Auction offers piece of Colo. history

Restored 1860s mining town of Dry Gulch up for bid

Duffy Hayes, Summit Daily

Published September 11, 2006 at midnight

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BRECKENRIDGE - How often does history come up for sale? Around Breckenridge this summer, the answer to that seems to be relatively often.

On Saturday, the restored historic mining town of Dry Gulch - near the Golden Horseshoe area outside of town - will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, the second auction of historic property in the area in as many months.

"This basically is an 1860s, 1870s mining town - it was actually a working mining camp," explained Lee Frost, the owner of the Dry Gulch property and the Tiger Run Tours business that is also up for auction Saturday. "It's a real piece of history . . . as much as anything else in Breckenridge," Frost said.

The property up for grabs at auction is obviously unique; the historic town of Dry Gulch was established in the 1800s, and the mix of restored cabins, mining relics and tools, and former working mine sit on 40-plus acres about 15 minutes outside of downtown Breckenridge. Two 5-acre lots are also available.

Former owner Glenn Campbell - who sold the nearby historic Revett Manor at auction for $1.54 million in August - restored many of the mining relics and cabins on the property, even opening up the Light Burn Tunnel Gold Mine to nearly 200 feet underground.

Dry Gulch also includes an old cabin restored to its original condition, a blacksmith shop, another antique cabin, a "Miner Diner," a Quonset machine shop, and a whole host of mining tools, machinery furniture and tools.

All can be yours for the low, low price of, well, that will be determined by the public at auction.

Joe Hicks, whose Grand Junction real estate and auction company will handle the sale, said the property has been appraised several times over the past two years at between $1.5 million and $1.7 million.

"We don't know," Hicks said. "It may be worth way more than that. Hopefully, it's worth at least that much."

History aside, the auction package also includes the Tiger Run Tours business that has operated in and around the property since Campbell started it in 1969.

"We will offer the opportunity to buy it totally intact, along with the personal property and inventory of the tour business," Hicks said.

The asset list of Tiger Run Tours is quite lengthy and includes some motorized and muscular inventory: three H1 Hummer Pickups, two 2003 Ford 15-passenger vans, 25 snowmobiles, seven ATVs, one skid loader, one Snowcat with grooming and rolling capabilities, one Ford truck with a plow blade, various office equipment and tools, and a rash of snowmobile gear.

"If there's not interest in (selling the town and business together), we'll take it all apart," Hicks said. "But holding it all together . . . that would be ideal. The best thing for the property would be to keep it the way it is."

"It's a real piece of history . . . as much as anything else in Breckenridge," Frost said.

If the assets are broken into separate sales, it's likely the new owner (or owners) would raze the historic restorations on the property. There are limited building rights under current backcountry zoning, allowing for one house per 20 acres. The two 5-acre parcels for sale could yield a building each based on the zoning.

"All of that old mining history could be gone forever if (the break-up) happens," Hicks said.

Unlike the August Revett Manor auction, where bidders had to meet certain qualifications just to participate, the Dry Gulch auction will simply require that the winning bidder pony up $10,000 after the final gavel strike is struck. The winning bidder has 30 days to close on the balance or they forfeit the original $10,000.

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