Sold! America's smallest town.

For years, Don Sammons was the big shot in Buford, Wyoming. He owned the gas station, the trading post, the cafe--in fact, he owned the whole town and was its only resident until he sold it at auction last month for $900,000. Sammons and his wife moved to Buford-which dates to the mid-1800s and was once a railroad town with a population of 2,000--from California in 1980 in search of a quiet life. When she died in 1992, he bought the 10-acre unincorporated town for $155,000 and became its sole resident when his son moved in 2006. Now he's heading to Colorado to be near his son, and in a twist of fate, the Vietnam vet is handing the town key to the highest bidder, a man from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. "Owning a piece of property in the U.S.," the new owner says, "is the American dream."

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News & Trends was reported by Christopher Drew, Dan Frosch, and Anahad O'Connor of The New York Times; and Veronica Majerol and Noor Brara.