The Land Report
WWW.LANDREPORT.COM | FALL 2010
LARGEST USA LANDOWNERS
$ 15
LARGEST USA LANDOWNERS
S P E C I A L
R E P O R T
SALE OF THE
CENTURY:
JOHN MALONE BUYS
NEW MEXICO’S
290,100-ACRE
BELL RANCH
PLUS: LABRADOR RETRIEVERS | BP OIL SPILL | LAND REPORT TOP TEN
TOP ROW: WYMAN MEINZER, KATHY MCCRAINE, KENTON ROWE CENTER ROW: BELL RANCH, SAM BELLING, VERMEJO PARK BOTTOM ROW: BELL RANCH, WYATT MCSPADDEN, BELL RANCH
T H E M AG A Z I N E O F T H E A M E R I C A N L A N D OW N E R
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| The LandReport 37
The Land Report
100
1
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No. 1
3
Brad Kelley
1.7 million acres
CONSERVATION
Ted Turner
2+ million acres
VISIONARY
ike many a
self-made
billionaire,
Brad Kelley shuns
publicity. Shuns it
so much, in fact,
that he’s become
something of an
enigma to many
of his neighbors,
a presence made
even larger by his
absence. Kelley’s
enormous holdings
are spread across
Texas, New Mexico,
and Florida. His
properties are used
primarily to propagate rare species of
animals, including
endangered ones.
He has used his
L
The nation’s
largest
landowner
acquired one
of Georgia’s
finest quail
plantations
in 2010.
PHIL MCCARTEN/REUTERS
his year marks the fourth time The Land Report has
presented the top 100 landowners in the country. And it
also marks the fourth time that Ted Turner has topped our
list. In 2010, Turner added to his chart-topping 2 million-plus acres
by acquiring Nonami Plantation near Albany, Georgia. The acquisition is a notable one because Nonami ranks as the largest property
for the entrepreneur, environmentalist, philanthropist, and media
mogul in the state where he was raised.
Nonami Plantation adds 8,800 acres to the 15 ranches Turner
owns in seven states, and it is considered one of the finest quail
hunting venues in the Peach State. Turner purchased the plantation
from a longtime business associate, Atlanta developer Tom Cousins,
in a private transaction.
“Tom and Ted have been good friends for many years,” says
Turner spokesman Phillip Evans. “From what I understand they
made a gentlemen’s agreement years ago. If Tom ever decided to
sell, Ted would get first option to purchase the property. They both
appreciate what a special piece of land it is.”
Much of the property is already under a conservation easement.
“As with all of Turner’s land, Nonami will be managed in an environmentally and ecologically friendly manner,” Evans adds.
Turner’s record as a landowner proves that he is nothing if not
dedicated to running his holdings in a way that promotes the conservation of both the land itself and native species. In particular,
Turner is known for his conservation of buffalo.
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His 50,000+ is the world’s largest private herd. He recently
offered to shelter 87 bison from Yellowstone National Park for
five years as part of an experiment by the Montana Department
of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to establish a free-roaming herd free of
brucellosis and other diseases that can spread to cattle. After the
five years, the bison will be returned to the State of Montana, and
Turner will keep a percentage of the herd’s offspring.
Innovative solutions to ensure the continuation of endangered
species are but one facet of Turner’s stewardship philosophy.
Another lies in clean, renewable energy. In January 2010, Turner
Renewable Energy partnered with Southern Company to develop
renewable energy resources on his properties as well as off. Their
first project, New Mexico’s Cimarron Solar Facility, will be one of
the nation’s largest photovoltaic plants, generating enough energy to
supply 9,000 homes with electricity. Cimarron, which is scheduled
to begin commercial operation in late 2010, is located next to
Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch, the largest privately owned ponderosa pine ecosystem in the nation.
The Cimarron plant is yet another example of how Turner backs
up his opinions with concrete action. He has been increasingly vocal
about his belief that the United States should move toward more
sustainable forms of energy, and he has gone as far as to lobby
Congress on renewable energy and climate issues. It goes hand in
hand with his desire to use his clout and his land to make the world
a better place for his—and our—children and grandchildren.
LANDREPORT.COM
SHUTTERSTOCK
shrewd business
acumen to guide
his purchases,
snapping up choice
tracts with the
natural resources
needed to further
his considerable
conservation efforts.
SHUTTERSTOCK
2
Red Emmerson
1.722 million acres
TIMBER
he lumber industry’s sluggish year
may have taken Emmerson down
a few notches on Forbes’s roster of
billionaires, but he remains in the second
slot on The Land Report’s list, right where
he’s been all along. The third generation
of Emmersons is now involved in running
the family’s Sierra Pacific Industries: Red’s
late father “Curly” founded the business in
1949, Red serves as president, and his son
Mark is VP of finance. Sierra Pacific ranks
as California’s largest private landowner.
Among its noteworthy achievements in
2010 was placing 7,500 acres just north of
Truckee under conservation easements,
the first such action taken by the company.
T
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4
Irving Family
1.2 million acres
TIMBER
SHUTTERSTOCK
he family business, Irving Woodlands, has been an integral part of forestry in
Maine for more than 60 years and owns over 1.2 million acres certified by both
the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Forest
research and conservation are key elements of the company’s forestry activities. Not
only are 20 percent of its holdings dedicated to habitat conservation, but the Irvings
donated $1 million to create a chair in forest sustainability research at the University
of Maine. The company has earned the Gulf of Maine Visionary Award and has been
recognized by the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and the Interior
Department for research and conservation of the Northern Forest woodcock. Irving
Woodlands is also a leader in tree planting and reforestations.
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| The LandReport 39
The Land Report
100
5
Sale of
John
Malone
1.2 million acres
MEDIA
he only
major movement in this
year’s top ten is
Liberty Media CEO
John Malone, whose
purchase of the
290,000-acre Bell
Ranch this August
leapfrogged him
from No. 7 to No. 5,
ahead of King
Ranch and the
Singleton Family.
Thanks to his
conservation-minded land ownership,
Malone has earned
many friends (both
two-legged and
four-legged) over
the years. In an
interview on
Bloomberg in July,
Malone said that his
friend Ted Turner
was partly his inspiration. “It is sort of
a lasting economic
asset, and if you are
charitably minded
and you like conservation, you sort of
can do well by
doing good,” he said.
“I own a lot of land.
In fact, Ted and I
are neighbors in
New Mexico.”
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dds are you already know New Mexico’s
Bell Ranch. At 453 square miles, it’s
kind of hard to overlook. But to focus
on size alone is to overlook a much richer story.
The Bell has been featured in countless
Westerns and dramatically depicted on millions
of Stetson hatboxes. If you’re old enough
to remember when tobacco companies could advertise, the ranch’s
mesas and pastures were the timeless backdrop in many a Marlboro
print campaign. Few venues
epitomize the American West like
the gorgeous grasslands, stunning
mesas, and rugged rimrock canyons
surrounding the distinctive bellshaped mountain a short ride
north of the Canadian River.
The Bell Ranch is a place of lore
and legend whose contemporary
history dates back to an impossibly
large land grant of some 656,000
acres by the Mexican government to
Pablo Montoya in 1824. Only the
hills know how long the Comanche,
the Kiowa, and the Apache made
camp along the banks of La Cinta
Creek before the Spanish army officer petitioned Mexico City for his lands.
Almost two centuries have passed since Don
Pablo took title to more than 1,000 square miles
of what eventually became the New Mexico
Territory. Its ideal setting—the ranch ranges in
elevation from 4,200 to 5,600 feet above sea
level—is more reminiscent of the African
Serengeti than the Great Plains or the Llano
Estacado. Top-notch cowmen such as the
pioneering trailblazer Charlie Goodnight have
long marveled at the ranch’s plentiful waters, its
protein-rich grasses, and the temperate climate.
