BICKLETON -- Rick Gray grew up here, helping his parents raise cattle and dryland wheat.

That's what he's doing on his own 6,000 acres now.

But Gray is cultivating something his folks never did -- natural resources.

He has leased land to two natural gas exploration companies, as well as a wind turbine firm that plans to begin construction in 2010.

Delta Petroleum of Denver is drilling an exploratory natural gas well in the middle of his cattle ranch.

"If they (find gas), you're talking a pretty good chunk of change," Gray says.

Neither Gray nor Delta officials will disclose terms, but the company leases about 4,100 of his acres, plus offers royalties if gas is commercially produced.

The company named the well after him, dubbing it "Gray Well No. 31-23."

Meanwhile, Trident Energy, another gas development company, has leased his other 1,900 acres, but has yet to drill in the Columbia River Basin.

Like most landowners in this game, Gray finds it hard to know a good deal from a bad. He has heard of leases on more proven ground worth over $1,000 per acre. He also remembers his father receiving $1 per acre in the 1980s.

He falls somewhere in between.

Landowners in Washington sometimes own both the surface and mineral rights of their properties, but sometimes only the surface, says Hiram White, a founding member of Washington Independent Producers and Royalty Owners. They should find out, preferably by talking to an attorney, before they sign a lease, because the companies most likely already know, he said.

His 30-member group, fashioned after the National Association of Royalty Owners, was formed to share information about agreements in the area and cut down on rumors.

"One guy says something over the back fence on the back 40, is that true or just fantasy?" says White, a Tampico rancher and former member of the state Oil and Gas Commission.

For Gray's property in Bickleton, all the waiting only fans his imagination. Delta surveyors spent years testing the ground before they picked their drill site, then they carefully selected the lease and rerouted Alder Creek Road to improve their access. They wouldn't do all that if odds weren't good, reasons Gray, who also owns a trucking business and juice grape farm, both near his Sunnyside home.

Meanwhile, brokers offer to buy portions of his royalty. So far, he has said no.

Delta officials say they don't know how much gas they will find. So far, the Columbia River Basin has supported only one commercial well and that was more than a half century ago.

Still, Gray is an example of a savvy -- if somewhat lucky -- landowner, profiting on the little information he has.

He bought the Klickitat County land in 2002 before he knew about Delta.

The best part, he says, is that the resource industry doesn't disturb his wheat, which is fetching sky high prices itself right now.