Missoula

Sister cities

• Palmerston North
• Neckargemünd

History

Archaeological artifacts date the earliest inhabitants of the Missoula Valley to , with settlements as early as . From the 1700s until the 1850s, those who used the land were primarily the Salish, Kootenai, Pend d'Oreille, Blackfeet, and Shoshone people. Located at the confluence of five mountain valleys, the Missoula Valley was heavily traversed by local and distant native tribes that periodically went to the Eastern Montana plains in search of bison. This led to conflicts. The narrow valley at Missoula's eastern entrance was so strewn with human bones from repeated ambushes that French fur trappers later referred to this area as , translated as "". would remain the name of the area until it was renamed "Missoula" in 1866. The Lewis and Clark Expedition brought the first U.S. citizens to the area. They twice stopped just south of Missoula at Traveler's Rest. They camped there the first time on their westbound trip in September 1805. When they stayed there again, on their return in June–July 1806, Clark left heading south along the Bitterroot River and Lewis traveled north, then east, through Hellgate Canyon. In 1860, Village was established west of present-day downtown by Christopher P. Higgins and Frank Worden as a trading post to serve travelers on the recently completed Mullan Road, the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the inland of the Pacific Northwest. The Missoula Mills replaced Village as the economic power of the valley and replaced it as the county seat in 1866. The name "Missoula" came from the Salish name for the Clark Fork River, , which roughly translates as "place of frozen water". Fort Missoula was established in 1877 to help protect further arriving settlers. Growth accelerated with the arrival of the Northern Pacific…

Geography

Missoula is located at the western edge of Montana, less than from the Idaho border as the crow flies. By highway it is south of Kalispell, northwest of Butte and southeast of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The city is at an elevation of above sea level, with nearby Mount Sentinel and Mount Jumbo steeply rising to and , respectively. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.54%) is water. At the location of present-day University of Montana, the lake once had a depth of . The Clark Fork River enters the Missoula Valley from the east through Hellgate Canyon after joining the Blackfoot River east of downtown, at the site of the former Milltown Dam. The Bitterroot River and multiple smaller tributaries join the Clark Fork on the western edge of Missoula. The city also sits at the convergence of five mountain ranges: the Bitterroot Mountains, Sapphire Range, Garnet Range, Rattlesnake Mountains, and the Reservation Divide, and thus is often described as being the "hub of five valleys". * Bonner-West Riverside * Clinton * East Missoula * Evaro * Frenchtown * Lolo * Orchard Homes * Piltzville * Turah * Twin Creeks * Wye Located in the Northern Rockies, Missoula has a typical Rocky Mountain ecology. Local wildlife includes populations of white-tailed deer, moose, grizzly bears, black bears, osprey, and bald eagles. During the winter, rapid snowmelt on Mount Jumbo due to its steep slope leaves grass available for grazing elk and mule deer. The rivers around Missoula provide nesting habitats for bank swallows, northern rough-winged swallows, and belted kingfishers. Killdeer and spotted sandpipers can be seen foraging for insects along the gravel bars. Other species include song sparrows, catbirds, several species of…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,166
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  19,471
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  16,344
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  16,123
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  12,463
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  11,756
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  11,705
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  11,191

Largest nearby schools

• Sentinel High School
  High · Missoula · 1,378 students · 16.4:1 ratio
• Hellgate High School
  High · Missoula · 1,304 students · 14.2:1 ratio
• Big Sky High School
  High · Missoula · 1,186 students · 14:1 ratio
• Washington Middle School
  Middle · Missoula · 663 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• Porter Middle School
  Middle · Missoula · 579 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Hellgate El Intermediate
  Middle · Missoula · 520 students · 20:1 ratio
• Meadow Hill Middle School
  Middle · Missoula · 472 students · 15.7:1 ratio
• Paxson School
  Elementary · Missoula · 463 students · 17.1:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2026-01-19
  13 km ESE of Kicking Horse, Montana
• M 3.1 — 2025-12-01
  27 km NE of Seeley Lake, Montana
• M 2.9 — 2025-08-15
  22 km WSW of Ovando, Montana
• M 2.5 — 2025-04-17
  42 km NNE of Ovando, Montana
• M 2.7 — 2024-11-08
  6 km SSE of Seeley Lake, Montana
• M 3.5 — 2024-09-01
  32 km NE of Seeley Lake, Montana