Blank Montana map

What the outline shows

The outline is the state boundary. The north edge is the 49th parallel, straight for about 545 miles against three Canadian provinces. The east edge against the Dakotas is a straight meridian. The south edge with Wyoming is straight along the 45th parallel, but steps north at the Wyoming corner and then runs along the Yellowstone plateau. The west edge with Idaho is the crest of the Bitterroot Range and the Continental Divide, a diagonal line full of angles, then a straight meridian in the Panhandle section. Nothing is drawn inside. Press Capital to mark Helena, in the west-central part of the state and not in Billings, the largest city.

Portrait or landscape

Montana is about 550 miles east to west and 320 miles north to south. Print in landscape. In portrait the state would occupy a band across the middle of the page with more than half the sheet empty. Landscape fills the width and still leaves the Bitterroot edge, which is where students need the most room, at a workable size. If the lesson concerns the western mountains only, zoom to the area west of Great Falls, which is closer to square.

Five classroom exercises

1. Draw the Missouri River from its source at Three Forks, north past Great Falls, then east across the state to the North Dakota line.
2. Draw the Yellowstone River from Wyoming's Yellowstone plateau northeast past Billings to join the Missouri just over the North Dakota border.
3. Trace the Continental Divide along the Idaho border and then diagonally across the west of the state, marking Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park.
4. Shade the eastern two-thirds as Great Plains and the western third as Rocky Mountains, with the Rocky Mountain Front as the dividing line.
5. Place Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Butte and Helena, and note that five of the six lie in or near the mountains.

How to recognise the Montana outline

• A wide rectangle with a straight top, right and bottom edge.
• A left edge that is straight in the top part and then slants diagonally down and to the right.
• A small step in the bottom edge at the southwest corner near Yellowstone.
• Often confused with North Dakota or Wyoming; the jagged, slanting west edge tells them apart.

Answer key and related maps

• Montana map — the labeled version with capital, cities and borders; use it as the answer key.
• Printable Montana map — the same outline with cities, county lines and the capital printed on.
• Montana county map — all 56 counties with their seats.
• Helena — the capital, near the Continental Divide.
• Neighbours: North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho.
• Missouri River, Continental Divide and Rocky Mountains.
• All blank state maps and the printable US maps index.