Last updated on .
Buford, Wyoming, is a ghost town at Exit 335 on I-80, about halfway between Laramie and Cheyenne. At 8,000 feet (2,438.4 meters), it’s also the highest point along the interstate.
Overview of Buford, Wyoming
Buford wasn’t always such a lonely place. Founded in 1866 as Fort Sanders, an army outpost protecting workers building the First Transcontinental Railroad, it was later renamed for Civil War general John Buford (1826–1863). The town eventually reached a population of 2,000, dwindling to just a few dozen people by the 1940s. The post office, established in August 1900, closed down on July 24, 2004.
Don Sammons, who moved to the town from Newport Beach, California, in 1980, bought all 9.9 acres in 1992 and took over the Buford Trading Post. After his wife died in 1995 and his son moved away in 2007, he became the sole resident — and the one person on the town’s famous population sign.
Sammons decided to move closer to his son in 2012, so he put the town up for auction. It fetched $900,000 from two Vietnamese men. One of them was Phạm Đình Nguyên, owner of the PhinDeli coffee brand. He saw it as a unique opportunity to promote his coffee in the US, later renaming the town PhinDeli Town-Buford. The business shut down in September 2018 after manager Jason Hirsch resigned his post. As for Sammons, he wrote a book about his experience, Buford One.
Mintu Pandher, owner of Laramie-based Akal Energy, purchased the site and reopened the gas station and trading post in August 2021. He also expanded, opening diesel fuel islands to serve truckers, and plans to build short-term rentals (as of January 2026).
Today, Buford is a novelty and a fun stop along a lonely stretch of highway, even if the only thing to do is stop into the trading post and fill up your gas tank — the famous population sign was removed before September 2023.
