1.
Montana
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Montana /mɒnˈtænə/ is a state in the Western region of the United States. The states name is derived from the Spanish word montaña, Montana has several nicknames, although none official, including Big Sky Country and The Treasure State, and slogans that include Land of the Shining Mountains and more recently The Last Best Place. Montana has a 545-mile border with three Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, the state to do so. It also borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, Montana is ranked 4th in size, but 44th in population and 48th in population density of the 50 United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges, smaller island ranges are found throughout the state. In total,77 named ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains, the eastern half of Montana is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands. The economy is based on agriculture, including ranching and cereal grain farming. Other significant economic activities include oil, gas, coal and hard rock mining, lumber, the health care, service, and government sectors also are significant to the states economy. Millions of tourists annually visit Glacier National Park, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the name Montana comes from the Spanish word Montaña and the Latin word Montana, meaning mountain, or more broadly, mountainous country. Montaña del Norte was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the mountainous region of the west. The name was changed by Representatives Henry Wilson and Benjamin F. Harding, when Ashley presented a bill to establish a temporary government in 1864 for a new territory to be carved out of Idaho, he again chose Montana Territory. This time Rep. Samuel Cox, also of Ohio, objected to the name, Cox complained that the name was a misnomer given most of the territory was not mountainous and that a Native American name would be more appropriate than a Spanish one. Other names such as Shoshone were suggested, but it was decided that the Committee on Territories could name it whatever they wanted, with an area of 147,040 square miles, Montana is slightly larger than Japan. It is the fourth largest state in the United States after Alaska, Texas, and California, the largest landlocked U. S. state, and the worlds 56th largest national state/province subdivision. To the north, Montana shares a 545-mile border with three Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, the state to do so. It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, the states topography is roughly defined by the Continental Divide, which splits much of the state into distinct eastern and western regions. Most of Montanas 100 or more named mountain ranges are in the western half. The Absaroka and Beartooth ranges in the states south-central part are part of the Central Rocky Mountains
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
James Madison
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James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the Father of the Constitution for his role in drafting and promoting the United States Constitution. Madison inherited his plantation Montpelier in Virginia and therewith owned hundreds of slaves during his lifetime and he served as both a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and as a member of the Continental Congress prior to the Constitutional Convention. After the Convention, he one of the leaders in the movement to ratify the Constitution. His collaboration with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay produced The Federalist Papers, Madisons political views changed throughout his life. During deliberations on the Constitution, he favored a national government. In 1789, Madison became a leader in the new House of Representatives and he is noted for drafting the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and thus is known also as the Father of the Bill of Rights. He worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government, breaking with Hamilton and the Federalist Party in 1791, he and Thomas Jefferson organized the Democratic-Republican Party. In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Jefferson and Madison drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, as Jeffersons Secretary of State, Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nations size. Madison succeeded Jefferson as president in 1809, was re-elected in 1813, after the failure of diplomatic protests and a trade embargo against the United Kingdom, he led the U. S. into the War of 1812. The war was a morass, as the United States had neither a strong army nor financial system. As a result, Madison afterward supported a national government and military, as well as the national bank. Madison has been ranked in the aggregate by historians as the ninth most successful president, James Madison, Jr. was born on March 16,1751, at Belle Grove Plantation near Port Conway, Virginia, to father James Madison, Sr. and mother Nelly Conway Madison. He grew up as the oldest of twelve children, Nelly and James Sr. had seven more boys and four girls. Three of James Jr. s brothers died as infants, including one who was stillborn, in the summer of 1775, his sister Elizabeth and his brother Reuben died from a dysentery epidemic that swept through Orange County because of contaminated water. His father, James Madison, Sr. was a planter who grew up on a plantation, then called Mount Pleasant. He later acquired more property and slaves, and with 5,000 acres, he became the largest landowner, James Jr. s mother, Nelly Conway Madison, was born at Port Conway, the daughter of a prominent planter and tobacco merchant. In these years, the colonies were becoming a slave society, in which slave labor powered the economy
4.
County seat
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A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in the United States, Canada, Romania, China, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, county towns have a similar function. In the United States, counties are the subdivisions of a state. Depending on the state, counties may provide services to the public, impose taxes. Some types of subdivisions, such as townships, may be incorporated or unincorporated. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its respective county, a county seat is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia, likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township, in some of the colonial states, county seats include or formerly included Court House as part of their name. Most counties have only one county seat, an example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult, there have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride for the towns involved. There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states, Coffee County, for example, the official county seat is Greensboro, but an additional courthouse has been located in nearby High Point since 1938. For example, Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, in New England, the town, not the county, is the primary division of local government. Historically, counties in this region have served mainly as dividing lines for the judicial systems. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no county level of government and thus no county seats, in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine the county seats are legally designated shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff, both located in the shire town. Bennington County has two towns, but the Sheriff is located in Bennington. In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town governments. As such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, two counties in South Dakota have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county
5.
