Ultimately, the town was not built. The land was sold and the dream died. Louis had done a lot to promote the idea over the years; including a note about it in the back of some of his books and discussing it’s future in interviews. He was never, however, deeply involved in the corporation’s operations. His role was more of a consultant and the founder of the western town idea. After Louis passed away in 1988 the L’Amour family briefly considered working with another group to resurrect the idea. After a great deal of thought they decided that the potentially negative impact of that particular type of development on a wilderness area was not something that they believed in.

It is a remarkable testimony to the power of Louis’ original idea, however, that people still regularly ask how to find Shalako when they are in the Durango area.