The lure of this remote cattle kingdom is so
strong that the Bell has enticed five formidable
O
men to commit themselves to shepherding the
ranch since 1933: Albert Mitchell, George Ellis,
Don Hofman, Rusty Tinnin, and Bert Ancell,
the general manager, who had 41 years of
experience on the Bell. Half a dozen hands
with an average of 15 years service on the Bell
worked with Ancell.
After more than a century in operation, the
Bell was carved into six tracts and parceled off
after the end of the Second World War. But for
William Lane II, its legacy would have ended
with this dissolution. In 1970, the chairman
and chief executive of General Binding
Corporation purchased the 130,000-acre
1824
1970
Bell Mountain
This peerless legacy is one of the many priceless assets that make the Bell more than simply
another big spread. Take, for instance, the
ranch’s horse breeding program, which can
be traced back to a remount herd used by the
U.S. cavalry almost a century ago. The ranch
has also developed a closed composite breed of
cattle. Known as RedBell, the breed consists
of carefully selected Red Angus and Hereford
bloodlines, plus smaller percentages of Brahma
and Gelbvieh. And of course there is also the
ranch’s iconic one-iron brand. First registered
in San Miguel County in 1875, it has been in
continuous use ever since.
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WILLIAM LANE PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE LANE FAMILY JOHN MALONE PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY BY RICH WILKING/REUTERS
5
the Century
William Lane II
headquarters tract near the center of the
Montoya Grant, and over the next six years he
dedicated himself to rebuilding the great ranch.
Ultimately, he acquired a total of 290,100 acres,
an astounding 44 percent of the original grant.
Lane and his family also put in place
improvements that dramatically enhanced
beef production. Seven large operating units
are cordoned off by 342 miles of fence and
connected by 530 miles of interior roads.
Ninety miles of pipeline water 206 stock tanks
and 117 wells and windmills. The end result
is a world-class working cattle ranch that can
support 5,000 animal units.
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In 2006, the Lane family began its quest to
find another steward for the Bell. Several leading
brokerages marketed the property, including
Mason and Morse Ranch Company and Orvis
Cushman & Wakefield. But the Great Recession
took its toll. The original asking price of $110
million was lowered to $99 million and then to
2010
John Malone
$83 million in 2010 (not including livestock).
The one constant throughout this process was
Patrick Bates of Bates Sanders Swan Land
Company, who was brought on to consult for
the Lane family in 2006; by 2010 he was the
broker of record. In March, Ron Morris of
Ranch Marketing Associates contacted him.
Like Bates, Morris is a veteran ranch broker
with an impressive C.V. His client was none
other than John Malone, Liberty Media’s CEO
and one of the most respected stewards of the
land in Rockies. A new chapter in the history of
the Bell was about to begin.
—Eric O’Keefe
Liberty Media CEO
John Malone bought
the 290,100-acre Bell
Ranch on August 17.
Price and terms were
not disclosed on the
$83-million listing.
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The Land Report
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7
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Singleton
Family
1.11 million acres
RANCHING
r. Henry
Singleton
purchased
New Mexico’s
picturesque San
Cristobal Ranch in
1986, and today his
five children continue to run the family’s ranching empire,
just as he wished.
Since last year, the
family has not
added any deeded
land to its holdings,
but instead nearly
doubled its leased
property, from
95,000 acres to
180,000 acres in
New Mexico. For
the second year in a
row, the Singleton
Ranch rodeo team
won the New
Mexico
Championship
Ranch Rodeo. The
family enjoys sharing its expertise and
ranching heritage.
Singleton Ranches
support local youth
livestock programs,
established a rodeo
scholarship at New
Mexico State
University, and hold
several public horse
clinics each year.
No. 6
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In 2004, more than 20 cowboys
mounted on Singleton horses
accepted the honor of New
Mexico’s Best Remuda at the
New Mexico State Fair Rodeo.
911,215 acres
RANCHING
or more than 150 years, King Ranch has proven its leadership
as a steward of the land, but resting on their laurels is not a
common attribute of Captain Richard King’s descendants. In
the last century, King Ranch produced the first registered American
Quarter Horse and a Triple Crown winner. More recently, it has
leveraged its storied heritage into a nationally recognized brand—
not the kind just seen on cattle but the kind visible on Ford trucks.
Today, King Ranch is committed to a wide-ranging number of
endeavors, including the King Ranch Institute for Ranch
Management at Texas A&M Kingsville and the Caesar Kleberg
Wildlife Research Institute, as well as programs for environmental
stewardship and brush management. And don’t overlook the cattle
that wear the Running W brand. The ranch that produced the Santa
Gertrudis, aka first breed of cattle in the U.S., also developed a new
composite breed of cattle, the Santa Cruz.
Other operations include its majority-owned interest in the
largest citrus producer in the U.S., Consolidated Citrus Limited
Partnership; a 60,000-acre farming operation in South Texas;
sugarcane and vegetables in Florida; one of the country’s largest
pecan shelling operations; the largest turfgrass operation in the
State of Texas; a John Deere dealership; and the world-famous King
Ranch Saddle Shop, a retail store, catalog, and Internet website
specializing in high-end leather goods.
F
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No. 7
King Ranch’s holdings include turfgrass farms in Texas and Florida.
KING RANCH ARCHIVES
8
Pingree Heirs
830,000 acres
TIMBER
t’s been almost a decade since the heirs of 19th-century shipping magnate David Pingree placed more
than three quarters of a million acres of Maine forestland under conservation easement—a block of
land larger than entire state of Rhode Island. The family’s private Seven Island Land Company prides
itself on carrying on David’s plans for conservative long-term timber management.
I
9 T
Reed Family
770,000 acres
TIMBER
CONNIE JO MITCHELL
D
7
King Ranch
LANDREPORT.COM
he Reed family operates the privately
held Simpson Investment Company,
the holding company for Simpson
Lumber Company, Simpson Tacoma Kraft
Company, and Simpson Door Company.
Wondering why the name on the company
is Simpson instead of Reed? Sol Simpson
started the company in 1890. Mark Reed
worked his way up through the company’s
ranks and married one of Sol’s daughters
around the turn of the century. Et voilà.
Today the company is one of the oldest,
continuously operating forest products
companies in the Pacific Northwest.
10
Stan Kroenke
740,000 acres
RANCHING
roenke just became majority owner of NFL’s St. Louis
Rams, which required him to turn over control to his
son of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s
Colorado Avalanche. He still controls Major League Soccer's
Colorado Rapids, the National Lacrosse League's Colorado
Mammoth, and is the largest shareholder in the English
Premier League's Arsenal. None of this impacts Kroenke
Ranches. Cedar Creek and PV Ranch are Montana cow-calf
operations, and Q Creek Land & Livestock Company runs
up to 12,000 yearlings on 550,000+ acres in Wyoming. It’s
also an Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Lodge.
K
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Family
625,000 acres
11| Ford
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
TIMBER
The Ford family’s Roseburg Forest
Products has holdings in Oregon
and California, where it has established itself as an industry leader
with healthy forestry practices. In
Oregon, the company volunteered
over 4,500 acres nearly 10 years ago
for a research endeavor known as
the Hinkle Creek Paired Watershed
study, which analyzed the effect
of current forestry practices on
fish populations. This year it was
named a recipient of the Award
Of Excellence In Riparian
Management and it earned a 2009
Environmental Award for its
Hinkle Creek participation.
Current President and CEO Allyn
Ford, son of founder Kenneth,
oversees the company’s efforts.
