land of Shining Mountains." The central and western third of the state has numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named) of the northern Rocky Mountains; thus the name, derived from the Spanish word montaña ("mountain"). The state ranks fourth in size (~145,000 square miles) but has a relatively low population (with only six states having fewer people) and consequently a very low population density. The economy is primarily based on agriculture (wheat, barley, sugar beets, oats, rye, seed potatoes, honey and cherries) as well as cattle and sheep ranching, and significant lumber and mineral extraction (gold, coal, silver, talc, and vermiculite) industries. Tourism is also important to the economy with millions of visitors a year to Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake, the Missouri River headwaters, the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn and 3 of the 5 entrances to Yellowstone National Park. Originally inhabited by several ethnolinguistic groups of American Indians, including the Blackfoot, (Siksika), Crow, Cheyenne, Bannock, Shoshoni, Nez Perce. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806 was the first group of European-American explorers to cross Montana. Today, most of these Native American nations still call Montana home and Montana has more Native American Indian reservations than any other state (7). Modern-day Montana became Montana Territory in 1864 by the appointment of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and later became the 41st state in 1889. The state became the first to elect a female member of Congress, Jeannette Rankin, and was one of the first states to give women voting rights; (see Suffrage). Despite its sizable American Indian population, Montana is one of the most homogenous states— nearly nine-tenths of its residents are of European descent, with a large number of immigrants of German, Irish, Norwegian, Welsh/Cornish, Italian and Slovak heritage arriving from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. A significant portion of Chinese (Canton) immigrants also came and left an indelible mark on the state, especially in the mining cities of Helena and Butte. Outside of the state, Montana is generally regarded as Republican; however, the state currently has a Democratic governor (Brian Schweitzer), Democratic-controlled legislature (the Montana State Legislature), and one Democratic U.S. Senator (Max Baucus). The state capital is Helena (nicknamed "Queen City of the Rockies"), hometown of the late Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy, and sister city of Kumamoto, Japan. The largest city is Billings with a metro area of over 100,000. The state's U.S. postal abbreviation is MT. The USS Montana was named in honor of the state.

source:http://wikipedia.org/