A landowner drops historic properties in a high-stakes gamble.

Story from the magazine by Gillian Klucas / Feb. 14, 2003

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Red Mountain Mining District (Kathleen Norris Cook)

RED MOUNTAIN PASS, COLO.—Frank Baumgartner killed a hostage last summer. At least that's how people who work to protect the abandoned shafts, shacks, and boarding houses in this old mining district see it. After a land dispute with the state wasn't settled to his satisfaction, Baumgartner, a 74-year-old retired oilman, geologist, and property owner, bulldozed the Kohler-Longfellow Boarding House (1902) and a nearby mine manager's residence. Evidence of the structural carnage lies a few yards off a stretch of the high-altitude San Juan Skyway in the southwestern part of the state.

For years, Baumgartner had relented on his serial threats to harm the natural and historical attractions of the 1,600 acres he owns here, land that he steadfastly declares the right to exploit or dispose of as he sees fit.

Yankee Girl mine (Kathleen Norris Cook)

Two years ago, when Ouray County imposed land-use regulations he disliked, Baumgartner sent a bulldozer to tear down perhaps the state's most photographed mining remnant, a weathered wood structure atop the Yankee Girl Mine. A human chain of preservation activists talked him out of it. Another time, irritated by tours passing through his property, Baumgartner threatened to demolish five historic structures popular with sightseers unless the county controlled access to the roads. When the county deliberated reducing the number of luxury residences landowners could build on their properties, Baumgartner threatened to clear-cut 10 acres of forest. The county never followed through.

This time, in neighboring San Juan County, after the state prevailed over Baumgartner in a lawsuit about ownership of less than an acre, he knocked over the nearby historic buildings because, he said, "I'd just had enough of the crap that people were trying to pull."

The loss of the boarding house and residence "was a kick in the stomach," says Bob Risch, the chairman of the Red Mountain Task Force, a coalition of local citizens and government representatives that two years ago helped raise $7,100 to stabilize the structures, with Baumgartner's consent. "We worked so hard to preserve those," Risch says, "and there's so few historic mining structures left."

The acquisition and transfer to the U.S. Forest Service of 10,500 acres of private mining claims scattered through national forests in three San Juan Mountain valleys were the task force's founding mission. So far, about one third of the acreage, located within a triangle formed by the towns of Ouray, Silverton, and Telluride, has been secured. The group believes the large blocks of land, seen by more than a million travelers a year, will be broken into sites for cabins, second residences, and resorts if not preserved for their natural and historical value. In 2000, looting, logging, harsh weather, and potential sprawl led the National Trust to name the Red Mountain Mining District one of the nation's most endangered historic places.

"For Sale" signs began appearing several years ago on Baumgartner's property, which includes the ghost town of Red Mountain, the Joker Boarding House, and the Genesee-Vanderbilt Mine buildings. "The thought of development up there gave us all heartburn," Risch says. The task force offered to buy Baumgartner's 1,600 acres, but he demanded $10 million, well beyond the going price per acre, and later threatened to demolish historic structures if the group refused to buy. He has since lowered his price but is still asking for more than the amount the federal government appropriated to buy 3,200 acres in the mining district two years ago. Now Baumgartner has brought in real-estate agent Tom Chapman, whose tactics in previous land deals were so notorious that his involvement complicates any future negotiations with Baumgartner, according to Alan Staehle, Ouray County commissioner.

House in Red Mountain Mining District (Kathleen Norris Cook)

Baumgartner considers himself a champion of private property rights, one of the faction of landowners who feel unfairly fettered from reaping the value of their real estate by government regulations. Since amassing his holdings in the 1950s, he has toyed with selling the land for development as a ski area and mining it by using cyanide to leach gold from ore. He says he will build a 40-unit time-share complex where the boarding house stood.

Baumgartner maintains that he's unfazed by public reaction. "You can't go around and tell people what they can do with their property," he says. "They're just pouting because they can't meet my price."

San Juan County is considering charges against Baumgartner because he didn't obtain a demolition permit and is investigating whether he actually owned the structures. The county is also debating tougher land-use regulations. But neither Ouray nor San Juan county can prevent Baumgartner from selling off his land in pieces for vacation houses, something he has already begun to do.

Ann Hoffman, the executive director of the Ouray County Historical Society, says landowners have a responsibility, ethically if not legally, to preserve historically and environmentally valuable areas for the common good. The mission of the task force is to make that an equitable proposition, Risch says, and "as long as the public and Congress think it's important, we'll keep at it."

But Baumgartner says he may not have demolished his last historic structure, "depending on how they treat me." For now, there appears to be little middle ground.

Gillian Klucas is a free-lance writer living in Leadville, Colo.

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