100 41 / Bill Gates 275,000 ACRES 6,016 ACRES e Land Report Family 41 / Jones 275,000 ACRES According to the Associated Press, the widely reported acquisition of 2,100 acres of North Dakota farmland by Gates’s RED RIVER TRUST for $13.5 million sparked an investigation by the state’s attorney general into whether or not the sale by Campbell Farms violated North Dakota’s anti-corporate farming law. In conclusion, Attorney General Drew Wrigley issued a letter saying the transaction complied with the law, which prohibits corporations or limited liability companies from owning farmland or ranchland but allows individual trusts to own the land if it is leased to farmers. There was one minor detail omitted in this storyline: Bill Gates’s Red River Trust already owned more than 3,000 acres of North Dakota farmland prior to the Campbell Farms purchase. The fabled ALTA VISTA RANCH in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas was founded by W.W. and Lou Ella Jones in 1890. Many of the ranch’s structures date back to Spanish and Mexican rule. The Alta Vista is rife with whitetailed deer, bobwhite quail, wild turkey, javelina, and boar, and a passion for wildlife guides the family — now in its sixth generation. Trans-Pecos region. A full-service 4,700-square-foot lodge welcomes guests. Wildlife species found on the 400-square-mile Longfellow include elk, mule deer, dove, and quail. Family 46 / True 272,000 ACRES DEAL OF THE YEAR The sale of the Four Sixes to Taylor Sheridan took top honors. Family 41 / Lee 275,000 ACRES Floyd Lee (1895–1987) toiled in the shadow of New Mexico’s MOUNT TAYLOR for most of his life: as a hand, as a ranch foreman, and then, after he and his wife, Frances, bought the historic Fernandez Ranch, as the owner. His last title? New Mexico state senator. The 1957 acquisition of the Double Four Ranch by David True (1915-1994) established this family’s ranching legacy. It was enhanced in 2019 when the family acquired one of the oldest working ranches in the Cowboy State, BIXBY RANCH , a transaction recognized as the Land Report Ranchland Deal of the Year. Today, True Ranches consists of eight ranches, two farms, and a feedlot in Wyoming. Sheridan 266,255 ACRES 48 / Taylor In 2022, the Oscar-nominated writer and creative force behind Yellowstone , 1883 , and 1923 acquired the iconic FOUR SIXES RANCH , which was founded in 1870 by Samuel Burk Burnett (1849-1922). Accorded Land Report Deal of the Year honors, the sale included the 142,372-acre Headquarters Division at Guthrie, the 114,445-acre Dixon Creek Division in the Texas Panhandle, and 9,427-acre Frisco Creek immediately south of the Oklahoma state line. Turn to page 38 to learn more about the ranch’s record-setting Return to the Remuda Sale, which was held on October 1. 47 / Benjy 269,000 ACRES 114,000 ACRES the state’s largest private landowner. His sister JEANNETTE was the first woman elected to Congress. Rankin’s grandson ERROL GALT is a former Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks commissioner. Galt owns the Martinsdale Ranch near the center of the state. Other Galt family ranches can be found in Broadwater County east of Helena along the Missouri River, and Rosebud County to the east of Billings. Gri th III Heirs 41 / Babbitt 275,000 ACRES Mitchell 3rd 273,000 ACRES 45 / Malone 50 / D.K. Boyd 261,937 ACRES Founded in Northern Arizona in 1886, BABBITT RANCHES established Arizona’s largest conservation easement in 2001 to protect 34,480 acres of ranchlands just south of the Grand Canyon. The easement permanently restricts mining, subdivision, and development on the land. This Far West Texas native and his wife founded RIATA ENERGY in their guest bedroom with $500 in startup capital. Two decades later, the Mitchells sold their interest in Riata to Chesapeake Energy cofounder Tom Ward for $500 million, and Riata was renamed SandRidge. The Mitchells have established their Longfellow Ranches as one of the finest hunting properties in Texas’s The owner of Southern Pine Plantations, Griffith is also the founder of the Griffith Foundation, which has contributed more than $50 million to support community organizations that create economic mobility, provide educational opportunities, and enhance cultural initiatives. His landholdings span his home state of Georgia and also include properties in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Texas, and Virginia. Family 49 / Galt 262,000 ACRES The history of the Montana Territory is intertwined with this family’s story. WELLINGTON RANKIN (1884–1966) served as Montana’s attorney general and reportedly ranked as Rancher, oilman, and landowner rights advocate D.K. Boyd owns the historic FRYING PAN RANCH in the Texas Panhandle and the equally renowned LE RANCH in Southeastern New Mexico. A founding officer of the Texas Land & Mineral Owners Association, Boyd has long championed landowner’s mineral rights. 146 e LandReport | WINTER 2022 LANDREPORT.COM
The Land Report 2022.4: Page 146
