Buford, Wyoming up for auction

Buford

The town of Buford, Wyoming will go up for auction on April 5. Yes, the entire town. Population: one. The starting bid is $100,000 and that includes 10 acres, a house, garage, gas station, cabin, schoolhouse, and convenience store. From Time:

Once a semi-bustling town of about 2,000 residents that started in the 1860s, the rerouting of the Transcontinental Railroad sealed the town’s fate. Buford’s most famous moments all date back to the 1800s. As the second-oldest town in Wyoming, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant visited in 1869 and outlaw Butch Cassidy robbed a store there about a decade later (he was caught and served time in Laramie). Since Cassidy, Buford hasn’t made the news much. Even still, (sole resident Don) Sammons has said “it was a great life for me and my family” and hopes others will want a similar experience. There is no word on where Sammons will choose for his next stage in life.

"Last Remaining Resident Puts Wyoming Town Up for Auction"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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The Snowden Principle

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6LOJDBXCDHL5MVQQRLOCCJ35AY alexb

I can’t help wondering if having complete control of an entire town would enable you to cover it with solar panels and wind turbines. If so, would it be worthwhile? Could you generate enough surplus power to make a go of it?
- Mark Dow
  
  Looks like a good location for giant Tesla coils and other high voltage experiments.
  - bcsizemo
    
    HAARP 2.0
- http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11
  
  Population: 1 means you probably wouldn’t have to cover it to meet all your power needs. But zoning certainly wouldn’t be an issue.
  
  As to whether you can make enough surplus power to make a living, that depends a lot on how hard it is to connect into the local grid, and what the price is of the power you feed into the system, your equipment costs, etc.
  
  A crap-ton of wind out there, though the maintenance with that kind of winter weather could get ‘interesting’.
http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain

I love it! If I had the money, I’d do it. Rural Wyoming is beautiful country.
- Lobster
  
  Don’t get much ruraler.
  - http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain
    
    It could be worse. I imagine owning a gas station right off I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie might be a lucrative proposition.
- http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
  
  Hope you’re white. Wyoming is the land of the unabashed racist (much of my family lives there). I haven’t heard so many racist references (and unashamed use of them) by white folks in my life as I did when spending time there in 2006 to bury my father.
  - http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11
    
    Population: 1 means it’ll be whatever you make of it.
    - Brainspore
      
      Think of the possibilities! Depending on the buyer, the entire town could become black or gay or Muslim overnight. (Or all three!)
      - http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11
        
        If Obama moved there, it’d become 100% communist fascist radical-Christian Muslim black white, all in one shot. That’s going to play hell with the demographics.
      - http://profile.yahoo.com/UDGAFI2VXIQJF6SHA5FYQOKQ6I Alohachief
        
        Hey, Tumbleweed: What is a “Christian Moslim” of a “communist – fascist”. Why don’t you learn some history before you really expose your stupidity. President Obama is a moderate Christian, graduate of some of the most mainstream schools in the US.
      - chgoliz
        
        @Alohachief
        
        Someone forgot to pick up their sarcasm meter from the cleaners.
  - cjphd
    
    So you are upset with people who make hurtful stereotypical comments about entire groups people based on actions of but a mere few belonging to said groups. But yet, you do the very same thing based on your interactions with (what appears is a fair assumption) your racist family and the other Wyoming-ites you came in contact with which were no doubt in the same limited geographic area as your family. This is problematic.
    
    Doesn’t seem to be a well thought out post on your part. But, if you somehow randomly sampled current Wyoming residents and they did indeed support making such racist comments, then I stand corrected. However, I am leaning towards the fact that you didn’t do this.
    
    According your logic, I should now rightly assume that all Zen Buddhist bloggers working in the tech industry don’t think basic and proper research principles or simple logic apply to them. This might be accurate though, how many of you are actually out there?
    - http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
      
      Actually, they were from all over Wyoming.
      It is full of redneck assholes. Sorry if it makes you butthurt.
    - http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
      
      You fail to realize that if one has family in a state, one probably visits it on and off for much of their life.
      There is a reason Dick Cheney is the Wyomean Sith Lord.
      - cjphd
        
        I appreciate your grasp of the lower end of the English language and your love of Star Wars (although it’s Sith Lord not Sit Lord).
        
        All that aside, you might visit all over state throughout your life, and this might give you comfort that your interactions with some people might somehow reflect the attitudes of the entire state. Rest assured, it doesn’t.
        
        Statistical principles are hard for some people, don’t feel bad. After you get done swearing on the internet you should get in the Zen zone and practice what I had always thought was a really great calm religion of Buddhism.
        
        ******New Note
        
        To the Moderator Antinous below: First I find it sad that I cannot reply directly to your comment. I respect your moderator status but not being able to respond directly to you is silly.
        
        Second, I simply don’t understand your post. Who is pretending there aren’t deep pockets of racism in the U.S.? Where did I ever insinuate such a thing? Can you please show me the quote where I have done this?
        
        Racism does exist in the U.S.. It is built upon ignorance, hatred, generalities, and fear based thinking. These broad generalizations make for nice TV fodder but don’t pan out when put to scientific tests. But racism prevails because of such stupidity.
        
        My point is that I feel Al is engaging in the same type of thinking and logic. Actually, it is pretty clear he is. However, in now way do my posts say racism doesn’t exist or even imply as much.
        
        If you are going to moderate, you should do so in a manner that clarifies the conversation and doesn’t muddy the waters. Case in point, Australia just about covers the entire United States, therefore, according to you, the probability that you are a racist is pretty high.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Or, you know, we could stop pretending that there aren’t Australia-sized pockets of majority racism in the US. Just a thought.
    - http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
      
      Oh, and calling someone “n****r” or “k**e” or “b****r” (all of which I heard from the nice white folks of Wyoming in casual conversation) has nothing to do with being ” based on actions of but a mere few belonging to said groups.”
      