Lykes Bros. Heirs
615,000 acres
DIVERSIFIED
Now a century old, this familyowned company began as a cattle
ranching operation and has since
diversified to maximize its impressive land holdings. Today’s cattle
operation, located just west of Lake
Okeechobee, Florida, is one of the
five largest in the country. The
South Florida forestry division
features 11,000 acres of eucalyptus,
making it one of the largest producers in the continental U.S., as
well as 52,000 acres of native and
planted pine. Lykes Bros. also has
a significant farming operation,
with over 3,000 acres of sugar cane.
Then there is bioenergy; the Lykes
Ranch in Florida has a hand in a
commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol
facility, that is on schedule to be
the first in the state that will
convert renewable grasses to fuel.
Additionally, the company’s West
Water Hole Project is helping to
restore the region’s ecosystem. The
family owns one of the most
rugged ranches in the Lone Star
State, the O2 in Far West Texas.
12|
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Huber Family
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600,000
acres
13
DIVERSIFIED
The company founded by J.M.
Huber has energy and timber
holdings nationwide. Its oil and
gas division operates properties
throughout the West and
Southwest, and its timber unit has
holdings in Maine, Oklahoma,
and the Southeast. Today, the
fourth generation of the family
manages one of the largest familyowned companies in the United
States. It has been acclaimed for its
environmental commitments; it
even has its own strict scale to
measure against, called the Huber
Environmental Performance Index.
Fifteen years ago, the company
partnered with The Nature
Conservancy to create
Adopt-A-Preserve.
Briscoe Family
560,000 acres
RANCHING
Former Texas Governor Dolph
Briscoe Jr., who passed away on
June 27 [see page 64], made a
seamless transition from his
political career to focus fully on his
family and the land. Dolph Briscoe
Sr. began the family’s landowning
legacy with several ranches across
the state. Dolph Briscoe Jr. became
a well-respected statesman who
was the first governor to serve a
four-year term. He was also
elected president of the Texas
and Southwestern Cattle Raisers
Association. He kept in touch
with the political world from
Uvalde, even hosting Hillary
Rodham Clinton when she came
to seek his endorsement for her
husband during the Texas primary
in 1996. Over the years, he sold
drilling leases after oil and gas
were discovered on his ranchland
and used the proceeds to expand
his holdings. His heirs include
Dolph Briscoe III, Janey Briscoe
Marmion, and Cele Briscoe
Carpenter.
14|
W.T. Waggoner Estate
|
15 526,000 acres
RANCHING & FARMING
Waggoner Ranch is still the largest
ranch in Texas under one fence.
The iconic empire traces its roots
back to the 1870s, when Dan
Waggoner began buying parcels as
they were cleared for settlement.
W.T. expanded his father’s ranching
interests and established what is
known today as the W.T.
Waggoner Estate. The ranch’s cattle
operation runs 14,000 mother
cows. Horses are bred for working
the cattle, and many carry the
bloodline of the famous Poco
Bueno, who was buried in a
standing position under a 4-ton
granite marker across from the
ranch entrance. About 27,000
acres of wheat, oats, and milo
are also grown.
Holland Ware
500,000 acres
TIMBER
Each year another major landowner is uncovered who should have
been on our list since its inception.
This year, that honor belongs to
Holland Ware, who is credited as
the largest private individual
landowner east of the Mississippi.
His approximately half a million
acres are primarily timberland.
They stretch from Virginia to East
Texas. A hands-on owner, Ware
enjoys managing his holdings
personally; he has no forest
management staff. And why should
he? He’s been trading timber since
he was 15. The Georgia native
bought his first 100 acres for $10
an acre in the early 1950s. He
began growing sawlogs from
loblolly pine, despite the fact that
local farmers thought he was crazy
to “waste” good farmland that way.
Ware still has his first 100 acres,
which he has never cut, and locals
have since stopped regarding him
as anything but savvy. His success
in timberland has fueled numerous
philanthropic efforts, which
16|
tion systems, brush control programs, and irrigated farmland. To
wit, the ranch is featured in the
BBC/Discovery Channel documentary “Around the World in 90
Minutes,” shown on Discovery’s
Planet Green channel.
include funding cancer research
facilities and college scholarships.
His donations, both monetary and
land-based, have made a significant
impact in eliminating dogfighting
in the Southeast, and his contributions have directly saved the lives
of thousands of animals. Ware
helped to establish a national
dogfighting tip line (877-215-2250)
and is a major patron of humane
societies and other animal welfare
charities across the country.
D.M. O’Connor Heirs
500,000 acres
ENERGY & RANCHING
Thomas O’Connor has been
credited as the youngest soldier to
follow Gen. Sam Houston at the
Battle of San Jacinto. He turned the
land he was awarded into a South
Texas cattle ranching empire. His
heirs have capitalized on their
holdings, which were perched atop
massive oil reserves. The current
generation of O’Connors continues
to reside in and around Victoria,
Texas, and they share ownership
of an estimated half-million acres.
17|
Phillip Anschutz
18| 434,493 acres
DIVERSIFIED
The ultra-private billionaire knows
how to leverage opportunities to his
benefit. When an oilfield fire threatened to ruin him in the 1960s, he
No. 23
Poco Bueno’s memorial
LANDREPORT.COM
Traditional ways combine with forward-thinking
practices on the Lydas’ La Escalera Ranch.
TREY LYDA
contracted with Universal Pictures
to film a scene in which firefighters
extinguish an oil blaze for John
Wayne’s movie Hellfighters.
Anschutz’s holdings include the
250,000-acre Baughman Farms in
Kansas, the 149,493-acre Overland
Trail Cattle Company & Ranch in
Wyoming, and 35,000 acres in
Colorado. His Anschutz
Corporation has investments in
energy exploration and production,
real estate, ranching and agriculture, telecommunications, newspapers, and Internet publishing.
Anschutz Entertainment Group
is the world’s largest owner and
operator of sports and entertainment venues. Most recently,
his American Railway Explorer
announced plans for cross-country
luxury train tours.
19|
No. 15 at the Waggoner Ranch.
Patrick Broe
310,000 acres
DIVERSIFIED
Broe keeps his personal and business affairs extremely private and
has flown under our radar until
this year. His investment and asset
management company is known
to own or control well over 100
companies in real estate, energy,
and transportation. In addition,
Broe owns ranches and farms in
Colorado, Wyoming, and New
Mexico. His Hubble and Green
Ranches in New Mexico alone
cover 290,000 acres. One of his
more visible projects is Colorado’s
Great Western Industrial Park in
Windsor, which became a major
source of the state’s green job
growth in 2008. Broe has
demonstrated a devoted
stewardship of land, wildlife, and
historical artifacts on his Wyoming
ranch; he undertook a reforestation
project that planted more than
500,000 trees that were custom
grown to meet the unique
altitude and climate conditions
of the locale.
24|
Robert Earl Holding
400,000
RANCHING
Holding’s ranches in Wyoming and
Montana are just the tip of the
snow-covered mountain for this
billionaire. He also owns
Snowbasin Resort in Utah and Sun
Valley Ski Resort in Idaho, where
Hollywood royalty have schussed
since it opened in the 1930s. In
addition, he owns six other luxury
hotels and resorts across the country, including The Grand American
Hotel (the only Five Diamond hotel
LANDREPORT.COM
in Salt Lake City). Lastly, he owns
Sinclair Oil Corporation, the iconic
American energy company with
an instantly recognizable greenand-white dinosaur logo.
Simplot Family
20|355,746 acres
AGRIBUSINESS
J.R. “Jack” Simplot turned a halfinterest in a potato sorter into an
agricultural empire. “He was a
dreamer and a big thinker,” says
company spokesman David Cuoio.
