Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman: A Montana Historical Society Guide

Montana Place Names are as varied as its terrain. Some are predictable, no-nonsense monikers commemorating the person or family who settled there. Others are combinations, such as Wilsall for Will and Sally Jordan or Skalkaho from the Salish words skalkalen (beaver) and kalalko (green wood). Great Northern Railway officials, faced with hundreds of stations and communities to name, gave new meaning to "globe-trotting" by picking blindfolded from the globe. Hence Zurich, Dunkirk, and Malta. Native inhabitants gave names to Cut Bank Creek, Missoula, and Red Lodge. Other names are whimsical. Or puzzling. Montana places have had two, three, sometimes four different labels.

Flip through these pages and find yourself exploring Montana. The full-color map and three-way cross-references make it a cinch to find any place. This book is designed to be dog-eared and marked up, stashed in a handy place until yet another name provokes your curiosity. Consult it often while the panorama of Montana unfolds in your windshield or a friendly debate erupts at the dinner table. Each entry is a guaranteed conversation starter and a little eye-opener about Montana's rich history.