      The people they call these names don’t engage in any “actions” which cause them to deserve racial invective unless you mean “being born” as an action.
      - cjphd
        
        Again, Al you don’t get it. I am talking about YOU taking the words YOU heard from a handful of folks in Wyoming and then applying their ridiculous attitudes to all Wyoming residents. Clearly this is in err and exactly the type of thinking engaged in by the racists you rightly dislike.
    - http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
      
      Since I can’t reply below I’ll reply here.
      
      You can say my experience is only anecdotal and not statistical all you want. I’m expecting anyone not white to have the same “anecdotal” experience of Wyoming as well unless they stick to a tourist spot full of Californians.
      
      As to the calm of Zen, you clearly don’t know much about Zen.
      
      Oh, and as to my grasp of language, well, I heard those terms from Wyoming folks, not from locals where I live.
      - cjphd
        
        Until those non-white folks have that experience, you shouldn’t speak for them or Wyoming citizens as if you are some authority. Even if a person of color had that experience, it still doesn’t make it representative of every non-white person’s experience.
        
        Nope, I know nothing of Zen. I’ll assume it is a warrior culture or something.
        
        I am not sure what to make of the fact that these redneck Wyoming-ites you speak so poorly of have such an influence on your potty mouth. Does it make you as ignorant or more ignorant than they are given they have such sway over your use of foul language?
      - Guest
        
        @boingboing-93b99c04fcfd363eeef983172fb4032a:disqus christ, what an asshole (I don’t mean you, al)
      - cjphd
        
        I’d like to thank mdhatter03 for his stellar post. Internet hi-five there fella, I like a parsimonious argument.
        
        Based on unbelievably brilliant analysis and logic presented by Al, Antinous, and mdhatter03, it is apparently fair to assume that ALL people who take the time to post on BoingBoing are illogical dimwits with no capacity to think beyond the end of their noses. I guess this includes myself.
        
        So, in the end Al wins, turns out I am a moron also. How much to I owe you for the therapy session?
Chuck

Sounds like the perfect spot to build a base for the aircraft carrier.
awjt

“Don Sammons, there ain’t room enough for two of us in this town!”
Feargus Stewart

If I were rich, I would do it in a heartbeat.
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

Too bad it’s in the States or I would have to consider it, or buy it and consider it later.
- http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11
  
  It’s not in the states, it’s just in one state – Wyoming.
  
  :)
- Lobster
  
  Or you could buy it and then pay for a huge sign to display on it that reads, “Look at me, I’m so rich I can drop $100,000 on a whim.”
Shibi_SF

Aw! I hope that Buford’s new resident/owner(s) preserve it’s history. The weather out there can be pretty dang challenging, though.
4colorrebellion

Do they have highspeed internet there? If so I might move there
- http://twitter.com/bittersweetdb db
  
  That was my first question, too.
- Gatto
  
  i’m sure you could convince the town council to install municipal wifi.
Lobster

Nobody gets away from Buford T. Wyoming!
Jorpho

It must be a scam. The teevee said there’s no such place as Wyoming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56uSDQECrRQ
Brainspore

I hope some rich guy named Buford buys the place so he can change the sign to say BUFORD / Pop: Buford
- awjt
  
  And a single parking spot at the gas station that says, “BUFORD’S PARKING SPOT”
eselqueso

We should start a Kickstarter to buy it and rename it Boing Boing, Wyoming. Happy mutants need a vacation spread…
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Not quite the same charm as owning the downlink recieving station for the apollo program but I would be all for giving BoingBoing a small town in Wyoming to play with.
  - awjt
    
    We can flip Buford in a couple years when the market recovers.
OriGuy

Actually,it’s not that far from Laramie, which has a university and some good restaurants. Medicine Bow National Forest is nice. If you’re into rock climbing, Vedauwoo has some great places to do it.
At 8000 feet, though, the winters last a long time.
James B

I drove through there a couple of weeks ago, on my way back from skiing in Snowy Range. Depending on the water rights, I suspect it will fetch multiples of the starting bid. That is a fairly high traffic location, and there are limited services in that area.
http://twitter.com/youvgotdave Dave Pearson

I shall start my zombie apocalypse army here. mwa ha, mwa ha ha, mwa hahahahahaha
- Shibi_SF
  
  Make sure to stock up on long underwear or it is going to be a very cold zombie shuffle to Laramie!
http://twitter.com/ablestmage ablestmage

Reminds me of Thurber, Texas, that I’ve been meaning to visit one day. The Texas travel guide listed it as population 8 not too long ago, but wiki shows it up to 25 now =)
Joshua Van Wie

Does Wyoming’s largest pyramid come with it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_Monument
pjcamp

How do you have a schoolhouse for one? Don’t you need at least two? Maybe it’s too expensive in Buford and the teachers relocated to the suburbs.
horusgrant

If you were to own a town, vote yourself sheriff/mayor/etc, you could do so many things that the average person would have to be famous or very rich to do. You could buy rpgs and newly manufactured machine guns for your police department, and spend all day shooting them, having so much fun. Let’s close our eyes and imagine
Guest

8000 feet? That is one high dude.
John Russell

I’ve spent many a night in the parking lot there. You can expect 3G Sprint and Verizon wireless data and a solid voice connection.

The Wyoming DOT does an amazing job at keeping the roads open and passable in the winter, though if you aren’t used to high winds mixed with snow you might not want to venture out much.
sean

That would be great to own! You’d be your own boss! When someone came in to buy gas, you could say “Sorry, I’m on break now”, and not worry about the boss getting on your back.