The J.R. Simplot Company based
its fortune on potatoes but
diversified over the years, gobbling
up large tracts of land across the
country for farming and ranching
endeavors. Today the familyowned company runs a land and
livestock division that operates 37
farms and 15 ranches with capacity
for 30,000 mother cows.
East Family
350,000 acres
RANCHING
Alice Gertrudis Kleberg East was
said to have borne a striking
resemblance to her grandfather,
Captain Richard King (see No. 7).
She certainly inherited his fierce
independent spirit; she gave up
her interest in the legendary King
Ranch in the 1950s in return for
the San Antonio Viejo and Santa
Fe ranches. The Robert C. East
21|
Management Trust has been
managing the land since Robert
East passed away in 2007.
Anne Marion
22| 345,000 acres
RANCHING
Samuel “Burk” Burnett established
Four Sixes in 1870, and its legacy
has grown to make it one of the
most renowned ranches in the
Texas Panhandle. The fourthgeneration heir of Burnett, Anne
W. Marion runs the 245,000-acre
6666 Ranch today, along with
100,000 acres at Dixon Creek. The
6666 is acclaimed for its immense
cow-calf operation and its Quarter
Horse remuda (the ranch played
a key role in the development of
the American Quarter Horse
Association). Most recently, the
ranch’s Smart Whiskey Doc was
named 2010 AQHA Versatility
Ranch World Champion.
Lyda Family
23| 320,035 acres
RANCHING
The family’s La Escalera Ranch
sprawls across five Texas counties,
making it one of the largest cattle
ranches in the Lone Star State.
Although the ranch is best known
for its Black Angus herd, the Lydas
are also establishing it as an operation with environmental common
sense thanks to new water distribu-
Fasken Family
25| 300,000 acres
ENERGY
The Texas town of Fasken never
really took off as David Fasken had
hoped it might. He founded it in
1916 next to the Midland and
Northwestern Railway line so he
could transport his cattle. However,
when oil was struck on Fasken’s C
Ranch in the 1940s, his heirs were
thrilled with its location. The
family’s Fasken Oil & Ranch Ltd.
is headquartered in Midland, and
their holdings spread across Far
West Texas and South Texas.
FA L L 2 0 1 0
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100
The Collins Family
295,313 acres
TIMBER
More than 150 years ago, T.D.
Collins began his timber operations in Pennsylvania. Over the
years and through the generations,
the operation moseyed westward
to southern Oregon and northern
California. Since 1940, the Collins
Companies has been committed to
sustainability (decades before going
green was cool). Today, the fourthgeneration descendants are actively
involved with the company. Terry
Collins is the forester for the family’s Almanor Forest and president
of Collins Timber, Cherida Collins
Smith is chair of the board of The
Collins Companies, and Truman
Collins is president of the Collins
Foundation.
27
Jeff Bezos
290,000 acres
SPACE EXPLORATION
The Amazon.com founder Jeff
Bezos, inspired by the wide open
West Texas skies he remembered
from boyhood summers on his
grandfather’s ranch, began purchasing large tracts of land in the
area about seven years ago.
Ranchers were a bit surprised
when their new neighbor explained
why: He was building a spaceport
for his private sub-orbital space
exploration venture, Blue Origin.
Last year, the company was awarded $3.7 million in funding from
NASA for development of future
human spaceflight operations.
Tests fights have launched successfully at Bezos’s Corn Ranch, and
there are plans to launch
unmanned flights next year, with
manned flights in 2012.
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Collier Family
280,000 acres
DIVERSIFIED
The family’s Collier Enterprises
encompasses an agriculture division whose foundation reaches
back to 1922, when patriarch
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Barron Gift Collier purchased a
200-acre grapefruit grove on the
edge of Florida’s Big Cypress
Swamp. Today, holdings include
orange groves, cattle ranches, and
vegetable farms throughout southwest Florida. The Colliers have
long been advocates of environmental stewardship, water conservation, and ecosystem management programs. Affiliates of the
family company are currently
involved in researching and producing salt- and drought-resistant
turf grass.
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Babbitt Ranches
270,000 acres
RANCHING
Brothers David and Billy Babbitt
arrived in Arizona from Cincinnati
in 1886 and purchased 1,200 head
of cattle, the start of a ranching tradition that continues to this day.
Fourth-generation descendant Billy
Cordasco oversees operations,
which include the CO Bar, The
Espee, and the Cataract Ranches,
land that encompasses the
Coconino Plateau Natural Reserve
Lands. In addition to an impressive
cow-calf operation (Babbitt is
among the few remaining largescale ranches in the state to run
straight Hereford), the ranches produce Quarter Horses, which are
sold every July in the Hashknife
Horse colt sale.
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Jones Heirs
255,000 acres
RANCHING
The family’s South Texas ranching
heritage began in 1897 when
William Whitby Jones purchased
6,000 acres that were once part of a
Spanish land grant. Four generations later, A.C. Jones IV owns and
manages Jones Ranch LLC, whose
holdings include the Alta Vista
Ranch, Alta Colorado Ranch, and
Borregos Ranch. Jones serves on
the advisory board of the Caesar
Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
and is a director for the Texas and
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Southwestern Cattle Raisers
Association, among other foundation and association activities.
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True Family
255,000 acres
RANCHING
H.A. True Jr. started the family fortune with an oil drilling company
in Wyoming. In the 50 years since
then, the True Companies have
expanded to include multiple firms,
most of which are in the petroleum
industry. True Ranches began in
1957 when True and his wife, Jean,
purchased the Double Four Ranch
near Laramie Peak. Today, the
family’s ranching division includes
seven ranches, two farms, and two
feedlots, which run Angus, Black
Baldy, Charolais, and Hereford.
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Reynolds Family
32| 250,000 acres
RANCHING
George T. and William D. Reynolds
seem to have established ranches
wherever they drove their cattle.
And in the mid- to late-1800s, they
drove cattle far and wide. Their
Reynolds Cattle Company and its
famous Long X brand was the
mark for ranches in Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona, Montana, and
North Dakota. The family gifted a
collection of records to Texas Tech
University’s Southwest Collection
Library.
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Mike Smith
248,500 acres
FARMLAND
In the Texas Panhandle, the views
can stretch for miles on end in
every direction, and chances are
pretty good that much of the land
in sight belongs to Mike Smith of
Amarillo. The founder of Tejas
Trading, a full-service futures and
options trading firm, has gradually
acquired large tracts of farmland
and grassland throughout the
region. Much of Smith’s land
is used for grazing cattle or
recreational pursuits.
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The historic Hoodoo Ranch is located between
Yellowstone National Park and Cody, Wyoming.
Eugene Gabrych
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D.K. Boyd
243,437 acres
ENERGY
“We run a fully stocked cattle
operation,” notes D.K. Boyd of his
Frying Pan Ranch in Texas and
New Mexico and his LE Ranch in
New Mexico, “but we don’t just
ranch.” In addition to dealing in
other types of real estate around
the country, the Midland-based
rancher has dedicated himself to
aiding other landowners. “We have
worked diligently on a private level
to help people understand their
surface and mineral rights—hundreds of people that we share common interests with,” he says. He has
perfected techniques in surface
protection, restoration, right of
way, and easement structuring,
which have become benchmarks
for many oil and gas companies. “If
we don’t start working harder, us
and our neighbors, to better understand and protect our property
rights, the encroachment of government and others will impact
our ability to protect, benefit from,
and enjoy our land.”
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Scott Family
220,000 acres
RANCHING & FARMING
Homer and Mildred Scott established Padlock Ranch on 3,000
acres in 1943. Today, the family’s
ranch sprawls across 500,000 acres
(220,000 deeded) in Wyoming and
Montana. The Padlock is a working
cattle ranch with working ranch
vacations, meaning guests are
allowed to act as ranch hands, gathering and moving cattle. “We gauge
that on their abilities,” Padlock
Ranch Controller Steve Severe says
wryly. The ranch also offers wing
shooting, and its farmland produces hay, corn, and barley.
