Buford, “The Nation’s Smallest Town” on auction block

(by Becky Orr, WyomingNews.com) CHEYENNE — “The Nation’s Smallest Town” is up for auction.  Buford – population 1 – will be auctioned at noon April 5.

Lone Buford, Wyo., resident Don Sammons (AP/M. Smith)

Don Sammons, the town’s sole resident, will sell Buford through auction company Williams and Williams… This will be the company’s first town to auction, said Amy Bates, the company’s chief marketing officer.

Buford sits 28 miles west of Cheyenne on Interstate 80. Located at 8,000 feet, it is the highest town on the I-80 route from California to New York. It also is the second-oldest town in Wyoming and is named for a Civil War general.

Built in 1866 as a fort to protect workers building a railroad, the town once boasted 2,000 residents. But the population plunged when the railroad bypassed the town.

In 1869, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant visited Buford. And outlaw Butch Cassidy robbed a store there in the 1880s. He paid for his crime with a stint at the territorial prison 23 miles west at Laramie, the town’s website reports.

Residents opened a post office there in 1880. Customers still use its boxes, and the town has retained its zip code.

Sammons and his family moved from Los Angeles to Buford in 1980. He bought the trading post in 1992 and operated it until the end of the last year.

His family moved away over the years, but he stayed on as Buford’s sole resident and mayor. He is semi-retired.  “It was a great life for me and for my family,” he said, adding it would be the same for anyone looking for a unique operation.

“I don’t believe putting up for sale would do it justice. I needed to find someone who is an expert in selling unique and one-of-a-kind items.”

Buford gained big-city fame over the years. It has been featured on national television as well as in Time magazine.

And people from all over the world have sent cards and emails to the owner. They are “just amazed by the fact that there is such a place as a one-person town,” he said.

He has heard from people who live in the Ukraine, Russia and China. “My most unique email was from Costa Rica,” he said. “It was from a family who lived in a tree house.” …

“We’re going to have a variety of people attracted to this property, based on what it would mean to them,” Ms. Bates said.

She said she plans a nominal opening bid of $100,000, which is a starting point for an auctioneer.

The sale will include:

• The Buford Trading Post, which is an income-producing convenience store and gasoline station.
• U.S. post office boxes and a Union Wireless cellular tower with lease, which also produces income.
• Five buildings, including a three-bedroom home, a 1905 schoolhouse that has been used as an office, a garage and a 1900s cabin used as a tool shed.
• About 10 acres of land.
• A parking area.

The auction will take bidders from those at the site as well as those who bid online.

Sammons plans to attend the auction.  “It is a sad day, but it also will be a very interesting day in a new chapter in my life and I’m ready for it.”

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