Billings Senior High School - Kyote Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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South Entrance

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Senior Entrance

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Montana. ? . . MONTA N A, commonly known as the “Treas- ure State was from 1682 to 1762 in the possession of France. In 17b2 to 1800 it was owned by Spain and again in 1800 to 1803 it was acquired by the United States as a part of the Lou- isiana Purchase. In 1864 the territory of Montana was created, and in 1880 without any changes in territorial boundaries it was admitted to the union. The Veren- dlryts, Freni h explorer» and fur traders from Canada, were the first white men to set foot on Montana. They came in 1743 within sight of the Big Horn mountains in what is now southeastern Montana. Captains Lewis and Clark, sent out by the government to make a recon- naissance of the northwest, were the next white men to visit Montana. 'I hey crossed the state from east to west in 1805, retracting their way from the Pacific the following year. A period of fur trading activities by adventurous whites followed. Gold discoveries brought the first great influx of whites in 1861, since which time the state has produced approximately $2,500,000,000 in mineral wealth. For many years after the first invasion by the white men the country remained in control of the Indians, while the vast herds of buffalo roamed the prairies, and the mountainous sections were alive with bear, elk. and other wild game. Agriculture and stock raising, which had its real reception with the coming of the gold seekers, grad- ually gained a foothold, and for many years Montana was one of the great range states. Wheat, which was regarded with indifference during the state’s early develop- ment, became an important product during the homesteading period of the first decade d the twentieth century. Now the state stands third in production. Fifty years ago Montana’s population aggre- gated 20,000. Today it is approximately 570.000, still less than one-half percent of the nation’s total, while the state’s area is 146.097 square miles, about five percent of th. land area of the entire country. In 1883 the first railroad line was completed across the state by the North- ern Pacific railway. Now the state is traversed by three great transcontinental rail- . the State of Opportunity Billings Air Transport Field