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Koch Family
230,000 acres
RANCHING
“Ranching has officially been part of
the Koch organization for nearly 70
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HOODOO LAND & CATTLE COMPANY
years,” says Randy Lair, president of
the Koch family company that operates 400,000 acres (230,000 deeded)
in Kansas, Montana, and Texas.
“Unofficially, our ranching roots
reach back to 1891, when newspaper publisher Harry Koch settled in
Quanah, Texas.” Harry wrote about
cattle drives and rustlers and
lamented the end of the open range.
His son Fred co-founded Koch
Industries and purchased his first
ranchland in Kansas in 1941. Later
acquisitions included the Matador
Ranch in Texas and the Beaverhead
Ranch in Montana. Today, the company is primarily owned by Charles
and David Koch, Fred’s sons. The
Montana ranch was the first to earn
international certification from the
Wildlife Habitat Council and the
Texas ranch was recently named the
2010 Lone Star Land Steward by
Texas Parks & Wildlife. “The Koch
family has long had a true love of
the land and a steadfast commitment to environmental stewardship,” adds Lair.
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Roxana Hayne
& Joan Kelleher
213,370 acres
RANCHING
Sisters Hayne and Kelleher are
granddaughters of Alfred S. Gage,
who built a legendary ranch in Far
West Texas that once totaled
500,000 acres. Today they own the
largest portion of the A.S. Gage
Ranch and are partners in San
Antonio-based Paisano Cattle Co.
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Cassidy Heirs
38| 212,985 acres
TIMBER
The family’s Cassidy Timberlands
helped define Bangor, Maine, ever
since John Cassidy built his fortune
in timberlands, mills, and other
real estate in the mid-1800s. This
past spring, Fogler Library and the
Bangor Historical Society
announced they had acquired the
family’s papers—calling it one of
the most important sources documenting the history and economy
of the region in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries.
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Irwin Heirs
210,000 acres
RANCHING
John Irwin III now manages the
family’s historic O RO Ranch outside Prescott, Arizona, a sprawling,
rocky spread that was originally
part of a Spanish land grant. The
family is also reported to own
another 60,000 acres in California.
Irwin is also managing director of
The Brookside Group, which he
co-founded, as well as president of
The Fresh Air Fund and treasurer
of the Wildlife Conservation
Society.
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Louis Moore Bacon
202,000 acres
CONSERVATION
A successful hedge fund manager,
this dedicated conservationist
increased his land portfolio earlier
this year when he acquired the
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historic Orton Plantation in North
Carolina. Bacon is a direct descendant of Roger Moore, who built the
original Orton residence in 1725
and then the plantation home
itself in 1735. Bacon also owns
the sprawling Trinchera Ranch in
Colorado and Robins Island and
Cow Neck Farm in New York.
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Langdale Family
200,000 acres
TIMBER
When John Langdale, founder of
the family’s Langdale Forest
Products, passed away in 1911, he
bequeathed 5,000 acres to his heirs.
Through the years, his descendants
have expanded their holdings
throughout Georgia, investing
primarily in timberland. The
family’s acreage shrunk by 40,000
acres since last year’s rankings
due to a settlement with
minority shareholders.
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Killam Family
200,000 acres
ENERGY & RANCHING
Family patriarch O.W. Killam was
an Oklahoma state senator who
sought his fortune in South Texas.
He found it, and then some, when
he became the first wildcatter to
strike oil south of San Antonio. He
purchased the Ortiz Ranch, which
is now known as the Killam Laredo
Ranch. The family has increased
its holdings by adding the Duval
County Ranch. Both ranches boast
world-class whitetail hunting.
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FARMING & RANCHING
Gabrych is an astute self-made
millionaire who uses his substantial
holdings in a variety of farming
and ranching pursuits in the West.
“In Nevada we grow a lot of alfalfa,
and we also grow Bermuda grass,
sugar beets, and wheat. We try
different things each year,” he says.
“I also have a hunting ranch in
California—the best hunting ranch
in California.” At Gabrych’s
18,200-acre Rock Springs Ranch,
game ranges from quail, chukar,
and pheasant to elk, deer, and
feral hogs.
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Bogle Family
192,000 acres
FARMING & RANCHING
Bogle Ltd. was formed by Hal
Bogle’s heirs after he passed away
in 1973. In the decades since, the
family has operated this impressive
collection of farms and ranches
in New Mexico. Crops raised on
5,000 acres in the Pecos Valley
include alfalfa, hay, corn,
and winter wheat, which is used
to pasture yearlings. The ranching
division runs its cattle on the
X-Bar, Turkey Track, and 4-Lakes.
The Bogles also continue Hal’s
tradition of breeding fine Quarter
Horses, with two broodmare bands
of up to 25 mares each.
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Hunt Family
190,000 acres
RANCHING
The same family of Hunt Oil fame
owns several sizable spreads in
New Mexico, Montana, Utah,
Wyoming, and Texas through its
Hoodoo Land & Cattle Company.
The Hunt family’s long-term
strategy is to hold these large tracts
of open land for future real estate
development or mineral exploration. In the meantime, its five
farms and ranches raise cattle
and horses and produce vegetables,
citrus, grains, and sugar.
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Bob Funk
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The Fanjul family has strong ties to the land: today, in
Florida, and in generations past, in Cuba. “I love land so
much even my hobbies revolve around land,” says J. Pepe
Fanjul, who adds, “I spend every free weekend at
Amistad, my 2,500-acre private shooting preserve.”
FLORIDA CRYSTALS
Tim Blixseth
189,000 acres
TIMBER &
DEVELOPMENT
Entrepreneur Tim Blixseth made
his name and his first fortune by
buying and selling timber and timberland. His next was built around
the Yellowstone Club, a private,
ultra-exclusive golf and ski community in Montana. Today, he
focuses on high-end real estate
transactions through his Nevadabased Desert Ranch partnership.
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Bidegain Family
180,000 acres
RANCHING
“It’s been in the family since 1902,”
says Phil Bidegain of the family’s
T4 Cattle Company. “We run a
cow-calf operation with about
2,500 mother cows.” The T4 also
breeds Quarter Horses, a program
that Phil’s wife, Laurie, oversees.
The couple’s two sons are actively
involved as well: Donnie operates
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the farming division; Scott helps
manage the cattle operation.
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Williams Family
180,000 acres
RANCHING
What’s not to love about the
family’s Pitchfork Land & Cattle
Company’s home ranch outside
Guthrie, Texas? It’s a working cattle
ranch that runs primarily Black and
Black Baldy. Its legendary remuda
boasts the ranch’s signature
Pitchfork Gray. It’s open for hunting
whitetail deer, wild turkey, and
varmints. And thanks to its location
in the Tannehill sands, it’s produced
millions of barrels of oil. If the family’s satellite operation in Oklahoma
gets jealous, it’s easy to see why.
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Russell Gordy
170,129 acres
ENERGY & HUNTING
Houston oil and gas tycoon Gordy
owns Rock Creek Ranch, which
offers exotic game hunting in
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RANCHING
Funk’s holdings total 177,106 acres;
13,000 are leased land. His Express
Ranches are headquartered in
Yukon, Oklahoma, where the water
tower proclaims it hometown of
Garth Brooks. But Funk’s heralded
Angus and Limousin have made
the ranch famous in its own right.
The Express is one of the largest
seedstock operations in the U.S.,
and guests at a recent Limousin
Production Sale included singer
Mickey Gilley, Cincinnati Bengals
safety Roy Williams, and former
Miss America Jennifer Berry.
