Star No. 2 Lode

Five acres of open meadow and timber at 9,000 feet, half a mile off Left Hand Canyon Drive on a private road, with county land to the north. Gently rolling ground holds three building sites and a south-facing rise overlooking forested foothills. Access runs under a perpetual federal right-of-way. Patented in 1902, held by one family since 1961, and buildable to 1,682 square feet of residential floor area. Thirty-five minutes from Boulder.

Land

The parcel is the Star No. 2 Lode, Mineral Survey No. 12625, a patented mining claim in the Ward Mining District, Section 7, Township 1 North, Range 72 West (Boulder County APN 145907000027). It is laid out the way lode claims were, along the line of the vein: 1,500 feet long and 150 feet wide, more than a quarter mile end to end.
The land is open by mountain standards. Meadow runs between stands of timber on level to gently sloping ground. The high point is a low, south-facing rise with a long view across forested foothills. Three sites along its length would each take a cabin. One family has held and cared for the ground since 1961. The owners have located the Bureau of Land Management’s 1991 survey caps at both south corners, with the section’s center-quarter monument between them.
Boulder County owns the land along the north boundary. The parcel lies half a mile off the canyon road, far enough that the traffic falls away.
An old adit, long since filled, recalls the claim’s mining years without intruding on the ground around it.
Assessor acreage is 4.99; the 1902 patent describes 5.166 acres.

Improvements

The property is unimproved and off-grid. Boulder County has issued a Building Lot Determination, and the parcel carries a residential floor area allowance of 1,682 square feet: room for a cabin or a modest mountain home.
A private road leaves paved Left Hand Canyon Drive and runs roughly half a mile to the property. It crosses a short stretch of Bureau of Land Management ground, then Boulder County land and a neighbor’s parcel. The route is an 18-foot federal right-of-way, granted in 1986 under Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and made perpetual by amendment in 2003. The recorded patents for the two later crossings were each issued subject to it. The surface is native dirt and calls for high clearance. Upkeep rests with the holder, with costs on the stretch used in common with an adjoining owner to be shared. In winter, that means a plow or a snow machine.

Recreation

Much of what draws people here can be done without leaving the property. There is open ground for a camp, room to ride an ATV or sight in a rifle before the season, and a south-facing rise for watching weather come across the foothills. The area is known for elk, mule deer, and moose.
Hunting. The property lies in the southern end of Game Management Unit 20, which reaches north to the Rocky Mountain National Park boundary. With room for a wall tent or a camper, it works as a base for the whole season.
Beyond the property line. Brainard Lake Recreation Area and the Indian Peaks Wilderness begin a few miles west, past Ward. They hold trailheads, alpine lakes, and some of the best-known backcountry ski terrain on the Front Range. Rocky Mountain National Park lies north along the Peak to Peak Highway, entered at Wild Basin. To the south are Nederland and Eldora Mountain Resort.
Winter. Snow changes the approach rather than closing it off. With the road plowed, or a snow machine from the turnoff, the meadow becomes ground for snowshoes and touring skis.

Water/Mineral Rights & Natural Resources

The 1902 federal patent conveyed the Star No. 2 together with the vein it was located on and every other vein whose apex lies within its boundaries, to their full depth.

Region & Climate

The property sits at 9,000 feet on the east slope of the Front Range, just below the town of Ward, in upper montane forest where ponderosa pine holds the south-facing slopes and lodgepole and limber pine cover the rest. The claim itself lies open to the winter sun. Summers are cool, and July and August afternoons bring thunderstorms off the Divide. Left Hand Canyon Drive is paved and county-maintained, and it is the working route to Boulder, about thirty-five minutes away. Ward and the Peak to Peak Highway sit just up the road from the turnoff. For supplies, Nederland is twenty minutes south. Much of the northwest Denver metro lies within an hour.

History

The Ward Mining District grew up in Indiana Gulch, a branch of Left Hand Creek, where Calvin Ward struck the Ward lode in 1860. The Star No. 2 sits above the road that still carries the gulch’s name.
Frank and George Parks entered the Star No. 2 for patent in May 1901. Title issued from the United States on March 19, 1902, in the name of President Theodore Roosevelt. The survey began at the claim’s northwest corner, marked with a granite stone chiseled 1-12625.
In November 1955, the Star No. 2 went to the Boulder County treasurer’s sale for unpaid 1954 taxes. Robert and Virginia Axtell, then of Fairborn, Ohio, paid the $5.19 owed and carried the property through the redemption period. When no one redeemed it, the treasurer’s deed issued to them in 1961. Virginia Axtell applied for the federal right-of-way in 1985, describing the road as a driveway to a private dwelling “not yet constructed.” The grant followed in May 1986 and became perpetual in 2003. Sixty-five years on, the claim remains in the family, and the house is still unbuilt.

Location

Off Left Hand Canyon Drive, just southeast of the town of Ward in western Boulder County. The private access road is shown on the maps attached to this listing; directions are provided with a showing appointment.
Please note. Boundary monuments are described as found; no survey has been commissioned for this sale. The complete right-of-way file (the 1986 grant, the 2003 amendment, and the recorded patents issued subject to the grant) is available on request, and buyers should review it with their own counsel. The grant is transferable to a new owner by assignment, subject to Bureau of Land Management approval. The access road is not county-maintained. Buyer to verify buildability, setbacks, permitting, utility availability, well permitting, and onsite wastewater feasibility with the county, the serving utility, and independent counsel; the Building Lot Determination and Residential Floor Area Size Analysis are available for review. Mineral ownership has not been title-searched, and the seller conveys whatever interest it holds without representation or warranty. Boulder County Land Use Code Article 4-507.B.5.c permits camping on a parcel 14 days per year; recreational vehicles are not dwellings under Article 18-137 and may not be occupied as such on vacant land. The parcel lies outside the areas restricted on Boulder County’s current recreational shooting map. Buyers who intend to shoot should confirm county firearm-discharge restrictions. The land along the north boundary was conveyed to Boulder County by the Bureau of Land Management in 2003 and is not a designated public recreation area. Public access to it has not been confirmed, and Boulder County Parks & Open Space rules, where they apply, prohibit hunting and firearms. Buyers should confirm with the county before entering or using it. Showings by appointment only.