America. The United States of…
We have a lot going on here. And we always have. Since our very beginnings, we have been a busy country. As such, we are full of interesting facts.
Today, I think we should visit a few of those facts. I think I shall pick one of the fifty states. And with that, I think we should head to Montana. I have a sister and brother-in-law who live there. They seem to love it there. And I love them. I only wish they were closer.
Anyway. Back to MT.
Montana became the 41st state on November 8, 1889. Before statehood, it had been organized as the Montana Territory in 1864. Just so you know.
Its nickname is “The Treasure State.” I had not heard this before, but this comes from its tremendous mineral wealth, particularly gold, silver, and copper. Who knew?
“Big Sky Country,” however, is probably the nickname most people associate with Montana today, and I will tell you, from driving across Montana, there are some serious big skies. I don’t know how they get so big, but trust me. They are.
And there is more about Montana that is really big. It is the fourth-largest U.S. state by area, behind Alaska, Texas, and California, yet it has only a little over a million residents. Just so you know. New York City has almost nine million people. All of Montana, just one million.
Back to the “Treasure State” thing.
“There’s gold in them hills.” Apparently, there is. As mentioned, I have a sister who lives in the state. In Helena, MT. I found out that Helena became wealthy because of gold. That good bunch of gold was discovered in Last Chance Gulch in 1864. The settlement that sprang up there eventually became Helena, Montana’s capital.
I love my sister, by the way. Another thing I love about Montana is Yellowstone National Park. My favorite park in the United States. Montana contains part of Yellowstone National Park, although most of Yellowstone lies in Wyoming. Another gift of the state is Glacier National Park.
Most people know these things. Even vaguely.
But here is something interesting about MT. In 1917, a miscalculation of Montana’s population led to 40,000 men being drafted into the First World War. That was about 10% of the entire state’s population. That’s a lot. And then there is this. Approximately 1,500 Montanans died as a result of World War I, and another 2,400 or so were wounded.
That figures out to this: During World War I, Montana suffered the highest combat death rate per capita of any state in the nation. Its rate was more than three times the average of the other states.
So. There’s a little bit about our 41st state, the 4th largest in size, a state with a lot of treasure, and a big heart.
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“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountains and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters.” — John Lubbock
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“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” — Commonly attributed to Confucius; attribution uncertain
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