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Geographical Overview
Home » » Montana: Overview and History » Geographical OverviewMontana is the fourth-largest state, at 147,046 square miles. About one-third of this area, the western third, is mountainous; and the state's name comes from the Spanish word for mountain, "montaña." Montana is home to around two dozen different ranges, most of them in the Rocky Mountain system. Helena, Montana's capital, is also in the western part of the state. In central Montana, the mountains meet the plains, which in turn stretch out across the rest of the state -- and over the surface of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Montana’s high altitudes ascend above 12,000 feet in the Rockies, and Granite Peak is the highest at 12,799 feet. The eastern plains roll between 2000 and 3000 feet above sea level. The lowest point in the state, at the Kootenai River in the upper northwest, is 1,800 feet.
The plains of eastern Montana support a strong livestock industry, and in the state overall, cows outnumber people by a ratio of three to one. Elk, antelope, and deer populations also outnumber humans. Montana has 22 million acres of forests, 370 miles of rivers, and about 600 miles of trout streams.
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