| | | Newsletter from Montana - Minnesota
May 2011
Are you familiar with the Nye area here in South Central Montana? It used to be a gold camp in the olden days and now there is a platinum mine hiding at the end of the road. The nicely kept highway dead ends just past the mine at a trail head to the Yellowstone Park, which winds through the Beartooth Wilderness for 26 miles along the Stillwater River. If you take a very strong magnet and go fishing with it in the Stillwater, you will be amazed to find an occasional rock containing gold and platinum!
About 40 years ago a developer bought half a section there with trees, ponds, hills and spectacular views of the Stillwater Canyon and the whole valley below. Big Horn Sheep, elk, moose, bear and eagle are abundant! He surveyed out 7500sf circles among the hills, fenced it all in, built a lodge for common use, stocked the ponds with fish, drilled deep wells for a common water system, wrote some covenants and hired a fulltime grounds keeper so people could build a cabin in the mountains and come and go as they please without worries. Of course for himself he reserved the best spot, right behind a turret for a wind break. In 1996 he put up the shell of a hand peeled log home. But he kept harassing the platinum mine to be sure they bus their people in to keep the traffic down, to replant their tailings, to maintain the road and on and on. While the mine raked in awards for being the most conscientious operation, they finally got tired of it and bought him out, lock, stock and barrel. It was half way involuntarily, so his beautiful log home stood there unfinished for eight years until all the lawsuits got finally resolved in 2004 and the home could be sold.
The new owner took great pride in finishing the home, fully appreciating the special location with the stunning views and privacy to boot! He put in cherry floors on the main level. The walk out basement has a bamboo floor. The master suite went in the loft and you should see that bathroom! It even has its own gas fireplace! There is a wood fireplace on the lower level in the den and another one in the living room. There is a gas stove in the dining area, which has cathedral windows taking in the mountain views. The main level features an art studio instead of a bedroom. It is actually plumbed for a sink, but that is not installed, plans have changed.
Now this is a home you have to see! We'll let you borrow the magnet...
Montana is known as the "Treasure State" - and of course Red Lodge also started out as a mining town. There used to be a mine on the East side of Rock Creek, just three blocks from downtown. Then a developer had a good idea. How about cleaning it all up and putting up condos that look like an old mine and surveying out some lots along the creek that would have the 500ft bench behind them with the old mine shafts still showing, Rock Creek tumbling in front and mountain views to the west and south? It was a very long process and took a couple of decades to make it all happen. Actually the developer viewed it more as a hobby than a way to make a lot of money. It was a terribly expensive undertaking. But he pulled it off! He used the water from the bench to create several waterfalls and ponds for the common park. The condos were painted in strong bright colors and create a happy string along the creek, selling for over half a million dollar each. A couple of the lots to the south of the condos already sold and beautiful homes in earth tones to blend in have been built there. There are still lots for sale along the creek for $315,000 each and the lots right below the bench without waterfront just came on the market between $150K and $175K each. Now I have a bargain for you, the last lot on your right on the creek for just $265,000! Oh boy, what an address!
Or… here you could combine an existing
log home with Rock Creek front near the Rock Creek Resort south of town and walking distance into the National Forest. The price was just reduced to $535,000.
Since we sold our farm in Minnesota we have some homeless horses on our hands. We had boarded them over in Belfry, where the winters are mild and the summers are windy. But now they got thrown out of there to make room for cows. Luckily we are able to rent the pasture up here on Remington Ranch, where I have
the six acres for sale for $315,000. Our three heroes sure have a nice view from up there and for us it is easy to take care of them, since they are less than a mile from Red Lodge.
To keep them out of the weather, we put up a
horse tent. Did you know temporary shelters are exempt from property taxes?
If you have horses but don't mind driving a few miles to town, I just listed
5.5 acres for $145,000 in Silver Meadows, which is a stunningly beautiful subdivision north of Red Lodge. There are just a handful of lots with enough acreage to accommodate a horse or two. This is quite the spot! You have the trees and a seasonal creek along your east border. To the north is the paved subdivision road and a small detention basin for the fire pond. From here you have the view of the Beartooth front in all its glory, including the East and West Rosebud Canyon to the West and the ski slopes of Red Lodge Mountain and Mount Maurice to the south. The county maintained gravel roads wind forever from there and would make scenic riding trails through the rolling grasslands with spectacular vistas for more miles than anybody could stay in the saddle. Or teach your horse to pull a buggy and go to town in style!
