mt turns 115

as a state at least. montana become the 41st state 115 years ago this month. after two decades and three constitutional conventions, mt finally achieved statehood following the passage of the enabling act of 1889, which split the dakotas, and allowed montana, washington, north dakota, and south dakota to enter the union. mt's population was 110,000 then. a century later, it's grown to a whooping 910,000.

according to the new york times (as quoted by the billings gazette):

There is little or nothing moderate about Montana, the fourth-largest state, stretching 650 miles across the northern plains and the Rockies, a region beautiful and grim, parched, windbeaten, lonely under its big sky and in its seemingly infinite distances. It is indeed an uncommon land.

i can't say i disagree.