Background:In the early to mid-1990s, Jim Rawles and his family were living on 40 acres near Orofino, Idaho. It was a viable, defendable retreat with a southern exposure. It had both a spring and a good well that was pumped with a photovoltaic power system. But the property lacked privacy, since the house was in plain view of a county road. This lack of privacy kept Jim on the lookout for a better property.
In 1996, Jim heard about a ranch property that was for sale near Stites, in nearby Idaho County, Idaho. The property was 160 acres and included an additional adjoining 120 acre BLM grazing permit (renewable). The property was a side canyon, off the South Fork of the Clearwater River. The first time that Jim and the Memsahib walked the property, they fell in love with it.
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Without first selling
their existing property, the Rawles made an offer on the new ranch. The
offer was accepted, and they eventually sold their Orofino property.
To finance the construction of a new house and other improvements to
the property, the Rawles sold the front 43 acre parcel along with the
grazing permit to a long-time trusted friend. (A conservative
Christian survivalist.) This left them 117 acres to develop.But before they could start building their new ranch house, their family and work circumstances changed, and the Rawles felt obliged to move out of Idaho for several years. With great reluctance, they put the 117 remaining acres of the new ranch on the market. It was purchased by the current owner--the same gent that is now offering the three smaller parcels inside the ranch He is a like-minded Christian survivalist. He plans to retain the rest of the ranch property indefinitely and continue to develop it as his retreat.
The Climate
The climate on the South Fork of the Clearwater River Valley is exceptionally mild. In most winters the snow only "sticks" for about a month (perhaps two months on timbered, northern-facing slopes). In some years, the snow doesn't stay on the ground at all! The late summers are usually hot and dry, punctuated by occasional thunderstorms.
The CountyIdaho County, Idaho measures 8,485 square miles--bigger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. But it has a population of just 15,400. And of those residents, roughly 3,300 of them live in Grangeville, the county seat. (About 20 miles from the property.) The population density of the county is 1.8 people per square mile. The county has more than 3 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land, BLM land, and designated Federal wilderness areas. Plenty of elbow room!
Wildlife and Flora
The canyon is thick with wild game. The plentiful water and the timbered hillsides make this a year-round habitat for deer. Elk also frequently pass through the area. There are also lots of quail, pheasants, and chuckar (Hungarian Partridge.) There is world-class salmon and steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River, only a 1/2 mile away.
There are plentiful wild berry patches, wild plum trees and numerous medicinal herbs growing on the property.
The NeighborsMost of the neighboring properties are larger cattle ranches. Good folks. Many of them are dedicated Christians with preparedness leanings.
Many of the Memsahib's hand-spinning ("fiber guild" ) friends were in the Koooskia-Stites area. These women are are very self-sufficiency minded, and their calendar is developed around blackberry picking, huckleberry picking, applesauce making, and so on. Any woman that has an interest in developing old-fashioned skills, gathering and using medicinal herbs, or midwifery will be sure to quickly find lots friends in the area.
Topography, Geology, and Hydrology
The property is on a side canyon to the Clearwater River Valley. The canyon runs roughly east-west. This gives it two distinct exposures: A southern facing side and a northern facing side. The southern facing side of the canyon is primarily open and grassy (good pasture), with just a scattering of trees, mainly at the lower end. In contrast, the shaded northern-facing side is heavily timbered in second growth trees. It has a dense, very healthy and diverse stand of trees that have now reached marketable size.
The underlying rock strata is basalt, and it is exposed in a few places on the property. This provides a ready supply of rock that can be used for rock walls, or that can be crushed for use as road rock.
The basalt rock structure also makes the creek that runs through the property unusual. Although the creek runs year-round, in the summer and fall, some stretches of the creek run entirely underground--through the basalt layers. In the winter and spring, there is so much water flowing that the creek runs aboveground through its entire length.
The first winter that the Rawles family owned the property, the existing creek crossing culvert pipes washed out. Never being one for halfway measures, Jim Rawles invested $8,000 in a brand new eight-foot diameter culvert pipe, and hired and excavator to install it.
