WILD HORSE PLAINS MONTANA

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Such openness puts some newcomers off: But, in fact, we're all newcomers. The first white family didn't arrive until 1870, so nobody goes back more than three generations. And like all those early settlers, we welcome new faces." Plains is an especially congenial family oriented town.

"It seems like everyone in Plains has three children," Doreen remarked. "The town has a very good school system and is particular ly proud of its basketball team, though the football team isn't much to brag about." "I guess the kids are just too relaxed to produce the competitive energy it takes to make a good football team," Mary Lynn concluded. "But that applies to adults, too.

Nobody comes to this area to make big bucks." With plenty of fish and game, and a good garden, you might not need a lot of money. Certainly, land is a bargain. Jim and Doreen's 75 acres of farm and woodlands, with a burned-down homesite, electric lines and a road already in, cost $45,000.

Higher in the mountains, where the land is rocky, I saw a three-room cabin with a wind generator and 40 acres that could have been picked up for around $25,000. Generally speaking, a nice one-acre lot goes for $7,000 to $10,000; 10 acres of good farmland from $1,000 to $2,000 per acre; 20 to 40 acres from $300 to $750 per acre; and 400 acres of semiarid pastureland can be found for as low as $83 an acre. For a 10- to 15-yearold house with seven to 10 acres, count on paying from $45,000 to $65,000. Not only is land reasonable, but there seems to be plenty of property for sale, which is surprising if you consider that out of the 1,791,360 acres that make up Sanders County, 922,688 acres are federal land, 62,801 acres are owned by the State, and 227,075 acres belong to the Indians.

Reasonably priced rentals are readily available, too. "That's because a lot of people can't make a go of it here," Ted warns. "I've seen those who've sold their homes in the city for a bunch of money. They come here and buy a place and a four-wheel-drive truck. After a year or so, their money runs out and there's no work. They have to sell out and go back to the city. It happens all the time." A Personal Note

And, no doubt, it will keep happening. I know I was certainly tempted by the area's dramatically scenic beauty, its low land prices and the warmth of its people. "Everything's so much slower here," Jim Stokes notes. "You don't go by the clock; you go by what you feel like doing. If you have to be somewhere by a certain time, it's almost an intrusion, because you're not used to rushing. You almost refuse to rush. I drive down the highway, and nobody's on it but me. Though I've seen the scenery a hundred times before, it's just so pretty out here! I tend to drive slowly just so I can gawk."

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