![]() He’d seen the group again as the day waned. That night, Stephens placed another call to Deputy Paula Martinez. His report kicked off a law enforcement investigation to identify the armed people. Stephens, shaken, drove away and called the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office. Stephens is adamant he told the men he didn’t want a shootout and they all lowered their weapons. Alarmed, Stephens said he pulled a shotgun from behind his seat and pointed it at the man’s head.īehind the armed trio, the group chanted “Go!” at Stephens, he told police. Stephens pulled over and began yelling at them.Īs he later told sheriff’s deputies, that’s when three armed men fanned out across the pasture and approached him. They were of many races and ethnicities, Stephens recalled, and they ranged in age from children to adults in their 30s. By then, about two dozen people had congregated on the 40-acre lot, a plain of sagebrush that slopes into a sparsely-wooded valley. ![]() On May 16, Stephens was frustrated when he found cars still in the road. They refused, saying they had bought the land and could do as they pleased.Ī week passed. According to Stephens, he pulled over twice in the next few days and asked the newcomers to move their vehicles. Near the cars, he saw a few people he didn’t know on Beaver Pines Lot 11, vacant land listed for sale. That’s when Stephens noticed several parked cars blocking the community’s only road. The temperature was fluctuating wildly in early May, with highs in the 80s and lows in the 30s. (William Woody, Special to The Colorado Sun)Īt 8,200 feet, it’s often frigid in the winter. “There’s not a lot going on out there,” he said.Ī parcel of land near property the Black Hammer community briefly called home southeast of Norwood. Of the 16 lots in Beaver Pines, many still are undeveloped and held by absentee owners as far away as Los Angeles. From Norwood, it’s about 6 miles as the crow flies to Beaver Pines, a remote spot that offers the opportunity to live quietly or off-the-grid, said Teddy Berger, a real estate agent based in Montrose. Norwood offers sweeping views of the Lone Cone, the westernmost peak of the San Juan Mountains, and the land rolling west toward the Utah border. The small town can feel a world apart from glitzy Telluride, which is 45 minutes away, residents said in interviews. When he’s not tracking cinnamon bears and full moons to photograph, he takes care of his daughter’s horses on his 41 acres or drives the 20 minutes to run errands in Norwood. Wildlife photographer Randy Stephens lives in a solar-powered cabin in Beaver Pines. Undeveloped parcels mostly held by absentee owners When the activists decamped May 17, what remained was a partially built footbridge, a property sign riddled with bullet holes and a local man shaken after an armed standoff. In the Beaver Pines subdivision and the community around nearby Norwood, population 600, the Black Hammer Organization left an impression. After Black Hammer narrowly failed to purchase its land, Hammer City joined the rich history of failed utopian projects in Colorado.
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