Ranch country gives urbanites tips on etiquette

To bridge the growing cultural divides, many counties are putting out their version of Miss Manners meets the West. This summer, Gallatin County joined Canyon County in Idaho as the latest code adherents. Gallatin's manual is borrowed from earlier ones in Larimer and Gunnison counties in Colorado.

Code of the West books, in fact, are hardly new. Former Larimer County Commissioner John Clarke attributes the idea to famed Western novelist Zane Grey. "The men and women who came to this part of the county during the westward expansion of the United States were bound by an unwritten code of conduct," says Mr. Clarke. "The values of integrity and self reliance guided their decisions, actions, and interactions."

EVEN before them, native Americans had a few things to say about the way whites adjusted to their new surroundings. Or didn't. "America is a country characterized by the mobility of its citizens, and strangers have been intruding into new places all the time," says Patricia Limerick, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "Indians have the longest story to tell about seeing their neighborhood inundated with newcomers."

In one sense, Ms. Limerick says, the new codes enable locals to smugly put newcomers in their place. She sees elements of class conflict embedded in the code-book movement. "There's something funny about pretty darn rich people being treated as unwise bumpkins by the rural inhabitants," she says.

For suburbanites accustomed to Starbucks and Pottery Barns, the codes warn of new western realities:

• In many states, dogs that wander into a neighbor's pasture and start harassing livestock can be shot. No explanation needed.

• Some newcomers believe irrigation ditches that run across their land are their own private creeks. They're not. Under age-old water laws, ranchers have the right to sue anyone who uses the channels for swimming or lawn watering.

Two years ago, when Montana real estate agent Toni Bowen first recommended that Madison County adopt the code, her husband and fellow land broker didn't think it was a good idea. "He thought the notion of handing newcomers a sheet of paper telling them how to live ... might dissuade people from moving here," Ms. Bowen recalls. "But I would rather have customers prepared to survive rather than being disappointed."

In fact, many transplants pouring into this corner of Montana are thankful for the provincial advice. "They love the Code of the West," Bowen says. "There are things in there that immigrants don't even think to ask."

Yet many locals still have their pet peeves. A favorite one: the propensity of newcomers to lay on the horn when frustrated. Says Mr. Vincent: "I'm planning on having bumper stickers made that ask people the question: "Did you move here to be in such a hurry?"

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