The fictional Yellowstone ranch was famously described as being about the size of Rhode Island. In real life, creator Taylor Sheridan has built a Texas ranching empire spanning more than 267,000 acres. Through the success of his multiple TV shows, Sheridan has now become one of the largest landowners in the Lone Star State.
Sheridan sits at No. 49 on the Land Report’s Top 100 landowners across the U.S. He may not own as many Texas acres as the King Ranch heirs or billionaires like Stan Kroenke, but he owns or controls more acreage than the entire city of Austin.
Sheridan also owns the 179-acre Papa’s Creek Ranch in Wyoming, according to the Land Report, but all his other properties are in the Lone Star State. He first purchased the over 600-acre Bosque Ranch for a reported $264 million in 2013, according to Realtor.com, and transformed it into the headquarters for Yellowstone, 1883, Lioness, 1923, and more of Sheridan’s TV shows.
His largest land acquisition came when he led a group of investors that purchased the historic Four Sixes Ranch. The 266,255-acre ranch was founded in 1870, while its current King County headquarters division was acquired in 1900. Reports have placed the sale price between $320 million and $330 million, though the final price was not publicly disclosed. The ranch later became a prominent Yellowstone filming location.
All told, Sheridan owns or controls around 267,000 acres in Texas. For context, the city of Austin covers roughly 204,000 acres, meaning his Texas ranch holdings are larger than the Capital City’s land area.
However, despite his many acres, Sheridan doesn’t even crack the Top 5 of the largest landowners in Texas. Read more about the real land barons here.
This article originally published at ‘Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan owns more Texas land than the city of Austin.