Montana, located largely in the western US, gets its name from Spanish word "montaña" or mountain. The state is also known as the "Treasure State," "Land of Shining Mountains," and the "Big Sky Country." The central and western two-thirds of the state have numerous mountain ranges of the northern Rocky Mountains. Helena is the capital city.

LOCATION: Montana and Canada share a 545-mile (877-km) undefended border. The state borders the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, more provinces than any other state. To the east is North Dakota; to the southeast is South Dakota. In the south is Wyoming, and on the west and southwest is Idaho.

CUSTER COUNTRY REGION

Alberta Bair Theater brings audiences the finest performers in every discipline of the performing arts, including classical and popular music, country music and jazz, opera, ballet, modern and ethnic dance, comedy, drama and musical theater.

Peter Yegen Jr. Yellowstone County Museum has materials specific to Northern Plains Indian Tribes, western expansion and mining, cattle/sheep herding industries.

Powder River H.S. Museum / Mac's museum contains many valuable historic collections including historic photos and books, Indian artifacts, old guns and ammunition, buggies, old autos, and more.

Other Attractions:
Zoo Montana
Yellowstone Art Museum
The Moss Mansion Museum
Western Heritage Center

Glacier Country Region

Historical Museum At Fort Missoula was established to collect, preserve, and interpret the history of Missoula County, Fort Missoula, and the timber products industry in western Montana for the education, recreation, and cultural enrichment of visitors and area residents.

National Museum of Forest Service History seeks to capture and the history of the region for posterity.

Wild Eyes Animal Adventures: Imagine playing with the wolves, holding a European hawk on your arm, having that bobcat or Canadian Lynx nudging you or that mystic eye-to-eye contact with the Siberian tiger with no fence between you!

Missoula Children's Theatre provides quality education and entertainment through the performing arts.

Fairmont Hot-Springs Resort has year-round, full service of Hot Springs. It also has an 18-hole golf course with two Olympic sized swimming pools, two soaking pools and a 350 foot enclosed waterslide.

Nine-pipes Museum of Early Montana is designed for the enrichment, education, and recreation of local residents and visitors.

Other Attractions:
Miracle of America Museum
Big Sky Waterpark
Central School Museum
Conrad Mansion National Historic Site Museum
Art Museum of Missoula

GOLD WEST COUNTRY REGION

World Museum of Mining, a national historical site, is dedicated to preserving the mining, ethnic, and social history of Butte, Montana.

Archie Bray Foundation is dedicated to the enrichment of the ceramic arts, offering residencies and specialized workshops to ceramic artists from around the world.

The Last Chance Tour Train takes you on a ride through the streets of Helena, Montana and its colourful past.

Other Attractions:
Holter Museum of Art
Montana Historical Society Museum
The Arts Chateau Museum

YELLOWSTONE COUNTRY REGION

Museum of the Rockies is the largest natural history museum in the region with 94,000 square feet under roof. It has a Digistar planetarium and has developed a fully interpreted Living History Farm on 11 adjacent acres.

Fly Fishing Discovery Center chronicles the history of fly-fishing with displays of rods, reels, lines, float tubes and an extensive collection of outstanding art.

Livingston Depot Center provides historic and cultural programs for the benefit of Park County residents and visitors form around the world.

Yellowstone Historic Center seeks to understand, preserve and interpret the unique cultural heritage of West Yellowstone, the Hebgen Lake Basin and their connection to the development of transportation and visitation to Yellowstone National Park.

American Computer Museum is the world's largest collections of computer and information age history anywhere on public display.

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center provides visitors an opportunity to learn about and view live grizzly bears and gray wolves.

Yellowstone Gateway Museum is home to an extensive collection of artifacts and exhibits featuring Park County, Yellowstone Park, Railroad, Pioneer, and Old West History.

RUSSELL COUNTRY REGION

Blaine County Museum tell the story the pioneering days of the cowboy, the hardships of the homestead era and follow Blaine County through two World Wars.

CM Russell Museum owns the most complete collection of Charles Russell art and personal objects in the world.

Museum of the Upper Missouri highlights the important role Fort Benton played in the settlement of the American West as a trading post, military fort and the head of steamboat navigation on the Missouri River.

Fort Benton, the 'Head of Navigation' on the Missouri River, is where fur traders, gold seekers, and homesteaders came via steamboats.

Old Trail Museum captures the rich cultural and natural history of the Rocky Mountain Front area.

MISSOURI RIVER COUNTRY REGION

Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center & Museum exhibits a cast of the Tyrannosaurus rex known as Peck's Rex, Fort Peck Dam construction history, boomtowns, and homesteading.

Other Attractions:
Valley County Pioneer Museum
Garfield County Museum
Sheridan County Museum
Phillips County Museum

NATIONAL PARKS IN MONTANA

Yellowstone National Park: Yellowstone is the first and oldest national park in the world. President Ulysses S. Grant designated this national park in 1872. A cataclysmic volcanic eruption that occurred about 640,000 years ago formed the Yellowstone National Park, which has geothermal wonders like Old Faithful. At this park you can view wildlife, try backcountry hiking, camping, horseback riding or join in a ranger-led nature walk.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK provides over one million acres of habitat and protection for a wonderful variety of wildlife and wildflowers. The geologic history of Glacier is read in the numerous exposed layers of Precambrian sedimentary rocks that are over one billion years.

LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT is the site of the June 25, 1876 battle between the US Army's seventh cavalry, guided by Crow and Arikara scouts, and several bands of Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Araphaho.

BIGHORN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA is composed of 70,000+ acres, which straddles the northern Wyoming and southern Montana borders.

GRANT-KOHRS RANCH NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE commemorates the Western cattle industry from its 1850s inception through recent times. The site is maintained today as a working ranch.

BIG HOLE NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD is a memorial to the people who fought and died here during the Nez Perce War of 1877.

LEWIS AND CLARK NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL celebrates the heroic expedition of the Corps of Discovery, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark.

THINGS TO DO

LEWIS AND CLARK NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER: The 25,000 square foot building includes 5,500 square feet of permanent exhibit hall, a 158-seat theater, an education room for hands-on activities, retail store, administrative area, and 1,600 square foot traveling exhibit hall.

THE MOSS MANSION MUSEUM captures early turn-of-the-century life as the Preston Boyd Moss family lived it.