REMOTE HUNK OF NEVADA UP FOR SALE.

Byline: Associated Press 

A sprawling mass of Nevada that covers more ground than the cities of Las Vegas and Reno combined goes on sale this week, offering bidders a big chunk of the state for as little as $50 an acre.

But unlike the state's metropolitan areas, the land up for grabs is remote. No roads, no power, questionable water.

``This is cowboy property eight to 10 miles off the freeway,'' broker John Blom said at a meeting with potential bidders in Las Vegas.

It is land the government gave to the Central Pacific for completing the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

The Santa Fe Railway quietly sold about 1.4 million acres 18 months ago, and it was bought by Nevada Land & Resource Co. of Reno.

The joint venture of San Diego-based Western Water Co. and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund instantly became one of the largest land owners in the state for something in the range of $50 million.

The 101 parcels are scattered across 340 miles of desert from east of Reno to Wells, most of them within a fairly short drive - or horseback ride - of Interstate 80. The smallest of the parcels, 155 acres, and the biggest, 714 acres, are both in Elko County,

``We feel there is a property available for everybody,'' said Julie Schneider, senior vice president of LFC Communications Ltd., which is marketing the land.

Prospective bidders receive a slick brochure with instructions for making an offer. The original choice of 50 parcels was more than doubled two weeks ago at the same time LFC cut the price of a third of the parcels by as much as $70,689.

``We were able to go out and get some competitive information on what land is being sold for in those areas,'' Schneider said.

Minimum bids for the parcels that containing 640 acres - one square mile - now range from $29,900 in Churchill County to more than $110,000 in Elko County. Smaller sites cost less.