Rural life in Clearwater County isn't all chirping birds, says the county manager. Would-be residents must be prepared for the sound of running combines at 2 a.m. and the smell of manure. (The Canadian Press)Living in cowboy country ain't as easy as it seems.A new guide put out by Clearwater County, a vast rural area west of Red Deer, is meant to help people decide if they're up to the challenge.
"I think we have some deep roots within Clearwater County. You know, first, second and third generation farms, and they love that lifestyle and they want to preserve it as much as they can," Reeve Pat Alexander recently told CBC News.
The county's new "code of the west" warns the area can be dusty, it can stink like manure and that some farmers, like Alexander himself, will run their combines until 2 a.m.
The code cautions that most of the county's roads are unpaved and, in the winter, unplowed.
"There are things that take place in rural Alberta that have taken place for 25, 50 or 100 years and, you know, they will continue to take place," said Alexander.
"It's all part of being in rural Clearwater County."
The "code of the west" is a concept made famous by the prolific Old West novelist Zane Grey. The set of rules for living in cowboy country has been modernized a bit and adopted by a number of American communities and at least two in Alberta, Clearwater being the most recent.
County manager Ron Leaf said that while acreage owners have just as many rights as those in the agriculture industry, some people move out to Clearwater seeking an idyllic lifestyle — expecting "no noise, just [hearing] the birds."
"Really what the code is all about is here's what it's like to live in Clearwater County."
But Leaf said it's not meant to make people feel unwanted.
"We by no means want to discourage individuals. We very much are open and welcome people to come and live here," Leaf said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/08/30/calgary-clearwater-county-rural-cowboy-code-west.html#ixzz0zYBaUl00
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