Free State Wyoming Forum
Prospective Free State Wyoming (FSW) Members and Interested Parties => Prospective Free State Wyoming (FSW) Members and Interested Parties => Topic started by: VFTR55 on November 10, 2008, 09:21:17 PM
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Hey all. Relative newbie here. Currently living at the foot of the Appalachians in TN, will be moving to WY next summer or fall after a brief stint with the folks at Factor E Farm (http://openfarmtech.org).
After reading Boston's page on the FSW main site titled "Wyoming County Discussion & Analysis," I'll be starting my scouting trip by going through Crook and Weston Counties from 12/11 (Thurs) to 12/14 (Sun).
Anybody have some good pointers on sites to visit for a future freesteader looking to buy a couple dozen acres of land to start with, any nearby industry (mining, aerospace?...maybe I'll telecommute), good local hangouts, etc?
I'm getting goosebumps thinking about getting out there. Does it smell like freedom in them hills? :)
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The breeze is a bit cool these days, with snow on the ground, but the scent of freedom can't be masked here, even if it went to -90!! :)
There is still land available here in Weston county, but will get harder to find as time goes by and more folks move in. Get it while you can.
You are welcome to come by and visit me, and I'll show you all the things I've collected to help new immigrants to Wyoming. Others here will help you as much as they can too!
Hope to see you next month, if I understand your post. PM for details.
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I like to use the wyodex site. Lots of land listings uder the real estate links. http://www.wyodex.com/
There are all sorts of mines in Wyoming. Most are looking for help, so just find the places you would like to live and then check the local listings for work.
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So, I just need to quit deliberating and start looking. Sounds simple enough. Time for diggin, here I go!
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If you're ever up here in Crook, let me know. PM me.
Mac
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I'm new to this site, this is my first post, but I live in the Pedro Mountains of Carbon County. Been there since 2002. Land is still pretty reasonable in my "neighborhood". It's an old ranch that was split up. Got 40 acres of vacant land in '02 for 18.5K. Check Realtor.com and I think you can still find some in the 26K range, but I haven't checked in a while, and it's creeping up... The other folks around me are like-minded, for the most part, but there is one clown trying to start an HOA. I don't give him much of a chance, though. Oh, and there's the lone Democrat, the self-professed "Town Drunk", and he takes his title seriously, but we keep him around for entertainment purposes. You have to drive 50 miles to vote, (in Hanna) so he can't do much damage. The closest town is Alcova and has a general store with a gas station. It's about 20 miles away and has a population of 200. If you don't have a four-wheel-drive, stay out because it will just aggravate the rest of us, and don't show up without a realtor because all the roads are private. The cops can't even patrol it, kinda nice. I see you've already been looking up this way, VFT, sorry I didn't find this site sooner, but maybe it'll help somebody else. I hesitate to even post this, because we already have our token leftie, no more are welcome, but as long as they're members of this forum they should be alright. ;)
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and don't show up without a realtor because all the roads are private. The cops can't even patrol it, kinda nice.
So... the "Posted - Keep out" signs went up as soon as the ink on the sales contract was dry. Well, you may just find that if the time comes that you need a fire-truck or ambulance.. you'll be SOL.
I've lived here all my life and will never understand the mentality of folks who are drawn to the "wide open spaces".. then proceed to hang barbed wire and butt-ugly "Keep Out" signage.
Just my opinion.
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Hank, that's for the same reason you wouldn't welcome out of state hunters to shoot at deer that were grazing among your cattle and horses. You don't know them, and they might shoot your stock.
Maintaining private property doesn't mean keeping everyone out. It means staying in control of who does come, and being able to exclude those who would harm you. In many states, if you don't have the land posted, you have little recourse if unwanted people trespass.
I have a "no trespassing" sign on my driveway. It hasn't stopped anyone from coming up and knocking on the door that I know of. I know my neighbors and they know me. Strangers who come with good intentions are welcome as well, with caution. Strangers with bad intentions will be met with a .45, no question and no fooling with a telephone until it's all over. If that sort see the sign and go away instead, we all win.
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For the record, I have posted no signs nor fenced my property, but the natives had signs up before I got there, and I don't have a problem with it.
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Howdy RantNationDotCom ! So is that on the Wytex Ranch ? There have been a few parcels for sale out there. There has been a lot of discussion over at the City-data forum about that area. Do you live there year round ? Glad to have you here.
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No, it's a development started in the 80's that kinda' didn't work out like they planned. That is, unless it used to be called that, but I haven't ever heard the name Wytex. There was supposed to be a store and some other stuff, but none of that ever happened. It was subdivided by a company called Yellowstone Mortgage Co. and that's who sold my parcel to me. It's on the Seminoe-Alcova Back Country By-Way (Kortes Dam Rd.) between the Miracle Mile and the turn-off for Pathfinder Lake. I live there year-round with the exception of a couple of months in the winter when I visit family in friends in Missouri, where I'm originally from. I'm there now.
There is a group of investors, supposedly from Texas and Florida who bought and consolidated some ranches last year, including the Miracle Mile Ranch. Maybe that is the Wytex ranch you speak of. Haven't heard of them selling anything off.