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Kokernot Heirs
163,166 acres
RANCHING
At its height, the Kokernot 06
Ranch spread across 288,000 acres
in Far West Texas, including the
Davis Mountains. Founded in 1837
by David L. Kokernot, it has been
in the family ever since. David’s
great-grandson Chris Lacy took
over managing the 06 in 1971 and
continues to run it today. Thanks to
the ranch’s mountainous terrain,
16 cowboys and a remuda of over
100 horses work roundups twice
a year.
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Benjamin W. Griffith III
161,644 acres
TIMBER
Benjy Griffith, as he is known to
friends, founded Southern Pine
Plantations in Georgia over 25
years ago. It was his love for land
that led to his success in timberland; he believes in timber as a
growing asset that provides environmental and social benefits. His
holdings spread across Georgia,
South Carolina, Florida, Virginia,
Tennessee, Texas, and Montana.
“These properties provide not only
timber, but also clean air, clean
water, wildlife habitats, recreational
opportunities, and carbon sequestration,” Griffith says.
Texas, and Lone Star Land &
Cattle Company in Wyoming. He
recently attempted to swap over
16,000 acres of deeded land in
Wyoming for roughly 14,000 acres
of state trust lands. Gordy’s aim
was to consolidate his spread-out
holdings. Opponents argued that
he would be restricting public
access for hunters while developing
a lucrative outfitting business for
himself. The proposed swap was
ultimately withdrawn.
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Broadbent Family
170,000 acres
RANCHING
Rancher Joseph Ray “J.R.”
Broadbent built up one of the
largest sheep and cattle operations
in the country. Upon his death,
daughter Colleen Broadbent
Paddock and sons Joseph and Ray
assumed control of Broadbent
Grazing Association and still
oversee operations in California,
Utah, and Wyoming.
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McCoy Family
51| 170,000 acres
RANCHING
The Texas-based family owns both
McCoy’s Building Supply (run by
Brian McCoy) and McCoy Remme
Ranches (run by Kaare and Brenda
McCoy Remme). The ranches,
which are located in the Davis
Mountains of Far West Texas,
utilize remote monitoring stations
to monitor grazing conditions for
cow-calf operations.
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Sugg Family
166,655 acres
RANCHING
San Angelo’s Sugg family operates
cattle ranches in West Texas, and
one of their fields in Irion County
is dotted with oil and gas wells. In
one of the most interesting methods of green ranching we’ve come
across, Suzanne Sugg uses naturally
shed deer horns from the family’s
7D Ranch as accents on her handmade totes.
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Cogdell Family
56| 160,000 acres
RANCHING
D.M. Cogdell founded Tule Ranch
50 years ago, and today his four
children run its cattle and Quarter
Horse operations. “Daddy always
said land was a good investment
because the Good Lord probably
won’t make any more of it,” says
daugther Penny Cogdell Carpenter.
“We have every intention of taking
care of the land that takes care of
us so we can pass it on.”
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Leo Drey
160,000 acres
CONSERVATION
Missouri’s Pioneer Forest, owned
by the not-for-profit L-A-D
Foundation, originated when St.
Louis businessman and conservationist Leo Drey began acquiring
Missouri land in 1951. In 1954 his
holdings grew after a forester
warned Drey that National
Distillers was planning to clear cut
thousands of acres of white oak in
the Ozarks. Drey purchased those
90,000 acres and other forested
land. In July of 2004 Drey donated
fee title to nearly 140,000 acres to
the foundation.
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Eddy Family
160,000 acres
TIMBER
Port Blakely Companies in the
Pacific Northwest has been
privately owned by the Eddy family
since 1864, and is made up of four
separate businesses. This year, its
Port Blakely Tree Farms received
an environmental excellence award
from a Washington state organization for implementing the state’s
first voluntary safe harbor agreement, which will create thousands
of acres of protected habitat for
two federally listed wildlife species.
In exchange for entering into the
60-year agreement, the Port Blakely
Tree Farms received assurances
against the imposition of future
regulatory restrictions.
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Ellison Family
RANCHING
The historic Spanish Ranch and 71
Ranch are the crown jewels of the
Ellison Ranching Company. The 71
is a working cattle ranch in Nevada
that also offers the chance for
guests to ride with the crew as they
work the herd.
and efforts such as Everglades
restoration. “I love land so much
even my hobbies revolve around
land. I spend every free weekend at
Amistad, my 2,500-acre private
shooting preserve,” says J. Pepe
Fanjul, company vice chairman,
president, and chief operating officer. “Amistad was honored with the
Florida Agriculture Board’s award
Clayton and Modesta
Williams cherish their
time spent with family
and friends on their
ranches.
No. 60
THE WILLIAMS FAMILY
Clayton and Modesta
60| Williams Jr.
157,375 acres
ENERGY
Clayton Williams Jr. made his name
in the natural gas industry with
Clayton Williams Energy Inc. He is
still chairman, president, and chief
executive officer of the company
just as he was when he took it
public in 1991. He and his wife,
Modesta, are devoted ranchers,
with land spreading across six
counties in Far West Texas.
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Fanjul Family
155,000 acres
AGRIBUSINESS
Headquartered in Palm Beach
County, the Fanjul family’s privately
owned Florida Crystals is the first
(and only) domestic producer of
certified organic sugar. The company has a tradition of proactively
pursuing eco-friendly production
innovations and has worked tirelessly on sustainability initiatives
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of excellence for the way we environmentally manage the land. This
recognition was truly special to me,
because Amistad is the namesake
of one of our family’s ranches in my
home country Cuba that was lost
after the Communist takeover.”
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Hearst Family
153,000 acres
RANCHING
Hearst Ranch is a purveyor of 100
percent grass-fed beef and lamb,
along with other gourmet foods,
sauces, and olive oils. The family
raises its cattle on the Piedra
Blanca Rancho, which surrounds
Hearst Castle and is one of the
largest working ranches on the
California coast, and the Jack
Ranch in Cholame, whose Circle
C brand is the oldest registered
brand in the state in use today. The
Hearsts focus on well-managed
grazing and put together one of
the largest land conservation
easements in the state’s history.
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RANCHING & TIMBER
Emily Garvey Bonavia took the
reigns of the family’s privately held
Nevada First Corporation in 1993,
including its ranching and timber
operations, and she still runs it
today with the help of son
Nicholas. Since last year, says
Garvey Bonavia, “I bought land
in Oregon and sold some other
pieces.” Reports Nevada First
President Gary Bengochea, the
family sold farmland in Nevada,
and their holdings today include
around 130,000 acres in Nevada
and approximately 20,000 in
Oregon.
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Bass Family
150,000 acres
DIVERSIFIED
In Texas, where everything seems
larger than life, the Bass name is
one of the state’s biggest. Patriarch
Sid Williams Richardson’s four
great-nephews (Sid, Ed, Richard,
and Lee) are all on the Forbes 400,
and the family’s holdings encompass land throughout the state.
All eyes will be on one particular
property this coming January:
ESPN chose the Bass-developed
Sundance Square in Fort Worth
as its production headquarters for
Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys
Stadium.
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Boswell Family
150,000 acres
AGRIBUSINESS
James Griffin Boswell founded the
family’s farming company in
California’s San Joaquin Valley, but
his nephew James G. Boswell gets
the credit for building the family’s
empire. He tripled the amount of
land he inherited from his uncle
and pioneered methods for
increasing the farm’s cotton production. Upon his death in 2009,
son James W. Boswell took over as
CEO of the J.G. Boswell Company.
The “family farm” is estimated to
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be the country’s largest cotton
producer and one of the largest
tomato growers. It also grows
wheat, sunflowers, and safflowers.