Red Lodge has brand new medical facilities, a brand new high school and gym and 15 restaurants and bars to choose from. The Beartooth Highway will take you all the way to the Yellowstone Park in summer, or stay on top of the mountains and fish the 1,000 lakes which our glaciers left behind for your enjoyment.
No horses allowed on these
five acres in White Sulphur Springs. Even though the acreage borders a wild life refuge and is part of the golf course community just south of town. Rumor has it that a copper mine will be built near there and business will pick up in the area. The five acres can still be had for just $50,000 - the owner will finance it for you!
Keep going north of White Sulphur Springs, past Great Falls; you will come to Fort Benton. Another eight miles and you are at the 480 acres I just listed including 250 acres of good agricultural land and nearly new outbuildings and corrals to get you started. So far the owners invested over $100,000 of improvements plus labor for a wind and solar power system with power shed (battery house), they buried a 10K gal cistern (potable water tank), plumbed water lines to the barn area and breeding pens with freeze resistant hydrants, installed underground power from the battery house to the cistern for a pressure pump and to the barns, and constructed permanent 5ft high horse fencing around the steel barns.
Only $1,125 per acre!
Of course the dry farming in Montana is a bit different from the
farm land in Minnesota where recent land sales were over $7,000 an acre in southern MN. The agricultural land with development potential Mike Olson has listed is west of Detroit Lakes towards the steadily growing city of Fargo…
We are getting closer to summer and it is time to think about lakes and bathing suits. Ok, lakes first. Here is a home on a
six and a half acres back lot of Big Cormorant Lake, which is a premier lake around Detroit Lakes in Minnesota. While you are close to the big lake, the taxes are much lower if you don't have waterfront, besides more privacy the spray and wind won't get you there either. Big Cormorant Lake features over 3,400 acres of open water and provides great walleye, crappie and northern pike fishing. With water clarity of over 16 feet this lake is also a popular recreational water body for jet skiing, water skiing, and motoring around on pontoons. Public access to the lake is less than two miles from the property in either direction. The home features a four bedroom, three bathroom rambler with a walkout basement. Wildflower golf course is less than twelve miles away and has hosted the Nike Golf Tournament some years back. Numerous outstanding restaurants and other top quality fishing spots are but a stone throw away. Welcome to Minnesota Lakes Country and all the great qualities that come with it! Only $134,900!
Country living with city amenities close by are also one of the many qualities of the
Serenity Shores development. Located just outside the city of Lake Park, MN, this rural development presents us with a 2.16 acre property that features great views of Duck Lake (97 acres) and the nearby rolling hills of farmland. This back lot of Duck Lake allows for easy viewing of the many pelicans, ducks and geese that frequent these waters. With nature so close the city itself is just as close being less than half a mile from the property. The 2004 built home welcomes you with 1,716 square feet of living space on the main level. The lower level of the home hosts a full unfinished basement. Use this area for storage or finish it the way you like it best. There are also egress windows for two future bedrooms as well as a bathroom which is stubbed in. Coming from Fargo, Lake Park is the start of Minnesota's Lakes Country and one can find hundreds of lakes within a 20 minute drive. $199,000
Now to the bathing suit part. If you followed my advice in November and have followed the
HCG diet, you probably lost a few clothes sizes by now. Women usually loose half a pound per day and men one pound. Ten pounds equal one clothes size. To prevent or get rid of wrinkles, or if you just want to look beautiful in your bathing suit,
start brushing your skin. I just went to the feed store and got myself a horse finishing brush. It is made out of horse hair, works like a charm! My mom brushed herself every day and lived to be 94 with hardly a wrinkle or blemish to her name. If you want to take this a step further you can also sprinkle salt on your shower brush. Salt helps your skin to heal, but it also does a fine job of polishing. Blemishes will disappear if you mix some tee tree oil into your cocoa butter lotion, put that on your shower brush and brush it all over your skin. Always brush toward the heart; this will put your lymph system to work.
Last month I touted the iron deposit I have listed in British Columbia on Vancouver Island. Unfortunately I noticed too late that I had uploaded the wrong page. But now the link works, if you still have an interest, take a look:
goldandcoal.com/Iron
A company from Turkey has asked me to find them a gas exploration company that will help them to harvest coal bed methane and to supply Ankara with it. Right now there is no gas being harvested in Turkey, it is all imported. Take a look and if you know someone who could help, let me know!
goldandcoal.com/Turkey
I wish you a good start of summer and hope to see you in Montana soon!
:-)
Best Regards,
Dorothea Lowe, Broker
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