Virginia City, Montana
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Virginia City is a town in and the county seat of Madison County, Montana, United States. In 1961 the town and the area were designated a National Historic Landmark District. The population was 190 at the 2010 census, in May 1863, a group of prospectors was headed toward the Yellowstone River and instead came upon a party of the Crow tribe and was forced to return to Bannack. On May 26,1863, Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar discovered gold near Alder Creek, the prospectors could not keep the site a secret and were followed on their return to the gold bearing site. A mining district was set up in order to formulate rules about individual gold claims, on June 16,1863 under the name of Verina the township was formed a mile south of the gold fields. The name was intended to honor Varina Howell Davis, the first, Verina, although in Union territory, was founded by men whose loyalties were thoroughly Confederate. Upon registration of the name, a Connecticut judge, G. G. Bissell, objected to their choice, within weeks Virginia City was a boomtown of thousands of prospectors and fortune seekers in the midst of a gold rush. The remote region of the Idaho Territory was without law enforcement or justice system with the exception of miners courts, road agents as they became known were ultimately responsible for up to 100 deaths in the region in 1863 and 1864. This resulted in the formation of the Vigilance committee of Alder Gulch, up to 15 road agents were hanged by the vigilantes in December 1863 and January 1864, including the sheriff of Bannack, Montana and alleged leader of the road agent gang, Henry Plummer. The Montana Territory was organized out of the existing Idaho Territory by Act of Congress, although Bannack was the first territorial capital, the territorial legislature moved the capital to Virginia City on February 7,1865. It remained the capital until April 19,1875 when it moved to Helena, Montana, thomas Dimsdale began publication of Montanas first newspaper, the Montana Post, in Virginia City on August 27,1864. Montanas first public school was established in Virginia City in March 1866, in the 1940s, Charles and Sue Bovey began buying the town, putting much needed maintenance into failing structures. The ghost town of Virginia City began to be restored for tourism in the 1950s, most of the city is now owned by the state government and is a National Historic Landmark operated as an open-air museum. Of the nearly three hundred structures in town, almost half were built prior to 1900, buildings in their original condition with Old West period displays and information plaques stand next to thoroughly modern diners and other amenities. The Historic District of Virginia City and Nevada City is currently operated by the Montana Historic Commission and is the top state-owned tourist attraction in Montana, the Commission operates gold panning, a historic hotel, and the longest continuously operating live summer theater company in the western United States. Virginia City also has a Boothill Cemetery, there is also the 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge Alder Gulch Short Line Railroad, which transports passengers by rail to the nearby ghost town of Nevada City, Montana, and back. Sarah Bickford, African American businesswoman, owned a utility company, john Bozeman, prospector, merchant, founder of Bozeman, Montana and Bozeman Trail. Calamity Jane lived here for some time, helen M. Duncan, geologist and paleontologist, grew up in Virginia City
6.
Ennis, Montana
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Ennis is a town in Madison County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 838 at the 2010 census, the elevation of Ennis is 4,941 feet above sea level. U. S. Route 287 runs through town, following the Madison River as it descends from West Yellowstone, the town is flanked by Tobacco Root Mountains to the northwest, the Gravelly Range to the southwest and the Madison Range to the east. Approximately 12 miles north of town, the Madison Dam creates Ennis Lake at the head of Bear Trap Canyon. A large E has been placed in a hill west of the town at this location,45. 3505°N111. 7478°W /45.3505, prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Shoshone, Flathead, and Bannock tribes hunted the Madison Valley each spring. The Lewis and Clark Expedition viewed the Madison Valley in July 1805 from Three Forks, in 1863, gold was discovered in Alder Gulch. Two months later, William Ennis homesteaded the site along the Madison River that was soon to become the town of Ennis, his namesake, in 1886 a mystery creature was noted for making livestock kills in the Madison Valley. A local rancher Israel Ammon Hutchins finally shot & killed the beast, after shooting one of his cattle. A local taxidermist stuffed the canine, jack Kirby tracked the mount to a Museum in Pocatello, Idaho, around 2007. Avid Aircraft, a manufacturer of aircraft, was located in Ennis. The company ceased operations in 2003, the Thexton Ranch is located about 7 miles south of Ennis, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 0.79 square miles. As of the census of 2010, there were 838 people,416 households, the population density was 1,074.4 inhabitants per square mile. There were 527 housing units at a density of 675.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 96. 9% White,0. 1% African American,0. 8% Native American,0. 2% Asian,0. 5% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 9% of the population. 42. 5% of all households were made up of individuals and 20. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 1.91 and the average family size was 2.60. The median age in the town was 49.8 years. 15. 8% of residents were under the age of 18, 6% were between the ages of 18 and 24,22. 2% were from 25 to 44,30. 7% were from 45 to 64, and 25. 3% were 65 years of age or older
7.
