Montana Trivia & Tidbits - Page 11

Looking for Montana trivia? Try our list Montana little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine and Gold Fever Rock Shop on the banks of Hauser Lake offers visitors a chance to pan for sapphires, rubies, and garnets from buckets of gravel taken from the area. Sapphires weighing up to 10 carats are commonly found in the area.

first appeared: 4/4/2004

The Lewis and Clark Expedition named a number of geographic features during its 1805 journey through present-day Montana. When the explorers arrived at Three Forks (pop. 1,728) in late-July 1805, they named the three branches of the Missouri River after Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, Secretary of State James Madison, and President Thomas Jefferson. The three heads of state had played key roles in the Louisiana Purchase and the expedition itself.

first appeared: 3/28/2004

The Daly mansion in the Bitterroot Valley was the summer home of copper baron Marcus Daly. It evolved from a two-story farmhouse in 1886 into a 24,000-square-foot mansion with 25 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms. It is open to the public.

first appeared: 3/28/2004

In 1864, the territorial legislature met for the first time in a sod-roofed building in Bannack and voted to make Virginia City (pop. 130) the new capital. Today, the former capital is a remarkably preserved Old West town where little has changed in more than a century. Bannack is a ghost town and state park.

first appeared: 3/21/2004

The Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park is considered one of the most scenic drives in America.

first appeared: 3/14/2004

Roe River near Great Falls (pop. 55,097) is only 200 feet long. Its source is Giant Springs, the largest freshwater spring in the United States, and it empties into the Missouri River.

first appeared: 3/7/2004

The world’s greatest temperature change in 24 hours occurred in Loma (pop. 92) on Jan. 15, 1972, when the temperature rose 103 degrees—from 54 degrees below zero to 49 degrees above zero.

first appeared: 3/7/2004

The town of Ekalaka (pop. 439) was named for the niece of famous Sioux Chief Sitting Bull. The town began as a saloon for cowboys, and the surrounding area is now famous for the world-class bucking horses raised there.

first appeared: 2/29/2004

Texas longhorn cattle thrived on Montana’s open range after the Civil War, when cattle drives brought them north, but the severe winter of 1886-1887 virtually wiped out the herds. Many once-profitable cattle companies were ruined as hundreds of thousands of cattle perished in the heavy snow and frigid temperatures, and the industry never recovered.

first appeared: 2/22/2004

The website, www.montanakids.com, is an excellent source of indoor and outdoor activity ideas for children and parents in the state.

first appeared: 2/22/2004

Big Hole River is called “Montana’s last best river” in a book of the same name authored by Pat Munday and published by The Lyons Press.

first appeared: 2/15/2004

The state nickname is “Treasure State,” and the state motto, “Oro y plata,” means gold and silver.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

Sound advice and information on ice fishing in the state can be found at http://wintermt.com/other/icefishing.htm.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

At least 45 out of Montana’s 56 counties are considered “frontier counties,” with an average population of six or fewer people per square mile.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

The most visited place in Montana is Glacier National Park, known as the crown jewel of the North American continent. It lies along Montana’s northern border and adjoins Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, forming the world’s first International Peace Park.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

Elk, deer and pronghorn antelope outnumber the state’s 902,195 residents. The Montana Wildlife Viewing Guide, available from the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, offers information and directions to more than 100 places where these and other wildlife species can be seen.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

Grasshopper Glacier, near Cooke City in the Beartooth mountain range, is named for the millions of grasshoppers embedded in its ice. The road to the glacier is open only to four-wheel-drive vehicles during the dry months of July and August. The last four miles are open only to foot traffic.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

About five miles north of Alder Gulch in southwest Montana is an old stage stop, bar and dancehall known as Robber’s Roost. Hold-up gangs frequented the place in the gold rush days of 1863 and later, and bullet holes in the walls attest to the character of some visitors.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

The state’s prime industry is beef cattle production, with 65 million acres—or roughly two-thirds of the state—used for public and private rangeland.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

Mike and Jake McCoy of Laurel (pop. 6,255) won the $1,000 top prize in the state’s 2003 Ag Inventors Contest for their breakaway stirrup.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

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