The historical 6666 Ranch, otherwise known as Four Sixes Ranch, was sold on Friday, January 21, for $192.2 million. The sale was confirmed by Chas. S Middleton and Son Farm-Ranch Sales, and Neils Agather, a Burnett Foundation executive.
The ranch, owned by the Burnett family and passed down for generations, was listed for sale after the death of Anne “Little Anne” Burnett Marion in 2020.
Anne was the great-granddaughter of Samuel Burk Burnett, who purchased a hundred head of cattle along with the 6666 brand from Frank Crowley of Denton, Texas, in 1870.
Burnett purchased the land in King County from the Louisville Land & Cattle Co. and established the Eight Ranch, which he would later rename to match the brand of his cattle, 6666 Ranch.
Before the death of Burnett in 1922, the ranch was willed through a trusteeship to his daughter Anne Valliant Burnett for her unborn granddaughter, Anne Burnett Marion.
Marion became the head of the ranch in 1980. She was very hands-on with its operation, even establishing a top-notch water filtration system around 2005, a much-needed improvement. Marion was a well-respected businesswoman until her death on February 11, 2020. Her will stipulated the sale of the ranch for the first time in its history.
The sale was described as a “rare opportunity to own a great piece of Texas history.” According to the sales agent, Sam Middleton, “Only about once-in-a-lifetime does a ranch of this scale and significance come on the market.”
The purchaser of the property was a group reportedly led by Yellowstone screenwriter/producer and North Texas native Taylor Sheridan.
Season four of Yellowstone featured the Four Sixes Ranch.
Sheridan graduated from Fort Worth Paschal High School and debuted the prequel to Yellowstone last month. The prequel, known as 1883, was filmed in and around the Fort Worth Area.
A spin-off based on the 142,372-acre ranch is currently in the works. The new series, 6666, will provide an even more detailed look into the [Yellowstone] Dutton family story and the ranch.
An IMDB plot description for the upcoming series reads: “Founded when Comanches still ruled West Texas, no ranch in America is more steeped in the history of the West than the 6666. Still operating as it did two centuries before, and encompassing an entire county, the 6666 is where the rule of law and the laws of nature merge in a place where the most dangerous thing one does is the next thing.”