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William Henry
Green Heirs
150,000 acres
RANCHING
The first herd that William Henry
Green bought in the 1870s were
branded with a J, so he adopted it
as his own symbol. Today, the cattle on Green Ranch still carry the J
brand. Billy Green, William
Henry’s grandson, manages the
cow-calf and stocker cattle operation. The ranch’s prized horses all
hail from its own award-winning
broodmare band.
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Gerald J. Ford
144,580 acres
DIVERSIFIED
Ford’s Rio Hondo Land & Cattle
Company sits in New Mexico’s
Hondo Valley, about halfway
between Roswell and Ruidoso.
Hunts are offered on the property
for desert mule deer, elk, aoudad,
antelope, and turkey. Ford also
owns Diamond A Farms in
Versailles, Kentucky, home of his
Diamond A Racing, whose Devil
May Care finished 10th in this
year’s Kentucky Derby.
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Mike Mechenbier
142,000 acres
RANCHING
This second-generation New
Mexican rancher has three adjoining properties: the Four Daughters
Ranch, the Dockery-Collins Ranch,
and the Pie Ranch. Mechenbier and
his wife, Kathleen, founded the
charity Los Niños and established
El Ranchito de los Niños, a nonprofit long-term home for children,
especially groups of siblings, whose
families are unable to care for them.
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Harrison Family
140,000 acres
HORSES
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“Harrison Quarter Horses continues to breed the finest quality for
barrels, poles, team, calf roping,
performance halter, and many
other disciplines,” says Ranch
Manager Rosemary Harrison.
“We’ve been keeping the legend
alive since 1941.” That’s the year
D.J. Harrison first registered his
horses with the American Quarter
Horse Association, which
bestowed him and his son Dan J.
Harrison with the Legacy Award.
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Thomas Lane
140,000 acres
RANCHING
Lane runs seven livestock operations, all in Montana, with the help
of his sons. “We’re trying to keep
this land open,” Lane says. “We
haven’t subdivided it and don’t
plan to.” It’s been his philosophy
since he purchased his first halfsection in 1954.
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Wells Family
140,000 acres
DIVERSIFIED
Brothers Preston and John Wells
built up their holdings in the 1930s,
including the Riverside Hotel
on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort
Lauderdale. Today, Preston’s granddaughter Barbara Wells is the sole
owner of the family’s Las Olas
Company. In 2009, the company’s
president, Irving Bowen, was fired
and Wells filed suit to also have
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him removed from the board of
trustees of the family’s trusts—for
mismanagement of funds that
created a “financial crisis.” At press
time, Wells is not believed to have
sold significant tracts of land to
overcome that crisis.
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Tom Siebel
135,000 acres
AGRIBUSINESS
If Siebel’s name sounds familiar,
that’s because he founded Siebel
Systems (which he sold five years
ago to Oracle). He now chairs First
Virtual Group, which has operations in agribusiness, real estate,
and global investments. He also
chairs the Siebel Foundation, which
has donated $200 million to education, human health, and fighting
poverty. In Montana, the location
of his Dearborn and N Bar ranches, he started the Meth Project to
fight meth abuse. Credit Siebel
with helping to reduce use of the
drug by 63 percent. The project
has subsequently expanded to
eight states.
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Isaac Ellwood Heirs
130,000 acres
RANCHING
The Renderbrook Spade Ranch
was one of the first to be fenced in
Texas, which is only fitting since its
founder, Isaac Ellwood, invented
barbed wire. Today, in addition to
the Renderbrook, there are five
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In addition to its storied history, Tom
Siebel’s N Bar Ranch is one of the most
ecologically diverse properties in the West
and spans more than 60,000 contiguous
acres. Hall and Hall’s Joel Leadbetter has
it listed for $45 million.
KENTON ROWE
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Since 1873, cattle on the CS Ranch
have been worked on horseback.
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more operations in different
regions of the Lone Star State.
Isaac’s six great-great-grandchildren are on the board of directors
for Spade Ranches, as the six
ranches are known collectively.
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JA Ranch Heirs
130,000 acres
RANCHING
At one time, the JA Ranch in the
Texas Panhandle spanned a million
acres on both sides of Palo Duro
Canyon. Today, the oldest ranch in
the Panhandle is run by Cornelia
“Ninia” Wadsworth Ritchie, the
fourth generation descendant of
John Adair, who started the ranch
in 1876 with Charles Goodnight.
In addition to traditional cattle
ranching, the JA remuda produces
ranch horses. There is also a hunting program for deer, aoudad, feral
hogs, quail, turkey, and dove.
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Les Davis Heirs
128,000 acres
RANCHING
Frank Springer founded the CS
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RENE HEIL
Emily Garvey Bonavia
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Ranch at the base of Northern
New Mexico’s stunning Sangre de
Cristo Mountains in 1873, and his
grandson Les Davis left Dartmouth
to join the family operation in
1941. Today, Davis’s six children
run the ranch together, which
includes cow-calf operations, a
horse-breeding program, and
hunting and outfitting.
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Booth Family
125,000
RANCHING
Brothers Gary and Mark Booth
run their family’s Booth Land and
Livestock Ranch, a cow-calf operation near Laramie, Wyoming.
Working with Ranch Manager
Nick Speiser, they have improved
their range not only for their own
livestock but also for the wild game
that call it home, such as elk,
pronghorn, and mule deer. The
group has implemented water
improvements and modified fences
to facilitate wildlife movement. The
ranch has been lauded by the
state’s Game and Fish Department
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for providing public access by
enrolling over 45,000 acres in
four hunter management areas.
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Brite Ranch Heirs
125,000
RANCHING
James (Jim) White III runs the
Brite Ranch in the Capote
Mountains of West Texas. The
Bar Cross line-bred Herefords
may be the oldest in the U.S., and
the family continues the tradition
of ranch founder Luke Brite’s
practice of line breeding. The
only thing that’s changed since
the ranch was founded in 1885
may be the limited hunting the
family allows through Capote
Mountain Outfitters, run by
James White IV, a fifth-generation
member of the family.
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Crosby Family
125,000
TIMBER
Crosby Land and Resources was
brought to our attention this year.
We were remiss in overlooking the
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largest family-owned, non-industrial private timberland company in
Louisiana. “We do not own or
operate any converting facilities,”
Robert H. Crosby III says modestly.
“We're just one big tree farm with a
focus on maintaining a healthy and
sustainable forest for the benefit of
current and future generations of
family owners.” The privately held
company has been operating for
over a century in Louisiana and
Mississippi.
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Drummond Family
119,649 acres
RANCHING
Things were a bit different when
Frederick Drummond settled the
family’s ranch in the 1880s. His
wife didn’t write an award-winning
blog similar to the one penned by
Ree Drummond (check it out at
www.thepioneerwoman.com),
which has inspired a movie with
Reese Witherspoon cast as Ree.
No word on who might play her
husband, Ladd, or her brother-inlaw Tim, who run the ranch.
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David Murdock
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117,490
80 acres
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FARMING
Murdock’s privately held Castle &
Cooke owns 98 percent of Hawaii’s
island of Lana. His Dole Food
Company owns another 26,000
acres on Oahu. Only about 2,700
acres of his Oahu land are used to
farm pineapples, however, with a
significant portion leased out for
use as pasture or in forest reserves.
Nearly 3,000 acres of farmland and
orchards in California round out
his holdings.
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Moursund Family
115,000 acres
RANCHING
“It’s all working ranchland,” says
Will Stribling Moursund, son of
the late A.W. Moursund, a nationally recognized lawyer and statesman. The family’s holdings include
property in Oklahoma, Texas,
South Dakota, and Nebraska.
