WILD HORSE PLAINS MONTANA

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You slide the logs down those 2 X 4s, so the whole thing is tongue-and-grooved. Next, you take your chain saw in between the logs and knock all the knots and warped spots out until the logs fit totally flat. Then you lift them up, put a little layer of insulation in there, and keep doing that. As the logs dry, they settle down, because they're tongueandgrooved on the ends. As a result, there are no gaps. The walls aren't chinked or anything. I've lived in the cabin six years now, and it's as tight as you'd ever want."

His friends still recall with a little awe that Jim was putting on his cabin's roof on Christmas Eve by the light of a Coleman lantern. The fact that he wasn't miserable in the tent that served as his temporary home says a lot for the climate here. "The winters in Paradise Plains aren't as hard as they are in my home in Ohio, but nobody back there can understand that," he laughs. "I'm always getting a letter from my mom or sisters saying, `Oh, you poor thing! We hear on the weather report that Montana is really getting it!' And, golly, it's nice here. It's real good weather."

Paradise has a population of 200, "if you count dogs and cats."

He'd eventually like to make his living as a blacksmith, and already forges utilitarian objects, such as fire pokers and candlestick holders, that are small works of art. In the meantime, he contracts as a horse logger in areas the Forest Service doesn't want to spoil by bringing in heave logging equipment.

Re cently, he's also been foreman of a tree planting business owned by his friend, Doreen. The two of them have bought another 75 acres in Eagle Valley on the other side of Paradise, which Jim intends to farm with horses.

"Jim's place is at 4,500 feet. It's a lot colder there than in Paradise, which is at 2,500 feet," explains Doreen. After commuting between her home in Oregon and Montana for a couple of years, she moved to Paradise permanently two years ago. "Down at river level we can grow fruits and berries and have a good garden. Most people would be amazed at the things you can grow here!" I certainly was. And even though during most years it's necessary to irrigate, wells usually come in at about 45 feet.

Snow Country Apricots

In this warm, fertile valley, the last spring frost occurs about the end of May and the first fall frost about the first of October. When I was there in mid-May, flowers, including the lilacs that surround almost every house, were in full bloom—only about two weeks behind those around my western North Carolina home. In addition, this far north, the summer days are long. It doesn't get dark until around 10:00 at night, giving plants a lot of light to grow by. Though most farmers in this region grow hay, oats, barley and alfalfa, as they have for decades, some residents think that the sandy loam in the lower parts of the valley should be utilized in other ways. Even now, 20 varieties of apples, five varieties of plums, three varieties of pie cherries and two varieties each of apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and grapes thrive near Paradise.

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