For sale: Tiny Oregon town, including 6 houses, store
The tiny, dying timber town of Tiller in Oregon is generating bigcity buzz for an unlikely reason: Almost the entire town is for sale. The asking price of $3.5 million brings with it six houses, the shuttered general store and gas station, the land under the post office, undeveloped parcels, water rights and infrastructure that includes fire hydrants and a working power station. Tiller Elementary School, a six-classroom building that closed in 2014, is for sale separately for $350,000. The listing represents a melancholy crossroads for Tiller, a once-bustling logging outpost that sprang up after the turn of the last century deep in what is now the Umpqua National Forest. Nearly three decades ago, logging on the federal forest lands that encircle Tiller came to a near standstill because of environmental regulations. The mills closed. One resident began buying up properties. When he died three years ago, the family owned much of the town. About 235 people still live in the unincorporated area around Tiller.