The Parcels:There are three parcels being offered, on a first-come first served basis. Once the first two of the three have sold, the remaining parcel will be taken off the market.
Parcel A is about twenty acres. There are already posts at most of it's corners. It has a spring that runs quite copiously in the winter and spring. It seems to dry up during summer, but I it can probably be developed for better year-round use. There is a utility power pole at the upper west corner, where the lines cross the edge of the ranch. There is good sun year round at the location. Marked in purple is a good site for a cabin. It needs to be dozed flat, but is less steep than other areas. The draw in this parcel has abundant deer and other wildlife. The current owner's llamas and cattle prefer this area to any other on the ranch. There are a lot of hardwood trees and bushes in that draw. The old road going up is steep and needs work to become passable. An right-of-way easement on the existing road for access to the parcel will be conveyed in the sale. This would be a "view property". This is very secluded and private. It is close to South Fork of the Clearwater.
Asking price: $89,900.
Parcel B is 7+ acres. It is prettier than parcel , since it is in the riparian area. It fronts a pretty creek bottom. From just above this parcel down to where the creek joins the Clearwater River, there seems to be water in it year round. I do not know if the creek is potable. I do know that my cows drink from it year round and so do the Llamas. The property line will follow the middle of the creek bed. There is a nice meadow that would make a pretty yard or building site, although I would build up on the edge of the hill in case of a "hundred year flood" and leave that as a yard or garden area. The ground behind the building site is steep and full of Fir trees and bushes. There are blackberries and wild plums along the creek. The only problem with this parcel is the sun goes behind the hill for the winter and so there is no direct sun on it for several months. The problem would be getting power. Not much wind. I will reserve a utility easement on parcel A, for the event that the owner of Parcel B wants to have power brought it. Power is about $2,000 per pole and would require maybe 4 poles to get power there. This piece is very private from everyone except those of us using the drive coming in, on the other side of the creek. This parcel cannot be seen from the highway at all. The price is higher per acre due to the aesthetic value and the value of the timber. They have not been harvested in perhaps 20 years.
Asking price: $89,900.
Parcel C will be 30 +- acres. Three of the boundary lines are easy to find and a survey will truncate the current 40 acre piece to 30 acres. Parcel C has some issues with it. Power may or may not be available as it would need an easement from a neighbor. There is not yet a road to this piece of property and it is steep on this side of the canyon. It borders state property on one side and a conversation could be made with the State officials vis-a-vis securing right-of ways. An easier access would be through a neighboring property, but that would have to be negotiated separately. That neighboring property is fairly flat. Parcel C is a view property. It has lots of trees and I a decent building site, but I have only been along the bottom edge. A well would be needed here. Solar or wind power would probably work on this parcel. This is private, but your property could be seen from below and you can see the neighbor's house below. The currently poor access is more than offset by the larger parcel size and the considerable value of the standing timber.
Asking price: $89,900.]]>
186 acres, 3bdrm house (1500 s.f.) plus 2 bdrm caretaker house (800 s.f.)
Auxiliary electric system - diesel gen-controller-battery system - Elec. &
propane lighting system - propane and wood cooking & heating. Fully
equipped.
The house was
completed in June of 2001. The elevation at the house is about 2300 ft. The river
views are to the west and north. The views of the Flathead River are one in a
million and we are surrounded by mountains on all sides. The East and south side of
the house are dug into the hillside and are buried almost to the roof, the balance
of house has 24" wide planter of dirt and 12" decorative concrete block which come
to the bottom of all the windows, as may be seen in the pictures. The house is
protected from rifle fire to the height of the bottom of all the windows. The house
is one level, with no steps, all entries are at ground level. The service entry is
8' ft x15' ft, joining a 5 ft wide by 76 ft long special interior storage are with
five 2x10 shelves running the full 76 ft, what a dream storage area, cool in the
summer and warm in the winter. All water lines are in this freeze proof area.
Total house area is 2724 sq ft.
