About Red Feather Lakes' Red Feather Lakes Village

Market Review for Red Feather Lakes- October 10. 2009

The Red Feather Lakes zip code not only includes the Village of Red Feather Lakes, Crystal Lakes Subdivision, Red Feather Highlands, Sand Creek, Beaver Meadows Resort, and Fox Acres but also other un-subdivided areas as well.

Here's a breakdown of the 34 Home Sales in the Red Feather zip code to date according to MLS numbers:

Red Feather Lakes Village - 11

Crystal Lakes Subdivision- 18

Red Feather Highlands - 1

Sand Creek 4

.

34 Vacant Land Sales

Crystal Lakes Subdivision 26

Sand Creek 2

Red Feather Ranch 2

Elk Ridge Ranches RLUP 1

Moose Haven - 1

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Whether you are looking for one acre or 40 acres, a vacation rustic cabin, or a year around home, off the grid or on.... The Red Feather Lakes area has an abundance of opportunities waiting to be discovered. If you are interested in selling or buying in the Red Feather lakes area, please give me a call.

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Mary Douglas, your Mountain Broker-Associate and REALTOR®

United Country Ponderosa Realty, Red Feather Lakes, CO

www.redfeatherlakes.com ---800-531-2195

"A Day in the Mountains will always soothe your city soul"

The information contained in Mary's blog is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed, and the opinions and views expressed in these articles are solely those of the author.

The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, at the Shambhala Mountain Center near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado is the largest and most elaborate example of Buddhist sacred architecture in North America.

Standing 108 feet tall, it is a global destination, attracting thousands of visitors a year.

Construction began in 1988 and the Stupa was finally consecrated in August 2001. After 14 years of construction, the Stupa was formally opened to the public in August of 2001.

The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya is open to visitors daily from 9:00am to 6:00pm. You can visit the Stupa at any time without prior registration, although it is a good idea to call in advance (970-881-2184, ext. 454) to see if the Stupa is closed for a special event. Guided tours are also available.

The Center offers meditation retreats and many programs throughout the year, attracting world renown teachers. Everyone is welcome, either as a visitor, a student, or an experienced person who wants to deepen their practice.

One gorgeous autumn day, my sisters-in-law and I went to visit the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya. The 600 acres of the Shambhala Mountain Center is about a fifteen minute drive from the Village of Red Feather Lakes.

After we parked the car, we had a beautiful easy hike through golden aspen and sweet pine to get to the Stupa. Our tour guide explained the symbolism behind the different colored doors, located on each side of the building, and many other interesting facts about the Stupa. The intricate detail, all hand painted inside and outside is incredible. It is a very peaceful and beautiful place. If you are ever visiting the Red Feather Lakes area, I would definitely recommend a visit to The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya,

Visit their website to find out more about the Shambhala Mountain Center near Red Feather Lakes.

Wrong Turn, Turns into fun.

My daughter, her friend and our two grandchildren were supposed to come by my office; from there we were going to the Craft Fair at the Greening of Red Feather. (Grandpa was going to stay home, watch the dogs and the football game).

I waited and waited for them to come and then the call came. They were stuck in the snow on Kinnikinnik!

I left the office to go find them, and see if my car could push them out.

There are few paved roads in the Village of Red Feather. Kinnikinnik is an unpaved, residential road, not even close to my office, or Main Street. You can see Main Street from Kinnikinnik - but that really isn't helpful when your city car Mazda is up to your "you-know- what" in snow!

HOW did you get here, I asked them? Oh, they used their GPS, instead of following my directions! ? ! Well, there you go -but that's another story.

ANYWAY- Here's my daughter's car, STUCK in the snow, here are my grandchildren 4 and 6 years old PLAYING in the snow! They are making snow sculptures, and having a grand ol' time and before you know it, we are all having a snowball fight, laughing and playing like children do! It was so much fun!

We finally got her car moving back up the little snow packed road to the plowed road and went on to the Craft Fair.

My grandson wanted to bring his snow sculpture with him, but we left it there, together with all the tire tracks in the snowball dotted ‘battlefield'.

The Craft Fair was great, we bought some cool stuff, but the day was a lot more fun because my daughter took the wrong turn onto Kinnikinnik!

Playing in the snow was one of the best parts of the whole weekend!

