The Biggest Landowners of the United States

The Biggest Landowners of the United States

The United States of America may be a vast country, but it appears that huge swathes of its land are in fact owned by a relatively small number of people.

So who are these ‘land barons’ exactly? Let’s take a look.

1 King family

The King dynasty has owned huge stretches of land in Texas for over 150 years, as Richard King began purchasing it in 1853 and kept expanding his holdings all the way until his death in 1885. Today, the King Ranch is the biggest in Texas, comprising 825,000 acres of land covering six of the state’s counties.

2 Brad Kelley

Billionaire tobacco tycoon Brad Kelley owns a considerable number of holdings in New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado. He bought his first when he was 17, right after graduating from high school, though apparently he never originally intended to become a land magnate.

3 Emmerson family

Huge swathes of land and forests of California belong to the Emmerson family, making Archie Aldis Emmerson the biggest private landowner in the state. And even though the Emmersons own one of the largest logging companies in the country, Sierra Pacific Industries, they also take great care to protect the environment and constantly plant new trees in place of those that they cut down.

4 Ted Turner

When Ted Turner was ten, he was brought to court for poaching squirrels on his neighbor’s property. After this ordeal, the man who would eventually become the founder of CNN promised himself that he’ll earn so much money he’d be able to buy his own place to hunt and fish. Now, as one of the biggest landowners in the US, it seems that he more than fulfilled that promise.

5 John Malone

John Malone, the founder of the Liberty Media Corporation, is probably the biggest landowner in the entire United States. The total acreage of his holdings is 150 times the size of Manhattan and three times the size of Rhode Island.

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