Roughly equal to: Three-quarters of Grand Canyon National Park. Thank them for the shirt on your back. The Galts are a family of cattle ranchers with a number of large properties in Montana, including the Martinsdale Ranch. (The other? Owned the 06 Ranch nearly a century after its founding. 50. Brothers Farris and Dan Wilks launched Frac Tech, a natural gas extraction company in 2002, and sold it for $3.5 billion in 2011. The ten largest landowners in America are 1. cable and media honcho John Malone (2.2 million acres), 2. lumber titans Emmerson Family, 3. Discover the Little-Known U.S. River Gorge That's, The 9 Best Books About National Parks for Travelers, Discover 8 Extinct Animals from New Mexico, Meet the 4 Largest Land Owners in Arizona, The 15 Deepest Lakes in the United States. The real estate mogul is also owner of the Los Angeles Rams and married toAnn Walkton Kroenke, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune. Roger Milliken takes his relationship with his familys land pretty seriously. The property is the largest ranch in the state,by Captain Richard King in 1853 and subsequently passed down through generations. But shes upset local interests. His land ownership in New Mexico will likely expand as the space industry develops. Malone, the largest private landowner in the United States and who made his fortune in the telecom business, runs profitable cattle ranches. The Lydas are Texas cattle ranchers and landowners. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. He now owns and manages spreads in Texas, Montana and Wyoming. Much of Turner's land is used as grazing land for over 50,000 head of buffalo - the largest private herd of bison in the world. The family still owns most of that property. Land: Kelleys properties span Texas, New Mexico, and Florida and are used to breed rare species of animals. 560,000 acres These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke has even more land, coming in at No. 190,000 acres Today, much of Kelley's 1.2 million acres are located in Kentucky. 23. Land: Approximately two million acres of forestland in California and Washington. Philip Anschutz owns 434,500 acres of land in Wyoming and Colorado. Vermejo Park Ranch, located in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, is a stunning 560,000-acre property. Were basically just marketing grass, he told Western Horseman, and the cows are a way to market the grass.. Kokernot heirs:278,000 acres in Texas. 1 to 6 | Nos. His space firm Blue Origin uses it to test. Land: Holdings in many states. Malone Mitchell runs Longfellow Ranches, a 500 square mile hunting preserve located in West Texas. 130,000 acres Member of both families operate six cattle ranches. His purchase of the enormous Corn Ranch in West Texas was part nostalgia and part business. His land is mostly in Maine, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, and includes profitable cattle farms. Since then, they have been acquiring land. Barta family:286,000 acres in Nebraska. From the wide open spaces of the desert to the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains, New Mexico has something to offer everyone. Boyd's Frying Pan Ranch was originally made up of 95 sections in the Texas Panhandle, which was one of the first areas to test out barbed-wire fencing over 130 years ago. Ol A.S. bequeathed the private land to his daughters. They also are based on only rural land holdings. For five generations, the Reed Family has owned and operated the logging company Green Diamond Resource Co. Fasken family . Sounds like the perfect setting for a combination of Gunsmoke and Beverly Hills: 90210. Using data from The Land Report magazines 2018 Land Report, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 50 largest private landholders in the United States. The Barta family, which owes its wealth to its prescription services company, Sav-Rx, now owns one of the largest cattle ranching operations in Nebraska. They make money by leasing the state trust land to a multitude of companies. All told, the 50 individuals, families, and heirs on this list own over 31 million acres or about 1.4% of the countrys total landmass. New Mexico, Texas, Florida, and Oregon. Ted Turner: 2 million acres in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. 373,000 acres Offering competitive leases is only the start. The brothers started buying up Texas ranch land in 1923 and the modern day Beggs still manage much of it. By the way, what is it about land that makes people want to number their children? The Beggs can thank W.D. They use their land for timber, sand and gravel, and oil extraction. Of the many fowls he has sired, the family says, we havent found anything we dont like about them.. Much of Turner's land is used as grazing land for over 50,000 head of buffalo the largest private herd of bison in the world. The Bass family fortune, like those held by many of the entries on this list, comes from oil and cattle ranching. Babbitt heirs:275,000 acres in Arizona. Land: Cow-calf operations on Cedar Creek and PV Ranch in Montana; Q Creek Land & Livestock Company runs up to 12,000 yearlings on 550,000+ acres in Wyoming. Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell (September 14, 1818 - July 25, 1875) was a mountain man, rancher, scout, and farmer who at one point owned more than 1,700,000 acres (6,900 km 2).Along with Thomas Catron and Ted Turner, Maxwell was one of the largest private landowners in United States history. Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Detroit. Roughly equal to: The size of Oklahoma City. 200,000 acres Dont mess with Texas, and never, ever mess with a Texas ranching family. 46 withabout 275,000 acres in New Mexico. Land: 250,000-acre Baughman Farms in Kansas; 149,493-acre Overland Trail Cattle Company & Ranch in Wyoming and 35,000 acres in Colorado. Today, his family owns some 280,000 acres, primarily in Collier County, which is named after him. Among the soccer teams, railroads, movie theaters and newspaper, the Denver billionaire has enough land for what will be one of the largest wind farms in the country. (Translation for La Escalera: The Ladder.) 189,000 acres Learn how your comment data is processed. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Vermejo Park is the only Turner ranch operating as a full-service guest ranch. Wilks Brothers:702,367 acres in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas. Some want that land for cattle, others for farming, others to test their reusable space craft (those hobby store model rockets just werent enough, were they Mr. A good old picture of the American heartland. Background: Holland Ware's fortunes in the timber industry began in the early 50s with his first purchase of 100 acres for $10 when he was 15 years old. Ford family: 580,000 acresin Oregon. He has used portions of those settlement to buy three ranches where he hunts, raises cattle, and one might hope, doesnt smoke. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. He operates a ranch and children's summer camp. Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Houston. This ranching family owns some of the oldest operating ranch land in the country. All told, Buck owns 925,000 acres. Shannon's farming and ranching operations produce peanuts, corn, wheat, dairy, and cattle. Collier family: 280,000 acres, primarily in Collier County, Florida. His ranch is a refuge for a herd of big horn sheep, trophy elk, antelope, mountain lions and stone writings from early Spanish explorers, asking Donde esta la carne? or Wheres the beef? Ya, thats a joke. They welcome guests to hunt, fish, or go on photography safaris.. Funk deals in bull semen lots of bull semen. Here's how it breaks down between each division: Roughly equal to: One-quarter the size of Delaware. Take Jeff Bezos, for example. John C. Malone has been in the cable. The Langdale Company, which started with a crop of turpentine timber, claims to have planted more trees than theyve cut since the 1930s. 255,000 acres Land: Timberland throughout Oregon and California. Background: Anne Marion is the fourth generation heir to Samuel Burnett, a cattle rancher who amassed more than a third of a million acres in Texas by the early 1900s. Owners of the oldest continuously operated cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle. 150,000 acres 15. Stefan Soloviev:325,077 acres in New Mexico, Kansas and Texas. Family members have run a long-time lumber business. Their holdings outside New Mexico include the Peachtree and Top ranches in John Steinbecks Salinas Valley. Not surprisingly, many of the people on this list rank among the wealthiest Americans. The type of resources that help them manage their land responsibly and sustainably. . Background: The main cash cow for King Ranch remains ranching and farming but it has also expanded into publishing, retail and eco-tourism. All these logging guys love to tote the sustainability of their operations. He owns ranches in Texas, New Mexico and Kentucky. Their land includes the 190,000 acre Sunlight Ranch in Montana, just outside of Yellowstone National Park. 130,000 acres 1,000 turbines are currently under construction on a combination of his private land and public land in Wyoming. And it only gets bigger from there for several wealthy families. The family raises cattle and grows citrus. This businessman has ranch holdings in Texas, Florida, and New Mexico. Still, thats not as it much as it once was. Land: Oilfields and ranchlands throughout Texas. He became one of the largest landowners in the United States when he purchased 561,000 acres of land in northern Florida for $700 million in 2015. The Lee family comes in at No. Each year The Land Report publishes a list nations top property owners ranked by the number of acres they own in the United States. The cable billionaire from Denver added two properties in Wellington, the epicenter of South Floridas equestrian community, and an Irish castle with a solid set of stables. 46. The late Truman Collins was a lumberman who became the largest private landholder in Pennsylvania before his death in 1914. The family is in the oil business. Roughly equal to: One-tenth the size of Connecticut. Has anyone ever heard of Bill Honeycutt who says he owns 100,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley area, an raises a huge herd of sheep, (10,000) an a large herd of Black Angus Beef cattle??? Manages ranches only fit for the best cowboys. Chalk up 3,000 animal units to the Dana Ranch. 34. Anne Marion owns several major properties in Texas, including the famous 6666, or "Four Sixes" cattle ranch in the Southern Panhandle, which is close to 150 years old. Mmmm-mm! In addition, they bring jobs and economic growth with their investments in the aerospace and other industries. We have no idea what those Spanish writings say. Learn more about us & read our affiliate disclosure. Hughes family: 390,000 acres in Texas.