|
80,000,000-
60,000,000 B.C. |
Dinosaurs die off in Montana. |
|
2,000,000-
20,000 B.C. |
Series of glacial ice sheets cover
portions of Montana. |
|
15,000-
13,000 B.C. |
Asiatic people migrate over land
bridge to Montana. |
| 8,000-6,500 B.C. |
Prehistoric people develop communal
hunting techniques in Montana. |
|
6,500 B.C.-
1,500 A.D. |
Prehistoric people populate all areas
of Montana. |
| 1500 |
Europeans reach North America and
begin to displace native people. |
| 1680 |
Montana natives acquire the
horse. |
| 1720 |
Montana natives acquire the
gun. |
|
1805-1806
|
Lewis and Clark Expedition crosses and recrosses Montana. |
|
1807 |
Manuel Lisa builds first fur fort in
Montana on the Yellowstone River. |
|
1828 |
Fort Union, an American Fur Company
post, is built at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. |
|
1841
|
Father Pierre Jean de Smet
establishes St. Mary's Mission in the Bitterroot Valley. |
| 1853 |
Johnny Grant starts the first beef
herd in the Deer Lodge Valley. |
| 1857 |
First sheep ranching begins in the
Bitterroot Valley. |
| 1860 |
First steamboat reaches Fort
Benton. |
| 1862 |
Placer miners rush to gold strike on
Grasshopper Creek (Bannack). |
| 1864 |
Vigilantes hang Henry Plummer and
other "Innocents"; Congress creates Montana Territory; first newspaper,
the Montana Post, published in Virginia
City. |
| 1870 |
Open-range cattle industry begins on
Montana prairies. |
| 1872 |
Congress creates Yellowstone National
Park. |
| 1876 |
Custer's command is annihilated at
the Battle of the Little Big Horn. |
| 1877 |
Significant copper mining begins in
Butte; Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce retreat across Montana. |
| 1880 |
Utah and Northern Railroad enters
Montana. |
| 1883 |
Northern Pacific Railroad is
completed through Montana; Marcus Daly establishes the town of Anaconda
and its smelter works. |
| 1889 |
Montana joins the Union as the 41st
state. |
| 1890 |
First hydroelectric dam is built in
Great Falls. |
| 1893 |
Great Northern Railway is completed
through Montana. |
| 1894 |
Helena wins election to determine the
permanent capital of Montana. |
| 1896 |
Populism (and later, Progressivism)
becomes a significant factor in Montana politics. |
| 1902 |
Montana Capitol Building is
completed. |
| 1903 |
Amalgamated Copper Company paralyzes
the state's economy with the shut-down to force legislative relief. |
| 1909 |
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and
Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") is completed through Montana. |
| 1910 |
Congress establishes Glacier National
Park; forest fires devastate western Montana. |
| 1910-1918 |
Homesteading boom peaks on Montana's
plains. |
| 1911-1925 |
"County-busting" craze creates 25 new
Montana counties. |
| 1914 |
Montana women receive the franchise
(right to vote). |
| 1916 |
Jeanette Rankin elected the first
woman in the U.S. Congress. |
| 1917 |
Rankin votes against U.S. entry into
World War I; Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organizer Frank Little
is lynched in Butte. |
| 1919 |
First of severe agricultural
depressions (extending into the early 1940s) begins in Montana; oil is
discovered in the Cat Creek field. |
| 1921 |
Wave of bank failures begins in
Montana. |
| 1922 |
KDYS (Great Falls), Montana's first
licensed radio station, broadcasts. |
| 1923 |
Jack Dempsey-Tommy Gibbons world
heavyweight championship fight is staged in Shelby. |
| 1926 |
Montana artist Charlie Russell dies
in Great Falls. |
| 1930 |
Significant tourist industry begins
in Montana. |
| 1933 |
Construction of Fort Peck Dam begins;
scores of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps are established across
Montana. |
| 1935 |
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
begins projects in Montana; series of severe earthquakes hits central
Montana. |
| 1936 |
Rural Electrification Act (REA)
begins work in Montana. |
| 1941 |
Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin votes
against U.S. entry into World War II. |
| 1943 |
Smith Mine disaster kills 70 coal
miners. |
| 1950 |
Great Falls replaces Butte as
Montana's largest city. |
| 1951 |
Petroleum boom begins in eastern
Montana. |
| 1952 |
Mike Mansfield is elected to the U.S.
