Flag of Montana
Montana’s flag is blue with the state seal in the centre and MONTANA in gold letters above it. The Montana Historical Society says the seal’s plough, pick and shovel, the Great Falls of the Missouri and the motto “Oro y Plata” (gold and silver) celebrate the state’s mining, farming and water power.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The flag is set by Montana Code Annotated 1-1-502, enacted in 1905 and amended in 1981 and 1985. It has a blue field with the great seal in the centre and gold fringe along the top and bottom edges. The law says it is the flag the 1st Montana Infantry, U.S. Volunteers, carried in the Spanish-American War, without the regiment’s name. Above the seal is the word MONTANA in gold Helvetica bold, the letters one-tenth as tall as the blue field. The seal, set out in 1-1-501 in 1893, has a plough and a miner’s pick and shovel in the centre, the Great Falls of the Missouri River on the right, mountain scenery on the left and the words “Oro y Plata” underneath, the state motto. The law gives no shades.
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Colonel Kessler’s flag
The flag began as a regiment’s colours. The Great Falls Tribune, in an article the Montana Historical Society reprints, says that in 1898 Colonel Harry Clay Kessler, raising the 1st Montana Infantry for the war against Spain, wanted something to set his men apart and carried a Montana silk flag, 152 by 112 cm (60 by 44 inches), embroidered with the state seal. It went to the Philippines in 1898 and came home in 1899. Kessler gave it to the governor, and it is now at the Montana Historical Society. The legislature made the design the state flag in 1905.
Why the name was added
The Tribune says that in 1981 Representative Mel Williams of Laurel sponsored the bill adding “Montana” above the seal, to help people pick out Montana’s flag when it flew near other, similar flags; that year Secretary of State Jim Waltermire specified the colours. In 1985 the legislature required the lettering to be in Helvetica, to end the variety of letter styles in use. Idaho’s flag, also blue with a seal, has its name below the seal on a red band.
Read next
- Next in US state flagsFlag of NevadaNevada’s flag is cobalt blue with a silver star between two sprays of sagebrush in the upper corner by the pole, NEVADA in gold beneath the star and BATTLE BORN on a gold scroll above. The Las Vegas Review-Journal says the silver star refers to the state’s mining history and “Battle Born” to its founding during the Civil War.
- The same shape in Coin gradesAG (about good)AG stands for about good: a very heavily worn coin that falls just short of good, with the rims worn into the lettering. It is a single grade on the 70-point Sheldon scale, AG 3.
More US state flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with circles, letters and numbers or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Montana Code Annotated, 1-1-502 (state flag), Montana Code Annotated 2025, 1-1-502, Montana Legislature, 1-1-502 and history line
- Montana Code Annotated, 1-1-501 (great seal), Montana Code Annotated 2025, 1-1-501, Great seal, Montana Legislature, 1-1-501 and history line
- Montana State Symbols footlocker (Montana Historical Society), Montana State Symbols, educational footlocker user guide, Montana Historical Society, Montana Historical Society, Historical narrative, p. 9; Lesson 3, pp. 31–32
- Idaho Code § 46-801, Idaho Code § 46-801, State flag, Idaho Legislature, § 46-801
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 14, 2026. How we research
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