Included within Montana’s boundaries are parts of two of North America’s major physiographic provinces, or natural regions. First is the Rocky Mountains, of which there are two subdivisions in Montana, the Northern Rocky Mountains and the Middle Rocky Mountains. The second natural region, the Interior Plains, is represented in a section of the Great Plains lying in eastern Montana. The Rocky Mountains in Montana, which cover the state’s western third, extend in a belt about 300 km (about 200 mi) wide from the Canadian border to the Wyoming border. In several places east of this line isolated groups of low mountains rise above the general level of the plains.

Montana’s Northern Rocky Mountain province varies topographically. The majority of this spectacular natural region is classified as open mountains, a globally distinctive and very rare setting with high detached mountain ranges separated by broad, smooth-floored valleys. These valleys range from about 900 to 1,500 m (about 3,000 to 5,000 ft) above sea level and are ringed by mountains that rise to elevations of 2,400 to 3,000 m (8,000 to 10,000 ft). Important valleys in this region include the Flathead, Bitterroot, Deer Lodge, Helena (or Prickly Pear), Beaverhead, Big Hole, Madison, and Gallatin. The surrounding highlands include the Beaverhead Mountains, Mission Range, Tobacco Root Mountains, Bridger Range, Big Belt Mountains, and Crazy Mountains.

The two prongs of Montana’s Columbia Rockies, which include the highlands along the Montana-Idaho border from the Bitterroot Valley northward, and east of Flathead Lake, Glacier National Park, and the adjacent highlands on the south, contain classic mountain landscape. Here, individual ranges usually are closely spaced with narrow and restricted valleys. The Cabinet Mountains, Purcell Mountains, Whitefish, and Flathead ranges and the Lewis and Swan ranges are some of the landmark highlands within this rugged section of Montana’s Northern Rockies. Interestingly, this mountain-dominated region claims the state’s lowest elevation of 550 m (1,800 ft) above sea level, where the Kootenai River flows into Idaho.

The small section of the Middle Rocky Mountains in Montana consists of the high and rugged Absaroka and Beartooth ranges north of Yellowstone National Park. Within this province is Montana’s highest elevation, 3,901 m (12,799 ft), at Granite Peak.

Many Montana highlands were glaciated during the Pleistocene Epoch (2.5 million to 10,000 years ago). The sharpened alpine glacial landforms conspicuous in the crest areas of these mountains are best developed in Glacier National Park.

The eastern two-thirds of Montana is part of the Great Plains. This region, known as the Missouri Plateau, is divided into two segments, the glaciated section in the north and the unglaciated section in the south. Both sections are generally flat or gently rolling, but the glaciated north has numerous lakes while the unglaciated south is somewhat drier and smoother. The general elevation of the Great Plains decreases from about 1,200 m (about 4,000 ft) at the edge of the mountains in the west to about 600 m (about 2,000 ft) near the eastern boundary, although the descent is so gradual that it is scarcely noticeable. Rising above the plains surface are several prominent Rocky Mountain outliers, the Sweetgrass Hills, the Bear Paw Mountains, the Little Rockies, the Highwood Mountains, the Judith Mountains, and the Little Snowy and Big Snowy mountains.

Over thousands of years, most of the streams and rivers of eastern Montana have cut valleys below the level of the plains. Along the middle Missouri River and in the southeastern section, an irregular badland topography was cut by water and wind erosion.

Montana’s two main river systems are the Missouri River and its tributaries, which flow east to the Mississippi River, and tributaries of the Columbia River, which flow west into the Pacific Ocean.

Trending southward across the western part of Montana, the Continental Divide separates the state’s two major watersheds. West of this continental backbone are the Clark Fork and the Kootenai River, important tributaries of the Columbia River. The Clark Fork originates within Montana and has as its primary tributaries the Flathead, Blackfoot, and Bitterroot rivers. The Kootenai River rises in Canada and traverses a small area in northwestern Montana.

The Missouri and its major tributary, the Yellowstone River, are the principal rivers in eastern Montana. The Missouri begins at the confluence of the Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson rivers, near the town of Three Forks. Other tributaries below Three Forks include the Sun, Teton, Marias, Smith, Judith, Musselshell, and Milk rivers. The Yellowstone rises south of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, flows north into Montana and diagonally across the southeastern part of the state before joining the Missouri in North Dakota just east of the state border. Main tributaries are the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone, the Bighorn, the Tongue, and the Powder rivers, all of which also originate in Wyoming.

A tiny area of Montana is drained by the Belly and Saint Mary rivers, which, rising in Glacier National Park, flow northeast out of the state and into the Saskatchewan River in Canada. Their waters eventually reach Hudson Bay.

Montana has numerous lakes and reservoirs. Most of the natural lakes are in the mountains of the western third of the state. Flathead Lake, with an area of 495 sq km (191 sq mi), is Montana’s largest lake, and the largest natural freshwater lake in the contiguous states west of the Mississippi River.

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Official Website for the State of Montana