Smallest town in US up for sale

The sale, set for Thursday, "represents a unique opportunity to acquire an entire town, along with the Buford Trading Post, an income-producing convenience and fuel store", the firm handling the auction said.

Selling the town was the idea of Buford's self-proclaimed mayor and only resident, Don Sammons, who has spent the past few years alone after his wife died and the couple's grown son moved away.

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The 61-year-old Sammons owns and operates the Buford Trading Post, a gas station and convenience store mainly serving travelers on Interstate 80, which crosses the country from New York to San Francisco.

Founded in 1866, Buford was once home to as many as 2,000 people, most of them employed in building the railroad, but its isolated location left residents with few employment options once the railway was completed.

Sammons moved to Buford with his family in the 1980s.

The property includes 10 acres of land, a three-bedroom house, five US Post Office boxes and a cell phone tower.