Pingree Heirs | No. 11 830,000 ACRES Known as the Merchant Prince of Salem, David Pingree (1795–1863) purchased his first tract of Maine timberland in 1841. Although he eventually established landholdings in Kentucky, Ohio, New Hampshire, Texas, and Wisconsin, his…
King Ranch Heirs | No. 10 911,215 ACRES In 2019, KING RANCH enhanced its rich legacy by winning the American Quarter Horse Association’s Best Remuda Award. “King Ranch is known around the world as an icon of ranching,” said AQHA…
Singleton Family | No. 9 1,110,000 ACRES Family patriarch HENRY SINGLETON (1916–1999) purchased New Mexico’s historic San Cristobal Ranch in 1986. Located just south of Santa Fe between the Cerrillos Hills, the Jemez Mountains, the Ortiz Mountains, and the Sangre…
Brad Kelley | No. 8 1,139,984 ACRES (down 10,016 acres) The Wall Street Journal christened Kelley as “The Man With a Million Acres” in 2012. Kelley has, in fact, bought and sold millions of acres nationwide. As 2019 came to…
The storied Houston family calls 388,000 acres in and around Harris County theirs thanks to the vision of patriarch Hugh Roy Cullen (1881–1957). After owning a seat on the Houston Cotton Exchange, Cullen turned to the oil business, pioneering now…
Peter Buck | No. 7 1,236,000 ACRES (up 311,000 acres) Privately held Subway, which was founded by Peter Buck and Fred DeLuca in the 1960s, is the largest single-brand restaurant chain on earth with more than 41,000 locations in 100-plus…
Irving Family | No. 6 1,247,880 ACRES Kenneth Colin “K.C.” Irving (1899–1992) ranks as Canada’s equivalent of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller. In the early 20th century, Irving gained a foothold in the oil patch that eventually evolved into…
Stan Kroenke | No. 5 1,380,000 ACRES With wind energy projects totaling more than 400 megawatts in Texas and Wyoming, KROENKE RANCHES is rapidly becoming one of America’s largest renewable energy landowners. In addition to progressive energy development, Stan Kroenke…
Reed Family | No. 4 1,726,295 ACRES (down 2,937 acres) Headquartered in Seattle, the Reed family’s GREEN DIAMOND RESOURCE COMPANY is a fifth-generation, family-owned forest products company. According to Forisk Consulting, its holdings span eight states in the Pacific Northwest…
Ted Turner | No. 3 2,000,000 ACRES In an event that was centuries in the making, three Bolson Tortoises emerged from their shells on Ted Turner’s ARMENDARIS RANCH in the Chihuahua Desert of South Central New Mexico. Once thought to…
