Montana's large gold and silver mines gave rise to its nickname, the "Treasure State", and its state motto, "Oro y Plata" (Spanish for "Gold and Silver").

The legend "Big Sky Country" appeared on Montana license plates from 1967 to 1975, a reference to the unobstructed skyline in the state, which seems to overwhelm the sparse landscape at times.

Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and become a wealthy city, with approximately 50 millionaires inhabiting the area by 1888. The concentration of wealth contributed to the city's prominent, elaborate Victorian architecture. It has been the capital of Montana Territory since 1875 and the state of Montana since 1889.

Historic tribes encountered by Europeans and settlers from the United States included the Crow in the south-central area, the Cheyenne in the very southeast, the Blackfeet, Assiniboine, and Gros Ventres in the central and north-central area, and the Kootenai and Salish in the west. The smaller Pend d'Oreille and Kalispel tribes lived near Flathead Lake and the western mountains, respectively.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It took place on June 25-26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory.

Yellowstone National Park, located in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, was the first national park in the nation. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful, a highly predictable cone geyser.

More than 100,000 migrating waterfowl make Medicine Lake their warm-weather habitat, including 10,000 white pelicans with a wingspan of nine feet who migrate from the Gulf of Mexico every spring. The refuge boasts the largest pelican rookery in Montana and third largest in the nation.

At an elevation of 12,807 feet (3,904 m) above sea level, Granite Peak is the highest natural point in the state of Montana, and the tenth-highest state high point in the nation. The first ascent was made by Elers Koch, James C. Whitham, and R.T. Ferguson on August 29, 1923, after several failed attempts by others. It was the last of the state high points to be climbed.

In A River Runs Through It, the Maclean brothers grow up in Missoula, Montana with their father, a Presbyterian minister, from whom they learn a love of fly fishing for trout in the Blackfoot River.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States was at Rogers Pass near Montana's Helena National Forest. On January 20, 1954, temperatures dropped to minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The only colder temperature on record in the United States was measured in Alaska in 1971, when temperatures at Prospect Creek reached -80°F.