'Slice of heaven' goes on auction block

It looks like a slice of heaven.

In the brochure, a fisherman makes a big catch in a scenic river. A turkey roams among fall leaves. A snowmobiler speeds by in a crisp winter scene.

Interested? It's right in your backyard. And it could be yours, if the price is right.

A Twin Cities landowner plans to auction off about 156 acres along the Sheyenne River in Richland County, N.D., on Saturday. The land is billed as luxury waterfront living.

Investor Steve Mattson said he bought the property about 45 minutes southwest of Fargo last year because it seemed distinctive.

Now he's hired a national firm to sell the real estate at a public auction, a move he and others said is uncommon in the Midwest.

The firm, Gadsden, Ala.-based National Auction Group, calls itself "America's trophy property auctioneers."

More than 30 acres are taken up by a former 4-H campsite with 12 cabins, a swimming pool and two halls. The rest has 30 heavily wooded lots for homes or cabins and 40 acres of open land.

"It's just so unique to the state," Mattson said. "If somebody blindfolded you and dropped you in with a helicopter, the last thing you'd think was that you were in North Dakota."

The property, called Rio Sheyenne Estates, is near the 70,000-acre Sheyenne National Grasslands.

The rural character of the area also means roads aren't meant for a development of 30 homes, County Engineer Tim Schulte said.

"I guess I would have some concerns," Schulte said. "If we had potentially 30 new homeowners in that area all building, our roads aren't really set up to handle that kind of traffic."

The land is valued as agricultural land with a total value of around $6,000, said Larry Osborn, the county tax property supervisor.

But with the land use changing, that value isn't even close to the market value of the land, he said.

The lots are for sale individually or as a whole.

Bidders need to be able to pay 10 percent on auction day and must have $2,500 in certified funds to bid on each home site, $3,500 for the open land, $5,000 for the campground or $50,000 to bid on the entire site.

National Auction Group President William Bone said the property hasn't had the interest he'd been hoping for.

But Jimmy Knight, National Auction Group site manager, said interested people also have called but said they didn't need to see the site because they already are familiar.

The auction will take place Saturday on the property. Registration starts at 11 a.m. The auction starts at 2 p.m.

To reach the site from Fargo, take Interstate 29 south to exit 48. Take N.D. Highway 46 west 14.3 miles to N.D. Highway 18. Drive south on 18 for 3.8 miles to Richland Co. Highway 2. Drive west 3.8 miles to Richland Co. Highway 23. Drive south about six miles to the property on the right.

For more information, call (800) 473-2292 or (256) 547-3434.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Andrea Domaskin at (701) 241-5556