Rural Life in Wild Horse Plains Montana

By Sara Pacher
Published on November 1, 1988
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Wide enough in spots to seem almost lakelike, the Clark Fork River is warm and serene enough in summer to make it a favorite for canoeing.
Wide enough in spots to seem almost lakelike, the Clark Fork River is warm and serene enough in summer to make it a favorite for canoeing.
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Discovering the beautiful lower valley of the Clark Fork River, including Montana facts and figures and land of the Shining Mountain.
Discovering the beautiful lower valley of the Clark Fork River, including Montana facts and figures and land of the Shining Mountain.
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Retired
Retired "rail" 0rvile (84) and Gladys (80) Schutter have lived in Paradise for 40 years.
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Blacksmith horse-logger Jim Stokes with his assistant, Aggie, the horse.
Blacksmith horse-logger Jim Stokes with his assistant, Aggie, the horse.
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Freelance photographer Harley Hettick's passion for cantaloupe has turned into a business.
Freelance photographer Harley Hettick's passion for cantaloupe has turned into a business.
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Some folks complain that Plains is
Some folks complain that Plains is "too friendly".
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Ted and Barbara Seaman capture a hot spring's runoff to heat their organic greenhouses.
Ted and Barbara Seaman capture a hot spring's runoff to heat their organic greenhouses.
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"The Drunk of the Week" is nominated and posted at the Dixon Bar "For your behavior last Friday night, including, etc., etc."
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Montana facts and figures.
Montana facts and figures.
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Montana Map.
Montana Map.

Cream of the country: Wild Horse Plains, Montana. The continuing series of the best sections of America to live a rural lifestyle.

Rural Life in Wild Horse Plains Montana

YOU WON’T FIND “WILD HORSE Plains” on a Montana map, because that name for the lushly beautiful lower valley of the Clark Fork River, in what is now the southern half of Sanders County, is no longer used. Protected by the Cabinet Mountains on the north, the Bitterroot Range on the west and the Mission Range on the east, the valley’s climate is almost Pacific maritime, causing some of its residents to complain during recent winters that they can’t get their fill of cross-country skiing because there’s not enough snow. For this reason, Native Americans wintered their horses on the valley’s abundant bunch grass long before the first settlers arrived. Later, fur trappers of the Hudson’s Bay Company did the same.

Horses, though not wild ones, still roam this rich land, and the name survives in the county’s most pleasing town of Plains (pop. 1,090), known as Horse Plains until 1883, when the Northern Pacific Railway passed through, and the post office was moved into town from its location at the old Clark/Lynch Ranch, a former stop on the Pony Express. Cattle are still big business here, too. 

Land of the Shining Mountains

Let me tell you some of my impressions of this special place. First of all, it’s “Big Sky Country.” Despite the impressive, often snow-covered peaks in almost every direction, there’s never a closed-in feeling. You can stand on a sunny hillside alive with meadowlarks, look across an impossibly wide valley of waving grain and fruit trees to the silvery light of a rainstorm drenching a distant mountainside, and wait for the almost inevitable rainbows. The Clark Fork River (formerly called the Saleesh), which flows through the plains, is as wide in places as a good-sized lake, and the trees along its banks are frequently adorned with osprey nests. Spring snowmelt can make for fast canoe or raft rides, but the water gentles in summer, presenting dozens of fine beaches and swimming holes. (Otters and beavers commonly share the recreational opportunities!)

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