Buying Acreage In The Beryl, Beryl Junction Area (Cedar City, Hurricane: home, construction)

[steward5]

Remote, remote, remote. Turning off of hwy. 56 at the town (ghost town) of Modena you head north through a narrow valley that eventually opens up into a much bigger valley going from high desert to cedar then into pinion pine. Plenty of wildlife. It is a nice area but very remote, you probably won't see people.
Some advice to anyone considering buying in these remote areas, drive out there and spend the night. Think about where you are at and where you have to go to get what you need. This will give you a more realistic perspective. Good luck and most of all have fun.

[jesse_skyler]

i have 5 ar 14 miles west of beryl jct and i have been looking for water rights can enyone help me with that

[joe--h]

Sage brush and sand and wind. Hotter than h**l and colder still in the winter.
Wind with blowing sand/silt. Wind with blowing snow.
Those electric lines you see a mile away will cost thousands of dollars to get to your place, IF the property owners in between will allow an easement.
Don't even think those property owners will be willing to contribute to the project because it would benefit them too, they won't.
Water is bought nd sold, BUT the water rights all have a date of origination.
What the state is saying is the drainage is over allocated to the tune of approx 55,000 acre feet.
If they decide to restrict water usage, there is a chance that any water rights with a date after 1945 will revert to the state.
The poster who wrote that the farmers are trying to work something out is correct, but they are not looking out for YOUR interests, they are concerned about their farms, not YOU.
Drilling a well is approx $35 a foot. How deep? Who knows times $35.00
Berl is a long drive through the mountains on Hwy 56 from Cedar. There is nothing in Beryl except gasoline & tires at Crossroads Tires. There's a John Deer dealer next to the tire store if you need a tractor.
Wages in Southern Utah are low, $10 to $12 an hour is a good job.
To the poster thinking of getting a county or state job, are you LDS? Those jobs are scarce, and wages are nothing like what you are accustomed to.

[nightprowler]

Thanks for all the replies. My wife and I did spend a week in Cedar City and made several trips out to the Beryl, New Castle area. We did see a few properties that we like and are currently researching the cost to bring in power and water rights. We did stop by the water dept. and found out some interesting information. We talked to several people that live in the area and the common thread was the sand storms and the cold spells in the winter. Even though it was a very open area, we did like it. What I don't understand is all the vacant houses out there. Also, if the state would give some of the land owners out there $25.00 for every junk car, I bet there would be allot less.

[Aerorick]

We live on twenty acres north of Newcastle six miles east of Beryl. We put in the well last February and are living in a trailer with a large barn until we get the house finished next spring.
Every post describing the area has been right on target. Research the water right issue thoroughly as the state's threats (that's exactly how the state water engineer presents it) to revoke the water rights of half the users are very real. Also don't count too much on any "career" employment anywhere within a 30-40 mile radius. The wages are very low. Even in Cedar City. Commuting to St. George and even Vegas is not uncommon.
On the up side if you have 5 acres or more you can do just about anything you want with it. I think a nudest camp is out of the question though. The sagebrush is rough. It's very quiet, the people (though a bit spread out)are very nice. And if your from a populated area you'll get a real kick out of all the different wildlife that strolls or fly's by. It gets a bit warm during the summer and winters can have their bad days. But they do a good job keeping the highways (18&56) clear. If pipes freeze it's usually because they weren't protected.
We're from Southern California and like it a lot. And if the state water engineer gets a sudden case of common sense he'll let the farmers take care of the water usage. When the house is up, we plan on raising a few kid friendly animals for when friends and relatives to come up to visit. As well as having the dirt toys ready for the trails. We're big Nascar fans and are going to scrape out a oval and road track go-cart course for the local kids to build and race whatever they bring. It takes a bit of getting used to realizing what one can really do with 5-20 acres when you've grown up in places where you can't even ride a quad on the street without risking arrest. Out here you just start them up and go where you want. And that's just one of the the reasons we're here.

[steward5]

Question for Aerorick, How deep did you go with your well if you don't mind me asking and did you go with PVC casing?. I've heard good and bad about PVC casings. Also heard a lot of the 200 ft. wells have dried up in the area the drop in the water table is very scarey, do you think it will end?

[Beryl4Us]

Hi there,

I realize no one has been into this thread in about 10 months, but I hate to see a question I have an answer for unanswered!

When we dug our well in Beryl on 1600 W, we hit really good water at 156 feet. My driller suggested we go to 200 and said we would not have to worry about the water table for another 50 years. I had him go to 400 feet! I figured 200 more feet @ $35 a foot in 2007 was better than 200 more feet at who knows how much a foot, who knows when...we also used steel casing...and we also went with an 8" bore instead of 6"..,

Hope that helps!

Charlie Fitzgerald

[nightprowler]

Thank You Charlie!
I do stop back once in a while to check out this great site. We will go out next year to pick up where we left off in looking for property in that area.
Chris

[toby04]

I have noticed a lot of land out here for sale lately, the prices all over the place! Make sure you do your research and understand the water rights issue. I wish I had a nickel for every person who bought their "acre of paradise" and found out what it takes to develop it. Don't get me wrong, I love the area and encourage the growth.

[Aerorick]

If you drive around the Beryl/Newcastle area out on the county roads you'll see quite a few abandoned attempts to stake out a homestead. Usually all that remains is a delapidated trailer sometimes accompanied with a weathered temporary structure of some sort. It can occur if you don't get a full understanding of what your getting in to when you want to build your little bit of paradise. One has to understand that there are no "city" hook-ups to water, electricity and sewer when you want to go rural. As has been posted, a well can be drilled just about anywhere you want for water. We found water at 150 feet and have the pump at 200'. figure roughly $14-16,000 for that. But if you don't have a powerline on the property you buy or nearby that can cost several grand to get it strung to you. And you have to have power for the well. The septic can run about $4-5000 if you have it done. Only then can you even consider building a house because you need all that for a permit.
I'm not trying to discourage anyone. On the contrary the more the better. And I gaurentee after a little time you'll care less about BMW's, Starbucks or keeping up with anyone. And that alone makes it more than worth it.