MONTANA HISTORY PORTAL

The trans-continental Northern Pacific railroad completed its route between Rock Creek, Montana and Missoula, Montana in June of 1883. This accomplishment triggered a chain reaction that position...

The primary railroad lines that became central to the story of Montana in the 19th century were the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific (Milwau...

During the winter of 1862, a Georgian entrepreneur named John Merian Bozeman discovered a shortcut to the Montana gold fields that would transform regional transportation in the Rocky Mountains, ...

A collection of photographs documenting the 1988 Yellowstone Fires which burned nearly 800,000 acres in and around Yellowstone National Park throughout the summer of 1988. These photos are primar...

What happens when a prison system is built without women in mind? Between 1878 and 1979, nearly 200 women were incarcerated at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. Confined to improvised buildi...

Every Autumn, parts of Montana's hillsides turn golden. This yearly transformation is attributed to certain trees' preparation for winter. The artists who paint this landscape: the larch trees, w...

These photographs were used by the United States Forest Service in publications, to illustrate policy decisions, record scientific experiments and document natural disasters like fire and earthqu...