A small group of landowners is suing Mineral County commissioners, claiming the old mining roads crossing their property are not public byways.
As more landowners inhabit the surface of old mining claims and other small parcels in mountain areas, disputes over the roads have multiplied beyond anyone’s count, according to Colorado Counties Inc.
Mineral County officials say they are taking a stand against those who want to limit access to the high country.
Creede Bachelor Enterprises, Robert S. Wunderlich Sr. and Robert Wunderlich Jr. are suing to protect their private-property rights. The men have acquired silver claims in the historic Bachelor Mining District 5 miles north of Creede.
County authority challenged
In their lawsuit, filed in late 2006, they claim the county has no authority to declare portions of their properties to be public roads. They object to tourists, including many who visit the nearby Last Chance Mine exhibit, driving through their property and near their homes.
“So many people buy their little piece of the Rockies … and they don’t recognize that there are historical public roads,” Mineral County Attorney John S. Wilder of Monte Vista said. “The assault on public roads is going on all over the mountains of Colorado. If every person who purchases a 10-acre mining claim successfully shuts down roads, it will be catastrophic.”
Colorado Counties Inc.’s Chip Taylor said there are so many mine-related road disputes across the state that they are nearly impossible to track.
Mineral County attorneys will ask the District Court in Creede, at a hearing scheduled for March 14, to enlarge the case to include any other property owners who would seek to challenge the county’s designation of public roads.
Based on state, federal laws
In 1996, Mineral County commissioners adopted a resolution asserting that various roads and trails throughout the county were open and public by virtue of state and federal laws. Their list includes dirt roads just off the popular Bachelor Loop Road, a major tourist draw, that cut through the properties later acquired by the Wunderlichs and their Creede Bachelor Enterprise cohort Paul Franke.
“The resolutions are invalid,” landowners’ attorney Philip Giacinti of Denver said. “It is a judicial function to determine these matters.”
The county is relying in part on a Colorado statute that says county and other public highways include roads and paths over private lands that have been used by the public without interruption, or objection on the part of the owners, for 20 consecutive years.
It can be any 20-year period, said Durango attorney Michael McLachlan, who has handled road disputes in La Plata and San Miguel counties. Wilder said the roads have been used by the public to access mines, favorite hunting grounds and fishing holes in what is now the Rio Grande National Forest since the late 1800s.
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
