County Road 606 Summary

A TEXTBOOK CASE LEADS TO SUCCESS

County Road 606, in south central Fergus County, was petitioned to be a county road on September 18, 1915. Fergus County declared the petitioned road as County Road 606 on February 8, 1917. County Road 606 joined Surenough County Road in T13N R21E Section 8, south to Section 32, intersecting with Middle Bench County Road.

In 1996, William (Bill) Lewis, a private landowner on County Road 606, put a lock on a gate, blocking access. Other landowners complained about the blocked access to Fergus County. The Fergus County Attorney, Thomas Meissner, sent a letter on August 6, 1996 to Mr. Lewis, directing him to remove the lock from the gate a refrain from preventing access. Access issues continued for years.

An Association For the Preservation of Public Roads was created to address the issue. Tom Apple, one of the landowners, became the Vice Chairman of the Association. He and his wife Sandra, as well as Robert & Ruth McNeil, hired Devlan Geddes of the Goetz, Baldwin & Geddes P.C law firm (the same law firm frequently hired by PLWA) to represent them. On August 31, 2007, Devlan Geddes supplied the Fergus County Commissioners with documentation on County Road 606.

The Fergus County Commissioners held public meetings on July 18th and September 19th, 2007 to discuss County Road 606. At the September meeting, the Commissioners announced they were hiring outside council for an opinion. Attorney Tara DePuy provided an opinion on November 14, 2007, stating that Road 606 was a petitioned county road. The Fergus County Commission announced at their Nov. 21st meeting that they were going through all the documentation and public comments, making a decision by their Dec. 12th meeting.

At the Dec. 12th meeting, they again solicited public comment, making a determination and recognizing that Road 606 was a petitioned county road from Surenough Road to Middle Bench County Road. Revised Statute 2477 ( “RS2477”) , which presumptively creates a right of way for roads constructed on public federal land prior to 1976 was used to support the case.

On January 4, 2008, the Fergus County Commissioners wrote a letter to Mr. Lewis, informing him of their decision.

At the County Road 606 junction with Middle Bench County Road, just to the east, Middle Bench leads to a number of BLM public lands.

County Road 606 in Pictures & Maps