Senate for the first time. |
| 1953 |
KOOK-TV (Billings), Montana's first
licensed television station, broadcasts. |
| 1955 |
Aluminum plant begins processing in
Columbia Falls; Berkley Pit copper operation starts in Butte. |
| 1956 |
Construction of the federal
interstate highway system begins in Montana. |
| 1959 |
Severe earthquakes hit upper Madison
Valley. |
| 1961 |
Malmstrom Air Force Base (Great
Falls) becomes site of the nation's first ICBM missile command. |
| 1964 |
Congress passes the federal
Wilderness Act. |
| 1967 |
Bell Creek petroleum field is
discovered and developed; longest and costliest strike in Montana history
runs in Butte. |
| 1968 |
Yellowtail Dam is completed; work
begins on Libby Dam. |
| 1969 |
Largest-scale strip mining of coal
begins at Colstrip. |
| 1970 |
Consolidation creates the Burlington
Northern Railroad. |
| 1972 |
Montana's electorate approves new
constitution. |
| 1975 |
Underground mining ceases in
Butte. |
| 1976 |
Mike Mansfield retires from the U.S.
Senate, becomes U.S. Ambassador to Japan. |
| 1980 |
Anaconda Company announces the
closing of its Montana operations; Billings replaces Great Falls as
Montana's largest city; fallout from Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption
blankets Montana. |
| 1981 |
"Milwaukee Road" declares
bankruptcy. |
| 1982 |
Copper-mining operations cease at
Butte's Berkeley Pit. |
| 1986 |
Limited underground mining resumes in
Butte; some high-tech gold mining reopens in Montana's mountains. |
| 1987 |
Burlington Northern sells a major
portion of its Montana trackage to Montana Rail Link; last gaps in the
federal interstate highway system are completed. |
| 1988 |
U.S. and Canada initiate a Free-Trade
Agreement, directly affecting Montana's economy; Large forest fires sweep
areas of a drought-stricken Montana and Yellowstone National Park. |
| 1989 |
Montana celebrates its statehood
centennial. |
| 1990 |
Montana's timber-industry income
declines, while gains occur in tourism and specialized mining. |
| 1991 |
Riot at State Prison in Deer Lodge
results in five deaths. |
| 1992 |
As a result of the 1990 federal
census, Montana loses one of its two representatives in Congress; two
incumbents oppose each other for the remaining seat; Attorney General Marc
Racicot (R) defeats legislator Dorothy Bradley (D) for governor's
seat. |
| 1993 |
Robert Redford's film, "A River Runs
Through It," sparks increased tourism and immigration to Montana; a
generally wet summer produces record agricultural harvests. |
| 1994 |
4,500 wildfires rage across Montana,
burning 286,000 acres. |
| 1995 |
Wolves are returned to Yellowstone
National Park, where they thrive. |
| 1996 |
Montana Freeman and federal agents
involved in a standoff in eastern Montana; "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski
captured near Lincoln. |
| 1997 |
A prison-population overflow creates
a housing crisis for inmates, some sent out-of-state. |
| 1998 |
The Montana Power Company sells its
electric generating facilities to Pacific Power and Light, Global,
Inc. |
| 1999 |
As highway deaths rise, Montana
reinstitutes a daylight speed limit of 70 mph on 2-lane paved roads. |
| 2000 |
Summer wildfires scorch nearly
1,000,000 acres and raze 320 homes, mostly in the Bitterroot Valley;
19,600,000 acres of state and federal land are closed due to fire
hazard. |
| 2001 |
The Montana Legislature deregulates
the electric industry in the state; wildfires again dominate Montana's
drought-beset summer. |
