If you ever get the feeling that you’re on your own, then spare a thought for Don Sammons.
The hamlet of Buford in Wyoming is not even a sparsely-populated area. It’s a single-populated area, as the 60-year-old is the only man, woman or child living there.
But even though the ‘population one’ hamlet is 8,000ft up a cold mountain, he denies feeling lonely and runs an isolated petrol station and convenience shop.
Mr Sammons left Los Angeles in 1980 with his wife and bought the tiny town with six buildings to escape their busy lifestyle.
When the couple moved there were seven people living in Buford working for a railroad that passes nearby, but they all moved away to bigger towns by the mid-1990s.
Then his wife died 15 years ago and his son, now aged 26, moved to Colorado three years ago. So that left Mr Sammons in Buford on his own.
"I'm the king of the castle here," he said.
He gets about 1000 visitors a day to the village during the summer, which has a billboard proclaiming his small empire, but this drops to around 100 during the winter.
They stop because they're intrigued to find this place in the middle of nowhere near the top of a mountain,’ he said. ‘We sell all kinds of souvenirs from hats to mugs. The post card is our best seller.
Buford was formed in 1866 as military outpost "Fort Sanders", to protect workers building a railroad. It was once home to 2000 people and the town was named Buford after Civil War general John Buford following the opening.
‘In winters the winds often blow at 70mph giving us a wind-chill factor of minus 20,' he said. 'Only the strong survive up here.
Check out more pictures of Don Sammons town.
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