Town of one resident to live on

Bonanza, a one-man, 133-yearold mountain town, lives on.

Bonanza, in Saguache County, was in jeopardy of being relegated to the ash heap of history, facing disincorporation and losing its status as the state’s smallest town because of a “lack of government.”

But the Colorado secretary of state’s office announced Tuesday that Bonanza survives.

“Under Colorado law, the Secretary of State must abandon towns that fail to hold elections and operate a government for five years,” the office said in a media release. “According to court filings and coverage in the Pueblo Chieftain, Bonanza held ... a 2009 special election.”

The 2009 election asked residentswhether theywanted to disincorporate.

“The measure received the majority of the votes cast with 11, (but) it failed to secure the twothirds majority needed” to pass, the release said.

Twenty-one votes were cast. What’s unclear ishow21 voteswere cast in a townwith one resident.

Mark Perkovich, 54, whomoved from Denver to Bonanza 19 years ago, is currently the town’s lone resident.

“I wanted to live at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere,” he told The Denver Post in March.

For now, the secretary of state’s office said: “The future of Bonanza lies with its only resident.”

The state has disincorporated dozens of other inactive municipalities during the past decade, with little fanfare.

Because of its long history of mine camps and boomtowns, Colorado is home to more than 1,500 ghost towns.