United States Census Bureau
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The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureaus primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, in addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, and the Current Population Survey, furthermore, economic and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. The Bureaus various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and help states, local communities, the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States. The Census Bureau now conducts a population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections, the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations, the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureaus legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code, the Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as surveys and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts surveys of manufacturing, retail, service. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts, the Census Act of 1840 established a central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals, in 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years, in 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code, by law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are widely used. for data collection, the Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information, all Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government, only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public
8.
Montana's at-large congressional district
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Montana is represented in the US House of Representatives by one at-large congressional district. The district is the largest congressional district by population with just over 1 million constituents and it is also the third largest by size, after Alaskas at-large congressional district. President George W. Bush won Montana in the 2004 Presidential election with 59. 1% of the vote, beating John Kerry by 20 percentage points, in 2016, Donald Trump won by over 20%, while Ryan Zinke won Montanas single congressional seat by over 16%. From statehood in 1889, until the creation of districts in 1919. From 1913 to 1919, in fact, there were two seats, still elected at-large, in the reapportionment following the 1990 census Montana lost one of its two seats, and its remaining member was again elected at-large. Election results from presidential races are shown below, the following are official results from the general elections. 2004 Election results for Montana At Large Congressional district Martis, Kenneth C, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts, Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
9.
Time in the United States
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The time zone boundaries and DST observance are regulated by the Department of Transportation. The clocks run by these services are synchronized with each other as well as with those of other international timekeeping organizations. It is the combination of the zone and daylight saving rules, along with the timekeeping services. The use of solar time became increasingly awkward as railways. American railroads maintained many different time zones during the late 1800s, each train station set its own clock making it difficult to coordinate train schedules and confusing passengers. Time calculation became a problem for people travelling by train. Every city in the United States used a different time standard so there were more than 300 local sun times to choose from, Time zones were therefore a compromise, relaxing the complex geographic dependence while still allowing local time to be approximate with mean solar time. Railroad managers tried to address the problem by establishing 100 railroad time zones, operators of the new railroad lines needed a new time plan that would offer a uniform train schedule for departures and arrivals. Four standard time zones for the continental United States were introduced at noon on November 18,1883, the conference therefore established the Greenwich Meridian as the prime meridian and Greenwich Mean Time as the worlds time standard. The US time-zone system grew from this, in all zones referred back to GMT on the prime meridian. It is, within about 1 second, mean time at 0°. It does not observe daylight saving time and it is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, standard time zones in the United States are currently defined at the federal level by law 15 USC §260. The federal law establishes the transition dates and times at which daylight saving time occurs. As of August 9,2007, the time zones are defined in terms of hourly offsets from UTC. Prior to this they were based upon the solar time at several meridians 15° apart west of Greenwich. Only the full-time zone names listed below are official, abbreviations are by common use conventions, the United States uses nine standard time zones. The Central standard time zone, which comprises roughly the Gulf Coast, Mississippi Valley, the Mountain standard time zone, which comprises roughly the states that include the Rocky Mountains
10.
Mountain Time Zone
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The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time at the 105th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. In the United States, the specification for the location of time zones. In the United States and Canada, this zone is generically called Mountain Time. Specifically, it is Mountain Standard Time when observing standard time, the term refers to the fact that the Rocky Mountains, which range from northwestern Canada to the US state of New Mexico, are located almost entirely in the time zone. In Mexico, this zone is known as the Pacific Zone. In the United States and Canada, the Mountain Time Zone is one ahead of the Pacific Time Zone and one hour behind the Central Time Zone. Sonora in Mexico and most of Arizona in the United States do not observe daylight saving time, and during the spring, summer, and autumn months they are on the same time as Pacific Daylight Time. The Navajo Nation, most of which lies within Arizona, does observe DST, although the Hopi Nation, as well as some Arizona state offices lying within the Navajo Nation, the largest city in the Mountain Time Zone is Phoenix, Arizona. TV broadcasting in the Mountain Time Zone is typically tape-delayed one hour, sonora – no daylight saving time, always on MST. Sinaloa Revillagigedo Islands, three of the four islands have the time as Mountain Time Zone, Isla Socorro, San Benedicto Island. The following states or areas are part of the Mountain Time Zone, Arizona – no daylight saving time, always on MST, except on the Navajo Nation. Colorado Idaho – southern half, south of the Salmon River Kansas – only the counties of Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton, the remaining three counties that border Colorado, Cheyenne, Morton and Stanton, observe Central Time, as do all other Kansas counties. However, the state of Oklahoma is officially in the Central Time Zone. Additionally, northwestern Culberson County, Texas unofficially observes Mountain Time
Madison County, Montana
