“It’s An Unpopulated, Faux Western Town That Might Boggle The Mind Of Anyone Who Ever Had A Playhouse”

One of the other billionaire Koch brothers (Bill) is building a replica Old West town and filling it with his considerable collection of Western memorabilia. He is doing it merely to amuse himself; the public will never be allowed to visit. Who said the Bush tax cuts wouldn’t work? From the Denver Post (via Slate):

KEBLER PASS —There’s a new town in Colorado. It has about 50 buildings, including a saloon, a church, a jail, a firehouse, a livery and a train station. Soon, it will have a mansion on a hill so the town’s founder can look down on his creation.

But don’t expect to move here — or even to visit.

This town is billionaire Bill Koch’s fascination with the Old West rendered in bricks and mortar. It sits on a 420-acre meadow on his Bear Ranch below the Raggeds Wilderness Area in Gunnison County. It’s an unpopulated, faux Western town that might boggle the mind of anyone who ever had a playhouse. Its full-size buildings come with polished brass and carved-mahogany details and are fronted with board sidewalks and underpinned by a water-treatment system. A locked gate with guards screens who comes and goes.”

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