Ted Turner’s Montana Ranch Became Legendary

There was this sort of old Montana rumor that had been around for years that Ted Turner owned enough land to be able to ride his horse from Canada to Mexico without leaving his property.

Only that was never the truth.

And really, the fact that anyone believed it says all you need to know about Ted Turner’s standing out here.

Turner died today at the age of 87. Closing one of the modern West's more unusual land-owning tall tales. Montana certainly had opinions about the guy, whether people liked him or not.

He Never Really Knew What To Make Of Montana

The Flying D Ranch east of Bozeman is just one of the largest tracts Turner owned, with a massive 151,840 acres in Montana alone, making him one of the state's biggest private landowners. That still was not enough to officially crown him king of private landowners in the state, but it was certainly enough to feed the legend.

There were lots of legends.

Some appreciated the conservation work and his efforts to restore bison. Some despised the notion of a billionaire outsider snapping up large portions of the American West. I guess most people just liked to talk about him like he was a piece of modern-day cowboy folklore. But in reality, he was just a filthy rich guy who owned a 24-hour cable news network.

No, He Did Not Ride From Canada To Mexico

The truth behind the famed tale is still pretty crazy, however. Turner at one time owned about two million acres in Montana, New Mexico, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and South Dakota. While the chunks of land were large, it was never a single, massive, interconnected ranch across the West.

Even so, two million acres is hard for the average person to visualize.

Turner, unlike a lot of wealthy landowners, really embraced the cowboy image. Enormous ranches, bison herds, and habitat conservation projects, and of course Ted’s Montana Grill, the national MT themed restaurant chain that brought bison burgers and a shiny version of Western ranch culture to folks across the country.

A Montana Legend Either Way

Love him or hate him, Ted Turner became one of those names forever linked with Montana. Part media mogul, part conservationist, part strange dude with a ranch.
And while the full "ride from Canada to Mexico" narrative has always been a lie, it is believable enough that it will probably survive another generation around Montana campfires.