Part II of a Corporate Mystery
This is a true story, only the names have been changed to keep me from getting sued.
On the way back to Denver from Central City, Elizabeth decided to take a slight detour to show me the original "Corporate Office" for her real estate company. Like many companies back then hers had started out with a construction company owner and his wife just trying to make a little extra money by selling the land around Denver and the surrounding area. Once they had made a few good sales they decided to build a home in the mountains large enough for themselves, their 10 year old son, and an expanded area for a couple of agents. They soon purchased a ten acre plot about half way up the side of a mountain a goat wouldn’t want to climb in the winter, with a beautiful view of the Eastern slope of the Rockies, and were suprised at how inexpensive the land was even at that time.
Climbing the side of a mountain in a 4W drive with a wannabe womens racing driver was exciting enough… when we got to the home site the view was breathtaking. Anyone who has never seen the view from about 10,000 ft. should do so at least once in their lifetime. Denver was spread below us and the horizon went on forever, I later found out that I could actually see Kansas from there.
The homesite itself was a little strange. A large two story, high peaked house looked to be in pretty good repair, however what looked to be a rather aged "For Sale" sign duplicated several we had seen along the road leading there. Elizabeth informed me that the house had been vacant for a little over ten years… after the owner and his family had moved out having lived in the house only a few months.
Never one to let my curiosity go unsatisfied, of course I asked Elizabeth the details.
As we walked around the property admiring the view, Elizabeth pointed out several landmarks, various abandoned mining operations surrounding the area, and began telling me the story.