Sometimes the best things in life are unexpected, unplanned surprises, and sometimes they might even be called a mistake. Sometimes, Wrong Turns can turn into a lot of fun!!

How did Red Feather Lakes get its name?

The story as I remember reading it goes something like this: In the late 1920's, the area that is now known as Red Feather Lakes, was designated as wetlands. Smart developers who saw the beauty all around them decided to make Red Feather Lakes a resort area. They began digging a series of ditches, and lakes. Jake Mitchell had first diverted water from Upper North Pine in 1888 to what is now Hiawatha Lake.

This small town was sparsely inhabited with hard working, industrious and visionary mountain folks. There was a general store, a Hotel was built, and the beautiful lakes were taking shape. The lakes were named after one of the developers; Mitchell 1, Mitchell 2...

It's not clear whether Mitchell or someone else went to a show or if one day, a touring show came to town. I have read different accounts of this story. A Creek/Cherokee Indian Princess, named Tsianina (sometimes written Tsianini) was performing. She had studied voice in Denver and sang Opera songs composed by Charles Wakefield Cadman,* and apparently was very captivating. When she was asked by this developer what her name meant in English, she told him Red Feather. "That's it", he exclaimed, "We'll name this Red Feather Lakes". And that, as the story goes, is how the Village got its name!

Princess Tsianina Red Feather married a man named Blackwell and lived to be 103 years old. She travelled to Europe and entertained the soldiers in World War I. The individual lakes in Red Feather are Hiawatha, Shagwa, Snake, Apache, Nokomis, Erie, Letitia and Ramona. Many of the roads in Red Feather are Native American names also. The lakes in the Village are owned and managed by The Red Feather Lakes Storage and Irrigation Company. Now, I need to find out who Ramona and Letitia were... I'm curious, aren't you?!

•(1) According to Wikipedia, Charles Wakefield Cadman 1881-1946 was a well known composer who was greatly influenced by American Indian Music and even traveled to Nebraska to make cylinder recordings of Indian Songs for the Smithsonian. He lived among the Omaha and Winnebago tribes and learned how to play their instruments. He wrote several Pageants, which were often performed outside. He wrote the Pageant of Colorado which was produced in Denver, Colorado in May 1927....He also wrote the well known "Land of Sky Blue Waters"

Effective January 1, 2009, The Division of Water Resources must receive a well transfer form for all small capacity wells or domestic exempt wells that are sold (or transferred) in any real estate transaction. All transferred water rights need to be reported, except those water rights represented by stock in a ditch company.

House Bill 08-1014 was passed by the Colorado General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Ritter and will assist the Division in more accurate recordkeeping regarding well ownership. Current information is necessary for the State to notify well owners of any health, safety, water right or stewardship issues pertaining to their ground water well.

The new Residential Real Estate Contract requires the Buyer to complete a Change in Ownership Form for the well and submit the form within 60 days. If a person provides closing services, that person is required within 60 days of the closing, to send that information or as much information as is available on the well, and the Division will follow up with the buyer.

IF THE WELL IS NOT REGISTERED, the buyer cannot fill out a transfer form, (which is only for registered wells) and is required to complete a Registration of an Existing Well Form. There may be several unregistered wells throughout Colorado that were constructed and in use prior to May 8, 1972, the time that registration was required.

If you are dealing with one of those wells, it is important to discuss this issue prior to closing so the parties are aware that the well will need to be registered. The present charge is $100.00 to the State, and there will be an additional fee for a well production report, from an independent company, in your area.

In order to register the well, you have to describe the use of the water, the date of first beneficial use by the original owner, the total depth of the well, the pumping rate in gallons per minute, the annual amount of water diverted in acre-feet, and the area of lawn and/or garden irrigation.

Once you have all this information, together with a copy of the buyer's deed, and $100.00. the Registration form is ready to be sent to the State of Colorado, Office of the State Engineer. You must schedule an inspection with the Division office where your well is located. You can also get more information by calling your division, or visiting their web site at http://www.water.state.co.us

So what do you do if you have an unregistered well? Get busy! There are many steps in the process and you may need to ask your title company or your county assessor to see if they can help you search back to find the original owner..... (?)

For the first time, I will be working with my buyer on getting her well registered. If you have any information that I missed, please pass it along!