A: A pick, a plow and a shovel.
Q: Which state has the highest recorded temperature: Florida, Hawaii, or Montana?
A: Montana at 117 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to 109 for Florida and 100 for Hawaii.
Q: What percentage of Montana land does the federal government own?
A: 29.5 percent.
Q: How many ferries still cross the Missouri River at remote locations where there is no bridge?
A: Three: Virgelle, Carter, and McClelland.
Q: Where would you find the only platinum mine in the U.S. along with the country’s largest deposits of chrome?
A: South of Big Timber in the Stillwater complex.
Q: When a rare mineral called armalcolite was found in Garfield County, where was the only other place the mineral had ever been discovered?
A: Armalcolite, named for Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins, was previously only found in Tranquility Base on the Moon. (It has since been found in other places).
Q: Vermiculite, which was mined at Libby, is named after what?
A: Vermin, because it looks wormy (from the Latin vermiculus meaning full of worms).
Q: Bentonite was dumped into what nuclear reactor to detoxify the radiation after an accidental meltdown?
A: Chernobyl.
Q: What is the orgin of bentonite, also known as fuller’s earth?
A: Mineralized mud made of ancient volcanic ash.
