WOW, 22 acres, Dove Creek, Co $34,500.

http://westslope.craigslist.org/grd/4374351616.html

This is dry farm land. With keyline there is probably enough water to get a multi storied alley crop thing going, a la Mark Shepard's "Restoration Agriculture". It's beautiful country, not polluted as far as I know.

If you are looking for land, check it out.

Thekla

Adam Klaus just posted his assessment of buying land without irrigation shares on the western slope.

Find it here at today's date.

https://permies.com/t/31867/rockies/auctioned-acres-delta-colorado

He does not recommend it. This is the property I was promoting that is without water.

Adam knows a lot. If you want fruit trees and a garden this might not be your place, I don't know enough about Dove Creek to add more to the discussion.

Thekla

Thanks for the endorsement Thekla!

Dove Creek is very fertile soil. Primary crops are alfalfa and dry beans, both are excellent there, but always irrigated. Recently some peaches have been grown there successfully as well.

The climate is pretty harsh. It is a high plateau, cold in winter and hot in summer. Windy and dry, even for Western Colorado. Pretty isolated in terms of markets and social life.

Hope that helps!

I looked at some dry land near Lilloette BC. It was going for about 10% of the price of land where I live on the coast. Although I'd like more acerage, it would take 200+ acres of this marginal land to match my 7.5 acres. Then there's the distance factor and the freezing cold winters and the less interesting cultural life ... In the end, I decided the area was horribly over priced.

So I looked at the ad. For $5K you can get "hooked up" to irrigation water. What does that mean? Here the rights are sold by shares, so how much water do you get for $5K? Or is that the access to buy water through a pipe?

Ann Torrence wrote:So I looked at the ad. For $5K you can get "hooked up" to irrigation water. What does that mean? Here the rights are sold by shares, so how much water do you get for $5K? Or is that the access to buy water through a pipe?

im interested too...

in my area, only certain properties have irrigation water delivery available to the property. if you own one of those properties, all you have to do it buy shares in the irrigation company, pay your dues and water will be delivered.

i have seen some properties iin my area where solid pipe (vs gated) takes water from a delivery point, and routes it to a new property, sometimes 1/4+ mile away. maybe the $5k is to get a delivery point setup on your land?


wish there was an address...

You're welcome, Adam. IMO it's well earned and well deserved.

i don't know what they mean by getting "hooked up". In irrigated country, you buy a share (or shares). If there are shares available, the water is a limited resource. Anyway, say there are shares available. Great you buy them. There will still be the annual per share cost of the water. Additionally, you might have to install a head gate, or install some pipe or both. Then unless you are very lucky, you'll need to devise storage and a means to pump the water from the storage to the field.

If you are serious about the property, and it would be great if you could get irrigation water shares, then ask for the specifics from the seller, the person who listed on craigslist. You need to know an exact location, an address and also a legal description of the property.

Once you find out what irrigation company serves that area, then contact the irrigation company directly. Find out if they serve the property, when and how much, what type of shares are available.

Another thing that getting hooked up might mean is renting someone else's share. Kind of iffy to begin a labor intensive development program and lose access to the water. on second thought that is the situation we are all in, as there are no guarantees about water from one year to the next, but, if you are rening a share, then a very dry year comes, then the owner of the share might decide not to rent for the year, because s/he will be using it to keep his/her farm from death's doorstep. In a marginal year a water renter will lose access when a water owner will not.

Hope this helps

Thekla

I was thinking some more about this place, while I was burning fossil fuels (sigh) doing errands. If $5000. is all it would take to get irrigation water to it, then if I were selling, I would get the water to the property and sell the land and irrigation shares at the same time. I'd make a bundle! Me thinks it would be more than $5000. to get irrigation water flowing to these beautiful acres. Then ther eis the question of domestic water, is a well for house water possible?

If I were half my age, I'd be looking hard at this one. I still think it has a lot of potential.

T