Creede, CO: Patented Mining Claim & Cabin On Acreage

The Happy Thought - 501 Last Chance Mine Road, Creede, Colorado
12.34 surveyed acres Patented mining claim Off-grid cabin Minerals included

Some properties come with a view. This one comes with a claim, a history, and the mineral rights to go with it.

A Patented Claim, Not Just a Parcel

The Happy Thought is a patented mining claim - 12.34 acres, verified by survey - meaning the mineral estate is unified with the surface and transfers to the buyer at closing. In a state where minerals were severed from the surface generations ago on most rural ground, that's an unusual thing to be able to offer. The legal description reaches back through the Happy Thought, New Discovery, and Golden Eagle claims, names that belong to the silver boom that built Creede.

The Cabin

Built in 2018 on the barndominium concept, the cabin runs roughly 930 square feet with two bedrooms, one full bath, and a sleeping loft that handles the overflow when the whole hunting party shows up. Metal roof and metal siding on the outside for durability at elevation; tongue-and-groove wood throughout the inside for warmth. A wood stove carries the heat, propane runs the appliances, and the covered porch faces out toward the La Garita Mountains.

It sells furnished. Beds, kitchen, furniture, the framed historical photography of the mining district, and the specimen rock set around the place - it all stays. Walk in with groceries and a duffel bag.

Genuinely Off Grid, Genuinely Dialed In

Off-grid living only works when the system works. The solar array was recently upgraded to lithium batteries - longer service life, better efficiency, more capacity to run the cabin without babysitting it. A generator backs it up for heavy loads or a long stretch of weather. Septic is in place and functional. A licensed electrician out of South Fork has been through the system, tested it, and left it charging with the breakers off - flip them on and the cabin comes to life.

The current owners also cleared hundreds of trees for fire mitigation around the structure, which is what made insurability possible at a reasonable rate. Anyone who has tried to insure a mountain cabin in the San Juans recently will understand the value of that work already being done.

Rock Hounds Wanted

This is the part that sets the property apart, and it deserves to be said plainly: you are buying the minerals. They are not severed, not leased, not reserved - they come with the deed.

What that means in practice is that the historic workings on the property are yours to explore. The dump pile behind the cabin holds mine-era artifacts alongside collectible material, and two agate piles sit south of the house. The district produces amethyst and the banded Sowbelly Agate that Creede collectors chase - good enough material that the sellers built the outdoor fire pit out of it and set feature pieces around the porch and the house. The tailings still reward anyone willing to walk them with a bucket and a good eye. Dark rock through the lower piles will move a metal detector needle, and the sellers report low-grade silver showing in the material during field testing, though nothing has been formally assayed and no representation of economic mineral value is made or implied.

To give the next owner a running start, the sale includes a Mount Baker Mining sorting table with a closed-loop water system - a real piece of equipment, capable of processing up to a ton of fine material per hour and separating out heavy minerals. It runs about $21,000 new before freight. The sellers' remaining rock and crystal collection on the property conveys as well; more than they could haul out. Bring a small ball mill and a curious streak and you'll have something to do here for years. Buyers are encouraged to do their own investigation into mineral content, permitting, and any processing they intend to pursue.

Room to Build

The property lies on both sides of Last Chance Mine Road. The east side holds a leveled bench - the old dump site, graded flat - that opens to some of the biggest views on the parcel and would accommodate a larger home than the current cabin, subject to Mineral County zoning and permitting. Whether that's a future primary residence, a guest house, or simply the best place on the property to park a chair at sunset is up to the buyer.

The Country Around It

From Creede, take Highway 149 to the Bachelor Loop Road (Forest Road 504) and climb about 5.5 miles to the sharp right onto Last Chance Mine Road. Twelve minutes, give or take, and the pavement is behind you.

The Last Chance tourism mine sits at the end of the road. Continue around the Bachelor Loop and a spur heads north past the Equity Mine toward the San Luis Peak trailhead and up onto the Continental Divide - rough road best suited to ATVs, and worth every mile for views that run in all directions before dropping back down Rat Creek into town. National Forest surrounds the area. Elk and deer hunting, alpine fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and some of the best high-country ATV riding in southern Colorado are all out the gate.

Most owners up here use their places as second homes, though a handful of neighbors stay through the winter. The county plows to the gate but not beyond, which makes winter a snowshoe-and-woodstove proposition - quiet, white, and entirely yours.

No HOA. No covenants. 2021 taxes: $785.