Two years have passed since Boone Pickens announced his intention to sell his Mesa Vista Ranch for $250 million. Known as the home of “the world’s best quail hunting,” the 64,809-acre contiguous tract was meticulously assembled and strategically enhanced by…
By Cary Estes When Peoples Company auctioneer Jared Chambers was presented with the task of publicizing an impending auction of two ranches totaling more than 8,000 acres across two counties in Western South Dakota, he developed a marketing campaign that…
No. 30 Hughes Family 390,000 acres Patriarch Dan Hughes Sr. was a legend in the oil and gas industry. He began as a roustabout in high school, earned a geology degree from Texas A&M, and then found, financed, and drilled…
No. 29 Holding Family 395,030 acres (down 4,790-acres) Robert Earl Holding (1926–2003) purchased SINCLAIR OIL CORP. for $78 million in 1976. The following year, he and wife, Carol, bought Idaho’s SUN VALLEY resort for $12 million. More recently, the Holdings…
No. 25 Simplot Family 443,091 acres Jack Simplot (1909—2008) was no ordinary potato farmer. In 1967, the Iowa native struck a deal with McDonald’s CEO Ray Kroc to supply the fast-food giant with frozen french fries. With that single transaction,…
No. 24 McDonald Family 474,000 acres This Alabama family holds the vast majority of their US lands (some 300,000-plus acres) in Maine via GREAT NORTHWOODS LLC. The McDonalds also own more than 100,000 acres in their home state as well…
The TOP TEN listings in the Lone Star State boast an average price north of $100 million. -The Editors 1. Mesa Vista Ranch | $250 Million Boone Pickens’ 100-square-mile ranch has been deemed “arguably the finest quail hunting spot in…
No. 16 O’Connor Heirs 587,800 acres By the time of his death in 1887, Irish immigrant Thomas O’Connor (1817—1887) owned half a million acres in Southeast Texas and close to 100,000 head of cattle. His philosophy? “Buy land and never…
No. 12 Wilks Brothers 702,367 acres FRAC TECH founders Farris and Dan Wilks own ranches in Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas, and they rank as the state’s leading landowners in Montana and Idaho. At least they did at press time. Wilks…
Montana Governor Steve Bullock signed into law legislation that designates fossils belong to the surface estate owner. The first-of-its-kind protection addresses a contentious issue that has bedeviled landowners. “This was a very significant bill for our group,” Charles Denowh of…