The Moursunds run Black Angus
cross-bred to Charolais.
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Scharbauer Family
113,532 acres
ENERGY
The Scharbauers made a fortune
from the oil under their lands, and
Clarence Scharbauer Jr.’s Valor
Farm has produced world-class
acehorses such as Alysheba, the
1987 Kentucky Derby winner and
1988 Horse of the Year. A former
president of the American Quarter
Horse Association, Scharbauer
donated $25 million to Midland
Memorial Hospital in 2008.
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No. 84
52 The LandReport
RANCHING
Former rocket scientist Richard
Evans realized his boyhood dream
of living and ranching in the West
with the Double V Ranch, which
totals just over 122,000 acres
including leased and BLM land.
Evans and his wife, Victoria, listed
the ranch a few years ago for $26
million, but a change of heart (and
market) put an end to that plan.
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Stan Harper
111,420 acres
RANCHING
In addition to his land and cattle
operations, Harper, who hails from
New Mexico, has a Texas-based
auto industry consultancy business.
His registered Angus ranch is in
Venus, Texas, while his registered
Hereford program is based out of
Wagon Mound, New Mexico.
Harper also raises bison and
Quarter Horses. Over the years he
has purchased smaller tracts that
join his property and now owns
100,000 acres in New Mexico alone,
including the Maes Ranch near the
historic ghost town of Maes.
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Linnebur Family
110,000 acres
FARMING
Brothers Emmett and Lloyd
Linnebur became partners in
farming in their youth, although
they decided to separate their
interests as their families expanded.
Both Emmett and Lloyd have since
passed away, and their descen-
Desiree Moore
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86 105,000 acres
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RANCHING
The Broken O Ranch stretches
between Simms and Augusta in
Montana. William Moore, cofounded of Kelly-Moore Paints,
purchased 62,000 acres in the
1980s and then added more. Since
his passing in 2004, the Broken O
has continued under the guidance
of his wife, Desiree, and manager
Dan Freeman.
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Reese Family
105,000 acres
HUNTING
The Rockin’ 7 Ranch has been in
the Reese family for nearly 100
years, and the fourth generation
has crafted it into an impressive
destination for hunters. “The
Rockin’ 7 offers a vast acreage of
private land, where you will see a
lot of game without seeing other
hunters,” says Brad Reese.
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Robinson Family
103,000 acres
SECLUSION
The Hawaiian island of Ni’ihau has
been owned by the Robinson
family since it was purchased for
$10,000 in gold in 1864. Ni’ihau is
the only remaining island where
Hawaiian is still spoken as the
primary language. The island is
off-limits to tourists except for
half-day helicopter tours and
hunting safaris offered by the
island’s current owners, brothers
Bruce and Keith Robinson.
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Milliken Family
100,000 acres
TIMBER
Roger Milliken Jr. is chairman of
The Nature Conservancy’s board
of directors, a position he has
held since October 2008. He
is also a trustee for The Nature
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Stan Harper’s cattle operations are based in
North Texas and Northern New Mexico.
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dants, along with their brother
Gene, put their lands to use in a
variety of ways, including farming.
Richard & Victoria Evans
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Conservancy in Maine, where his
family’s Baskahegan Company
owns and manages 100,000 acres of
forestland. The company has been
recognized for respecting the
dynamics of natural systems in its
timber management, and its forest
has been certified by the Forest
Stewardship Council since 2004.
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John Hampton
100,000 acres
TIMBER
Bud Hampton started the familyowned Hampton Affiliates with
just one mill in 1935, and today
Hampton Lumber Sales is one of
the largest forest product wholesalers in the Pacific Northwest.
In addition to the family’s acreage
in Oregon and Washington, the
Hamptons also manage close to
300,000 additional acres in British
Columbia. Today the third
generation of Hamptons, David
and Jamey, pitch in and help their
father, John, manage the family’s
international holdings.
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Beggs Family
100,000 acres
RANCHING
The much-respected Beggs family
has holdings across seven counties
in West Texas. Their cow-calf
operations are overseen by the
fourth generation of Beggses, and
the family has been honored with
the Charles Goodnight Award and
the American Quarter Horse
Association’s Legacy Award.
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Powell Heirs
100,000 acres
RANCHING
One of the Powells’ spreads is the
Six Mile Ranch, located six miles
outside Fort McKavett, Texas.
The Powells have been breeding
Herefords there since 1954; the
annual Powell Hereford Production
Sale is now a much-anticipated
event. Third-generation rancher
and Rice alumnus Jimmy Powell
has received many accolades.
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No. 95
The Yates family’s fortune is built on
New Mexico’s abundant energy
resources and also includes prime
grasslands in the southeast portion
of the state.
RENE HEIL
Walter Umphrey
100,000 acres
RANCHING
The Beaumont attorney, whose
ranches are primarily in South
Texas, is probably best known for
being a member of the Tobacco
Five—the trial lawyers who helped
negotiate the landmark settlement
between the tobacco industry and
the State of Texas. “I’m a big believer in land,” Umphrey says. “They
can’t burn it, and they can’t steal it.”
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Dennis Washington
100,000 acres
DIVERSIFIED
Rising from humble beginnings,
Montana-based industrialist and
entrepreneur Washington is today
one of the Forbes 400. He built a
successful heavy construction business that diversified into mining,
transportation, heavy equipment,
environmental remediation, aviation, and real estate development.
He and his wife, Phyllis, are also
major philanthropists.
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Yates Family
100,000 acres
ENERGY & RANCHING
Patriarch Martin Yates Jr. discovered the first commercial oil well in
New Mexico, and his sons continued his wildcatting legacy. Yates
Petroleum Corporation, with headquarters in Artesia, is one of the
largest producers of oil and natural
gas in the state. The Yates family’s
holdings range across New Mexico,
including the Ojo Feliz Ranch.
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Butler Heirs
97,389 acres
RANCHING
The Fort Union Ranch has been in
the Butler family for over 100
years. This New Mexico spread
surrounds the Fort Union National
Monument, which stands on land
donated by the family in 1954. Built
to protect the Santa Fe Trail, it was
the largest fort in the Southwest
and played a part in much history,
including the Confederate defeat at
Glorieta Pass.
Aubrey McClendon
97,036 acres
ENERGY & RANCHING
In 2010, Chesapeake Energy’s
chairman and CEO decided to sell
his 271 Ranch in the heart of
whitetail country outside Antlers,
Oklahoma. Located farthest from
Chesapeake’s Oklahoma City
headquarters in Choctaw County,
the income-producing cattle ranch
was the property he visited
least frequently.
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Eshleman-Vogt Family
RANCHING
Just outside of the South Texas
town of Hebbronville lies the
Eshleman-Vogt Ranch, a working
cattle ranch with renowned whitetail deer hunting. Thanks to an
intensive management program,
the ranch has long been a popular
destination with sportsmen. The
Eshleman-Vogt, says Brian Vogt,
“has been in the family since the
late 1880s.”
Joe Finley Jr.
89,000 acres
RANCHING
At its height, the Callaghan Ranch
in South Texas once covered a
much larger area in the range of
approximately a quarter-million
acres. Down through the decades,
acreage was reduced, and today it
stands at 89,000. In addition to
running cattle, the Callaghan has a
substantial hunting operation with
trophy whitetail deer.
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Millard Morris
89,000 acres
RANCHING
The Tongue River Ranch, which
Morris bought in 1997, spans four
counties in the Texas Panhandle.
Run as a working cow-calf
operation, it’s also known for its
Quarter Horse breeding program.
Recently, CBS reporter Harry
Smith spent a day at the ranch.
The segment aired this summer
under the title “Harry Smith’s
Dream Job.”
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