Mary Douglas, REALTOR ®, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

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!

Crystal Lakes Subdivision, CO, Market Report, December 8, 2008

64 LOTS are currently on the market

4 sales are pending

14 lots sold in the 3rd quarter (22%)

At this quarterly rate of activity, it will take 14 months to sell the current inventory

32 HOMES are currently on the market

4 sales are pending

11 Homes sold in the 3rd quarter (34%)

Low: $70,000 - High $287,000

At this quarterly rate of activity, it will take 9 months to sell the current inventory

Interest rates are low and we have a good selection of lots and homes in Crystal Lakes. It's a great time to think about moving to the mountains! If you are interested in buying or selling, contact Mary Douglas at 800-531-2195. Let me help you with your real estate needs.

Glacier View Meadows Subdivision Market Report December 8, 2008

43 LOTS are currently on the market

0 pending sales

12 lots SOLD 3rd quarter ( 28%)

At this quarterly rate of activity, it will take 11 months to sell the current inventory.

48 HOMES are currently on the market

0 pending sales

11 homes were SOLD 3rd quarter (23%)

Low $113,000 - High $285,000

At this quarterly rate of activity, it will take 13 months to sell the current inventory

Interest rates are low and we have a good selection of lots and Homes. It's a great time for you to make your move to the mountains. If you are thinking about buying or selling, contact Mary Douglas at 800-531-2195, let me help you with your real estate needs.

"It must be my lucky day", I said to the Tow Truck Driver!

The tow truck driver looked at me as if I were a crazy person! In the snowy field, 20 feet off of the icy road, surrounded by barbed wire was my trusty 1996 Blazer! An unexpected freezing March storm had come in, and the road was a sheet of ice. I had been driving slowing down the mountain, through the "S" curves... slow and steady... then on the flat stretch by Hansen's ranch, my car suddenly turned into Stephen King's "Christine"! Knowing I hadn't done one thing different, no braking or accelerating I was very surprised when I started driving sideways on the wrong side of the road and heading for the hillside. I turned my wheels back to the right side of the road, and then ended up driving down the embankment, through the barbed wire fence, and into the bull pasture! There, the front of my vehicle stopped with a mild thud; front tires in the irrigation ditch.

The well driller coming up the mountain, stopped his rig, and ran out into the pasture. He managed to pull the barbed wire down far enough so that I could open the car door and climb out. Soon after, coming down the mountain was the tow truck! There is no cell phone service in that stretch of road, so I felt very fortunate that he was just driving by. I said to him "This must be my lucky day!" You should have seen the look on his face! But, I did feel very lucky. Lucky that I didn't hurt anyone in an oncoming car. ‘Lucky that I didn't get hurt. ‘Lucky that I didn't run into one of Hansen's bulls, and lucky that a tow truck just happened by.

Even in less than ideal circumstances we can feel fortunate. I don't think the Tow Truck driver got it!

During this Holiday Season, my wish would be that we see how fortunate we are, despite those things in our lives that might not be our ideal. We can always count our blessings.