Top 5 Land owners Of America | USA Top 5 Largest Land Owners
No. 1: Ted Turner
Ted Turner owns 2 million acres in New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Florida and several other states. If $1 billion is the dividing line between rich and real money, then owning multiple Rhode Islands is the definition of a land baron. Turner has close to three of them, including the spectacular Vermejo Park Ranch straddling the border of New Mexico and Colorado, which would practically cover the Ocean State. Turner made his money with CNN and lost much of it by selling out to AOL Time Warner. Land has worked out better for him. We estimate his holdings to be worth at least $1 billion.
No. 2: Archie ‘Red’ Emmerson
Archie Emmerson’s holdings include 1.9 million acres of timberland in California and Washington. In 1949 Emmerson and his father, Curly, leased a sawmill and built the business into Sierra Pacific Industries. Emmerson borrowed $460 million to buy 522,000 acres in California, a position since increased to almost 2 million acres. When he was briefly the nation’s largest private landowner, Emmerson joked that Ted Turner “will probably go out and buy more land.” He was right, but Emmerson is close behind.
No. 3: Brad Kelley
Brad Kelley holds 1.7 million acres in Florida, Texas and New Mexico. This Nashville, Tenn., farmer’s son sold his Commonwealth Brands cigarette company for $1 billion in 2001 and began investing in land. Big time. Kelley declined to comment, but The Land Report estimates he owns 1.7 million acres, and news reports suggest his representatives are busy acquiring ranches in the Big Bend area of southwest Texas.
No. 4: Irving family
The Irving family owns 1.25 million acres of timberland in Maine. These Canadian descendants of a Scottish sawmill operator are secretive and all business. They’ve amassed roughly one-twentieth of the state, and a fair amount of criticism from lawmakers who oppose their use of imported Canadian crews to harvest lumber.
- Facebook users: Become a fan of MSN Real Estate
- Twitter users: Get the latest updates from MSN Real Estate
- MSN Money: Extreme luxury
No. 5: Singleton family
The Singleton family owns 1.1 million acres of ranchland in New Mexico and California. Henry Singleton was a brilliant engineer who co-founded Teledyne and began buying land in New Mexico the mid-1980s. Now his heirs run the massive Singleton Ranches, headquartered in Santa Fe, N.M., and one of the nation’s biggest cattle-and horse-breeding operations.
0 comments:
Post a Comment