Montana Historical Society

Big Sky ~ Big History

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The Great Montana History Exam — Answers

PART I: Fill-in-the-blank

  1. The Gallatin, the Madison, and the Jefferson
  2. 70 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), at Rogers Pass (west of Great Falls), on January 20, 1954
  3. Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens
  4. Cinnabar, at the end of the Northern Pacific line, while Roosevelt visited Yellowstone Park
  5. St. Mary's Mission at Stevensville, established in 1841
  6. Harold C. Urey received the award in 1934
  7. Bannack, Virginia City, and Helena.
  8. "Stay Away Joe," written by Dan Cushman
  9. On July 4, 1923, Dempsey won a decision over Gibbons in the 15-round bout
  10. Thomas Francis Meagher
  11. Butte, America
  12. Belle Fligelman Winestine
  13. Virginia City, in 1864
  14. Mel Ruder of the (Columbia Falls) Hungry Horse News
  15. "The Cattle Queen of Montana"
  16. The "Flathead Lake Monster" lives in that western Montana lake
  17. 1935
  18. Thomas J. Walsh
  19. In 1894 Helena defeated Anaconda for the victory
  20. Isaac "Ike" Gravelle, "Montana's First Unabomber"
  21. In order, Alaska, Texas, and California
  22. "Gold and silver"
  23. Mike Mansfield
  24. North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan
  25. Helen Piotopowaka Clarke
  26. The Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Hudson's Bay/the Arctic Ocean
  27. 1914
  28. The Blackfeet, Rocky Boy's, Fort Belknap, Fort Peck, Northern Cheyenne, Crow, and Flathead
  29. Fort Peck, Yellowtail, and Libby, with a lesser nod to Canyon Ferry
  30. 1805 and 1806
  31. Dave McNally
  32. West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Cooke City
  33. A. B. "Bud" Guthrie, Jr.
  34. Browning
  35. The Lewis and Clark Caverns/Morrison Caves
  36. Black Eagle, Rainbow, Cochrane, Ryan, and Morony
  37. "Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross' Hole"
  38. Ponderosa pine
  39. Deer Lodge
  40. 1889: Preston H. Leslie, Benjamin F. White, and Joseph K. Toole

PART II: Matching (41-50)

Community County
Angela ROSEBUD
Laurin MADISON
Hogeland BLAINE
Warren CARBON
Mill Iron CARTER
Polebridge FLATHEAD
Maxville GRANITE
Danvers FERGUS
Ferdig TOOLE
Sula RAVALLI
   

 


PART III:Multiple Choice

51. a

52. d

53. b

54. d

55. b

56. c

57. a

58. d

59. c

60. b

61. b

62. a

63. d

64. c

65. c

66. d

67. a

68. c

69. d

70. b


PART IV: Essay (71-75)

An excellent (5-point) essay would discuss most, if not all, of the following points.

  • The way the "boom" involved both western/central Montana forest-reserve homesteads as well as central/eastern Montana high-plain, prairie homesteads
  • The "boom's" reliance on:
  1. liberalized federal land legislation
  2. the lure of "free land"
  3. new agricultural technologies
  4. a cycle of unusually wet years
  5. the boosterism of railroads, land promoters, and the state
  6. lucrative international livestock and grain markets driven by World War I
  • The proliferation of homestead towns and new counties across the state
  • The change in Montana society from Old West liberal, individualistic, Democrat, and Catholic to conservative, Republican, Protestant, and moralistic
  • The long-term implications of dryland farming on lands best suited for livestock grazing
  • The end of Montana's "frontier process"
  • The beginning of the century-long decline in Montana's agricultural population

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