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Another comment for HardwareHank -
Some residents of the Pedros have had trouble getting zone changes because the county wouldn't provide police, fire, and bus service for the kiddies, but the place was blanket re-zoned back in '04, I think it was. They still don't provide any of that stuff though. There was a lightning strike that started a fire a few years back and the fire department didn't show up for a day or so, but we took care of it ourselves. Not me personally, I was out of town at the time, but my neighbors. We take care of each other, and I don't have a problem with that either. I moved to the country to get away from a government that protects me to death, and sometimes you take the good with the bad. Keep fire extinguishers around and drive your kid to school. You can get LifeFlight insurance for a helicopter ride to Casper if you need an ambulance. We don't have any trouble with trespassers until hunting season. I realize I'm the new guy here, but I gotta ask, if you don't believe in property rights, just what are you doing on this site? Trespassers are the only folks I've ever heard of to have a problem with posted property, but like I said before, mine isn't posted and I've never pulled a gun on anyone who drove up to my place, lost or otherwise. Do you live in Jackson? I'm just sayin'.
John
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OK, It is this area right?
http://www.actionc21.com/recreational/20072866.html
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That place is one parcel away from mine. A look to the left of the view in that picture and you would be looking at my neighbor's place, where he has a mobile home. I can tell you lots about it if you're interested. Are the Pedros called the Wytex Ranch? Never heard of it...
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Looked up the Wy Tex Ranch. - http://www.rmtproperties.com/WytexRanchFrontPage.html It's East of the Shirley Mountains and I'm Northwest of them.
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Yep thats it, you beat me to it.
So tell me about life in the pedro ranches if it is not to personal? Are you off grid? Have a garden or greenhouse? Animals ? How deep is your water? Is the trailer you talked about for sale? As I saw a listing for a lot with a trailer on it for sale. There are many of us here who are looking for potential places to live with like minded neighbors so any info you can share would be great.
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That particular parcel has a spring fed creek running through it. Runs year-round. I'm off-grid as most folks are. I truck in my water, hoping for a well in the next year or so, and was told once that water can be found at about 80 feet on average, but don't quote me on that. :P Some folks from Iowa have a place nearby and want everyone to use their well to keep it working. Has a 12 volt pump you can hook to your battery. I work as a tilesetter in and around Casper, so I don't have any stock or a garden, but will be planting a small garden this year. Water is my problem in both instances. I don't know of any properties with trailers for sale, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. I live in a trailer for now. The parcels have been selling, slowly, and I would like more like-minded neighbors myself. I sure hate to see the place get bought up, but it's gonna happen anyway, might as well make sure the land goes to people who didn't vote for Marxism last November. There are lots of absentee landowners/investors but I don't know how you would get ahold of them. Maybe the county. The Century 21 ad you showed earlier is a pretty accurate representation of the area. The roads are maintained only by us, so have an appropriate vehicle, and a snowmobile isn't a bad idea either. My property is at 6850 ft. The one you posted is probably 100 feet or so lower. There's a house with a quonset hut near the entrance for sale, I'm sure you could find it on realtor.com. Nice place with utilities. It's a manufactured home and I think it's around 200k. Century 21 in Casper has 6 parcels last time I checked and they could be found on realtor.com as well Search outside of Alcova and you should find them and the house on realtor.com. Send an email to (anything you feel like typing in) at rantnation.com and I can tell you more. Put "Pedro Mountains" in the subject line so it doesn't get ignored. Sorry, but I don't want to post my email for the spambots to find. I get enough email from Russia as it is...
John
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Thanks John, I might check that area out this spring. Got info coming from a realtor.
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I realize I'm the new guy here, but I gotta ask, if you don't believe in property rights, just what are you doing on this site?
Ah, I'd say Hank is perhaps a little out of step with the rest of us on this. If you own your property, you can do anything you want with it, including posting it and putting up fences (as long as you do not cause problems on your neighbor's property). There is obviously room for some give and take in this proviso, but I'd certainly try to avoid bringing government in to settle any dispute with a neighbor. The best way to settle disputes is to head them off before they begin, by being on friendly terms with neighbors. Of course, you know that...
But maybe what Hank was complaining about was just a matter of taste. I complain about that myself. People who stick their eyesore homes up on ridges so everybody else has to look at them is my own pet peeve. I think they should be able to do that, but I wish they would have more consideration for their neighbors. A lot of them are urban transplants, who are not used to depending on and caring for neighbors.
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I guess I'm an urban transplant myself, being originally from the hellhole of St. Louis. I moved to Colorado way back when until I realized that I had actually moved to CALorado. Talking about the politics, and not necessarily the people of California. Many CO natives are as "Californicated" as the transplants, and good riddance to them all. I live in a trailer and will be building a house, and while the hilltop is where the least amount of snow piles up I have decided against building there for the reason you stated above and just put a road on the ridge instead that turns down the hill at the end... I try to be a good neighbor and I don't complain about the derelict cars in my neighbor's yard; what's his is his to do with as he pleases and besides, they have been a good source of parts for me. :D There are 1 or 2 others who don't feel that way and like to scare him (and the rest of us) with threats of an HOA, legal action, etc. but so far it's been nothing but talk, and a vote on an HOA would go down in flames as it should.
I go back to Missouri, see family and friends, and listen to the stories about how they hate this neighbor, how they've lived there for 10 years and never spoken to another, etc., and am glad I live in a place where I not only wave to mine when I drive by, I can and do stop and talk. I'll help them put a roof on their place or whatever and they'll do the same for me. These things are mostly unheard of where I grew up, so I know what you mean when it comes to the urban mentality, and I hope my adopted "neighborhood" never changes. That makes me hesitant to even mention the Pedros in this forum, but growth is inevitable, I guess, and if I tell people about what to expect before they get there we'll all be better off.