The first people came to the area that’s now Montana at least 12,600 years ago. Thousands of years later Native American tribes, including Crow, Cheyenne, Blackfeet, and Kalispel lived on the land. Montana was made a U.S. territory in 1864 and In 1889 it became a state. Gold and silver deposits were mined from the Montana mountains as early as the 1800s, earning the state its nickname, the Treasure State. Montana is bordered by Canada in the north, North Dakota and South Dakota in the east, Wyoming and Idaho in the south, and Idaho in the west. Montana’s wildlife is very diverse. Its mountains are home to grizzly and black bears, bighorn sheep, gray wolves, and bison. Animals that live on the plains include pronghorn, coyotes, and badgers. Bald eagles, golden eagles, red-winged blackbirds, and mountain bluebirds soar throughout Montana’s skies. Check the ground for reptiles such as alligator lizards, skinks, and venomous vipers. Amphibians like chorus frogs, giant salamanders, and newts also call Montana home. Plant life changes dramatically as you cross from the mountains to the plains. The Rockies have forests of spruce, firs, and pines. The state’s flowers include Woods’ rose, twin flower, and a yellow daisy-like bloom called arnica. In the plains the majority of plants are grasses and shrubs such as plains prickly pear and rubber rabbitbrush. Montana’s top natural resources were once copper, gold, silver, and sapphires. People still mine for precious rocks and metals here but now, one of the state’s most valuable resources is petroleum. The state is also the world’s leading producer of talc, a mineral used in cosmetics.