Blaine County, Idaho, is a meeting place in the mountains. Wealth meets wilderness. Resort living meets ranching. French restaurants meet feed stores. It's a jumble of cultures that sometimes clash. But in the laid-back big West, with its vastness and calming beauty, it's a jumble that works.

The mountains are the Rockies, specifically the spectacular Sawtooth Range: jagged tops with sloping sides that empty into showy valleys veined with sparkling rivers.

In the far north of the county, the mountains are untamed and mostly unsettled. U.S. Park Service roads and hiking trails outnumber county roads. North of Galena Summit (elevation: 8,780 feet), the Salmon River is born, and salmon spawn in preparation for their incredible journey 900 miles to the Pacific Ocean. In the southern part of the county, the Big Wood River flows, teeming with rainbow trout, through valleys where hay and cattle prosper. In between is Sun Valley, home to the first ski resort in the United States (established in 1936) and the economic engine that drives Blaine County's prosperity.

Funky, busy Ketchum is the gateway to Sun Valley. Its origins as a mining town are barely recognizable among the restaurants, gift shops and hotels. There are more art galleries than gas stations in Ketchum and almost as many berets as cowboy hats.

Landscape and still-life painter Lori McNee Watson arrived 20 years ago for a skiing vacation and stayed for the duration. "The local art scene inspired me," she says. Now she is one of the area's hottest artists.

Some of the natives may resent landowners who are in residence for only a few weeks each year. But locals also understand that money flows from these mountain retreats and from the throngs of tourists. It flows to shops and businesses, to building contractors and grocery stores. It also flows to schools, which are among the best in the state, and to state-of-the-art medical and law-enforcement services.

John Peavey understands this as well as anyone. His family has ranched in the county for three generationsÑfour when you count his son Tom. And while cattle and sheep put money in John's pocket, he is thankful that the county does not have to depend entirely on agriculture. Peavey and his wife, Diane, can stand on the porch of their log ranch house and enjoy the view. Or Diane can stand at her kitchen window and hear a mountain brook babble not 10 yards away. "Isn't that just lovely?" she asks. Yes, it is.