Sign of the times in Lake George: 'For Sale'

LAKE GEORGE - This hamlet on the Park-Teller county line - a scenic byproduct of 19th century refrigeration and the victim of a bet gone bad - has long been stuck betwixt and between and left to live on its charms.

And, generally, for a century it's worked. Folks who settled in the isolated area (next stop, South Park) have always known there is a price to pay for living - and doing business - between here and there.

Today, a drive through the unincorporated town reveals that price: It seems as if half of the businesses are closed or up for sale or both - and many have been that way for a while.

"The whole country is for sale up here," said "Big Jim" Tubbs. "It seems like there's a story in each business."

Tubbs owns Big Jim's Lake George Inn, which he closed five years ago and has been trying unsuccessfully to sell. He also owns another area landmark, The Fossil Inn in nearby Florissant, which was closed a year ago and also is for sale.

Lake George's decadeslong gathering spot, Mountain Shadows Restaurant, is shuttered. So, too, is the auto repair shop. Just east of town, a cavernous restaurant with weeds growing around its deck stands empty and for sale. On the west side of Lake George, a large, well-kept campground has a for-sale sign posted out front. And locals say other businesses may not have a for-sale sign displayed, but their owners are looking to get out.

Weathering "for sale" signs are not unusual anywhere in Colorado right now, as the state struggles under a weakening economy. And longtime residents say there is still life and business going on in Lake George, and they expect to see better times.

But there's no overlooking all those shuttered businesses and "for sale" signs. Some locals say the sell-off is a bad confluence of geography, high gas prices and inflated asking prices.

Rail hub hopes fizzled

Lake George got its start in the late 19th century, when an Easterner named George Frost moved to the area and created a shallow lake to supply ice to cool cargo being hauled by the Colorado Midland Railway then chugging through nearby Elevenmile Canyon.

Frost was betting the area eventually would be a big railway hub, since there was talk of another railroad being built from Denver along the South Platte River, said Steve Plutt, a longtime local resident who has researched the sketchy historical records of the period.

Frost's bet on a major rail hub didn't pay off. The railroad line from Denver was never built, and the Midland struggled, eventually ceasing operation.

The small community, named in honor of Frost, hung on, with its 25 or so residents finding work at nearby ranches or mines. After World War II, sportsmen were attracted to the area's hunting, fishing and boating. Soon small cabins popped up in nearby valleys, built by Midwesterners seeking to beat the summer heat of the flatlands.

In the good times, the tiny community capitalized on its proximity to Elevenmile and Tarryall reservoirs and on tourists headed to or from Colorado's high country.

In the bad times, the community hunkered down. "I've seen a lot of people come and go up here in my day," said Steve Quist, whose mother was born in 1928 on Tarryall Road and who raised 10 kids in the then-remote area. His father, Carl, built many of the buildings now standing in Lake George.

Real estate took off

For generations, businesses in Lake George changed hands infrequently and for modest amounts of money, often between family and friends.

That changed with the urbanization of rural Colorado over the past 30 years.

New homes popped up in the hills around Lake George, and many of the old fishing cabins in the area were converted to year-round houses. A subdivision was even built around old George Frost's lake.

The boom swelled the population in the surrounding mountains to 3,000 to 5,000 people, locals estimate, although Lake George is probably home to no more than 100.

Real estate values skyrocketed.

Longtime resident Bob Gilley, owner of the Travel Port Campground, said he's tracked a particular 30-acre parcel since he was a young man, when it sold for $10,000. Now 61, Gilley said the parcel last sold for $333,000.

Despite the new money, one thing hadn't changed: Lake George was still a long drive from anywhere.

That meant businesses had to rely on residents to pay the bills through winter and tourists in summer to make a modest profit.

That's gotten tougher over the past decade, when a series of setbacks smacked the area, Tubbs said.

The nearby Hayman fire in 2002, the state's largest, drove tourists away for a couple years. Then Tarryall Reservoir was closed for dam repairs. Recently, the whirling disease parasite and New Zealand mud snails were discovered in Elevenmile Canyon, a popular fishing spot.

Rising gas prices have slowed the number of RVers and boaters who once flocked to the area. Locals say it's still unclear whether $4 a gallon gas will drive away residents who commute to work.

"We've got a lot of old timers up here - a bunch of them living with their mom, their sister, live-in lovers - everyone's trying to make it work," Tubbs said.

"The dollars aren't flowing, for sure."

Sellers hard pressed

Longtime locals say the businesses now standing empty indicate their owners are ignoring what has always been both a boon and a bane for Lake George: its relative isolation.

"I think in time it will turn around," Gilley said. "But what's happened with most of them is they want too much money. They're thinking their business is worth $400,000 - but there's not enough hamburgers, steaks and drinks to pay the interest on that kind of money.

"They've got too much in them for one reason or another, and it's come to the point where they finally have got to realize it only has so much value."

For 23 years, Gilley operated the local auto repair shop. He then leased it for another seven. That business is now for sale, and Gilley said he'll take substantially less than its assessed value.

Tubbs isn't saying he's priced his Lake George Inn too high, but he acknowledges it faces some challenges, not the least a requirement by Park County that its water and septic systems be upgraded by a new owner. That same requirement also applies to the Mountain Shadows Restaurant, built in the 1930s and now owned by an outof-stater who could not be reached for comment.

Tubbs said he's had many opportunities to rent or lease the local landmark, but he wants out.

"I'm 73 years old," he said. "I need to be in Mexico chasing young girls."

But he realizes he's stuck in a peculiar geography at a particular time.

"To be truthful with you, it just doesn't look good," he said. "I want to sell it so bad. I'm relisting it on the Internet and marketing it in Colorado, Texas and California."

Healthy signs emerge

None of the locals interviewed believe hard times will kill Lake George. The longtime general store is still open, as is a bait shop Quist recently sold to a fellow who has operated it the last few years. A guy from Chicago bought the local motel last year, across from a pizza shop that opened a couple of years ago and seems to be doing well. There's also a new irrigation company operating just outside the town.

Quist's wife, Sara, a Forest Service ranger out of Fairplay, said, "With the downturn in the economy, it's going to be tough here. But when it swings the other way, we'll see it pick up."

Kim Plutt, librarian in the Lake George branch library and wife of informal historian Steve, has seen it all in her 34 years in Lake George.

"You definitely make sacrifices to live here," she said. "But we will survive."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazette.com