( Ted ) Turner's Land Holdings Keep Increasing

North Platte Bulletin ^ | July 16, 2007 | James E. Ducey

[george76]

The 100-year tenure of the McMurtrey Family at a pioneer ranch in Cherry County ended June 26 with a public referee auction at Valentine.

R.E. "Ted" Turner purchased the property by offering the highest bid. Turner bought the 26,332 deeded acres for nearly $10 million...

The opening bid was $290 per acre.

It was the largest ranch land auction ever held in Cherry County, according to Eric Scott, Cherry county attorney.

The auction was ordered by the Cherry County District Court.

Erba "Hub" McMurtrey built his ranch starting with Kinkaid homesteads with three McMurtrey Brothers in 1908. Ranch acreage increased with multiple buys from settlers and neighboring ranchers.

"My father was a pioneer of the country," said Mary Alice McMurtrey ...

Media mogul Ted Turner is the largest individual landowner in North America.

Turner, the founder of CNN, now owns more than 2 million acres and 16 ranches in seven states – Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota and Oklahoma.

Combined, the acreage Turner owns is an area bigger than Delaware.

[Ben Ficklin]

At about the same time that Turner bought Vermejo, the Forest Service bought the Baca Ranch in North Central NM, which was a similar operation to Vermejo. At that time I did some web searching on both of those properties.

There is quite a bit on the Maxwell Grant to be found on the internet and much less on the Baca Grant. The Baca family lost their grant but the US Congress compensated them with the 5, 100,000 acre properties.

If you have an interest in the settlement of the west, there are 2 books that I would recommend.

The Great Plains by Walter Prescott Webb(1932) is still in print and still considered an authority on everything west of the 98th meridian. It gives good explanation as to why congress failed to disperse all the lands in the west. It also gives a lot of info on water rights, but since it was published in '32, it doesn't even mention the Ogalala aquifer or Federal Reserved water rights. These federal lands and federal water rights are, and will continue to be, a chronic problem. With Bush/GOP in the Whitehouse, the problems have subsided but a dem prez will put them back on the front burner.

Also, Great River by Paul Horgan('84) is the history of the Rio Grande.

[george76]

Thank you.

I will look up these books.

It is too bad that Congress did not disperce more lands, at least to the state or local control.

[george76]

1891 Congress passes the Forest Reserve Act, which authorizes setting aside public forests in any state or territory to preserve a timber supply for the future. The law marks the first step in a process that will steadily place more and more Western land in the hands of the federal government while leaving less and less available for private purchase and use.

As a result, federal priorities in the West gradually shift from selling public land to managing public resources, from land development to land conservation, and federal regulations become a permanent presence on the once wide open spaces.

[george76]

President Theodore Roosevelt secures passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act ...achieves outstanding success, leading ultimately to the colossal projects of the Depression years: Hoover Dam, the Grand Coulee Dam, Shasta Dam and the Glen Canyon Dam.

1905 President Theodore Roosevelt transfers management of the federal forest reserves to the United States Forest Service, an agency headed by college-trained conservationist Gifford Pinchot. Invoking scientific principles and applying bureaucratic procedures, Pinchot works effectively to guarantee the long-term usefulness of western timberlands

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1900_1917.htm

[george76]

The National Reclamation Act of 1902 authorized western irrigation projects paid for by the sale of land in 16 semiarid states. Under this law, Roosevelt initiated the construction of western dams, and the task of reclaiming the desert Southwest was started.

Roosevelt initiated similar conservation reforms in the West with his use of the National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act) of 1902. This law provided the federal government with responsibility and funding for dam construction and irrigation projects through the sale of public land in 16 semiarid states.

Roosevelt established a new federal agency, the Reclamation Service, to bring scientific expertise and bureaucratic administration to water in the West. By 1906, water projects were underway in all of the western states, which established federal control of this vital Western resource as well.

http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/july/papr/du_troosev.html

[george76]

1901
Congress passes what is known as the Right of Way Act, permitting the use of rights of way through forest reserves and national parks for electrical power, telephone and telegraph communication, and irrigation and water supply.

1911
Former President Roosevelt’s leadership in efforts to irrigate the West is recognized at the dedication of the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Arizona; the contemporary importance of projects like the Roosevelt Dam is later documented in film footage of the dam and its impact.

1913
Debate over the fate of Hetch Hetchy continues in the national press throughout the year, along with intensive campaigning to save Hetch Hetchy

[george76]

( Ted ) Turner fights road paving

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1872774/posts