The 6666 Ranch (also known as the Four Sixes Ranch or Quad Sixes) is a ranch in

King County, Texas King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 265, making it the second-smallest county in Texas and the third-smallest county in the United States. King County has no incorporated communi ...

as well as Carson County and Hutchinson County.

Location

The main section of the ranch is located near the town of Guthrie in King County, Texas.Tom Ryan & The 6666 Ranch of King County, Texas

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 American West, Western and Native Americans in the United States, American Indian art works and Artifact (archaeology), ar ...

: Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research CenterAbout 6666 Ranch
/ref> It spans 350,000 acres of land.Erin Davies
The Biggest Ranches
''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'', August 1998 The main ranch house is off U.S. Highway 82.H. Allen Anderson, "FOUR SIXES RANCH," Handbook of Texas Online (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/apf01), accessed November 09, 2014. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. The Dixon Creek section spans 108,000 acres of land in Carson and Hutchinson counties. The Dixon Creek runs through this section of the ranch near

Panhandle, Texas Panhandle is the county seat of Carson County, Texas, United States. The population of the town was 2,452 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Panhandle is part of the Amarillo metropolitan statistical area. History Panhandle derives i ...

History

The ranch was established by

Samuel Burk Burnett Samuel Burk Burnett (January 1, 1849 – June 27, 1922) was an American cattleman and rancher from Texas, owner of the 6666 Ranch, and namesake of Burkburnett, Texas. Early life Samuel Burk Burnett was born on January 1, 1849, in Bates Count ...

in 1900 after he purchased the land from the Louisville Land and Cattle Company. Legend has it that he won the ranch from a card game, where he scored four sixes. However, Burnett and his descendants have denied this folklore tale. Instead, the name comes from the first herd he raised on the ranch, which was branded "6666". Burnett raised purebred

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

s and Durham bulls, which won national prizes at livestock shows all over the United States. He also bred purebred

quarter horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at ...

s. In 1918, 2,000 head of cattle were killed by a blizzard. Three years later, in 1921, oil was found on the ranch, thus turning it into a very profitable enterprise. After Burnett's death in 1920, the ranch was inherited by his granddaughter,

Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy (October 15, 1900 – January 1, 1980) was an American heiress, rancher, horse breeder, philanthropist and art collector from Fort Worth, Texas. Early life Anne Burnett was born on October 15, 1900, in Fort Worth, Tex ...

. She purchased Grey Badger II and Hollywood Gold, two show horses which lived on the ranch. By 1936, there were 20,000 Hereford cattle on the ranch. In the 1960s and 1970s, the barn on the ranch was used in advertisements for

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Marl ...

, the cigarette brand. In 1975, scenes of the movie '' Mackintosh and T.J.'' were filmed on the ranch. In 1980, the ranch was passed on to Burnett's great-granddaughter,

Anne Windfohr Marion Anne Windfohr Marion (November 10, 1938 – February 11, 2020) was an American heiress, rancher, horse breeder, business executive, philanthropist, and art collector from Fort Worth, Texas. She served as the president of Burnett Ranches and the ...

, and his great-great-granddaughter, Wendi Grimes. Marion co-managed the ranch with her fourth husband, John L. Marion. They have bred

Brangus The Brangus is an American hybrid breed of beef cattle derived from cross-breeding of American Angus and Brahman stock. Registered animals have 5/8 Angus and 3/8 Brahman parentage. A similar hybrid breed, the Australian Brangus, was separately ...

cattle with Herefords to produce the

Black Baldy Black Baldy is a type of crossbred beef cattle produced by crossing Hereford cattle with a solid black breed, usually Aberdeen Angus. The term is particularly used in Australia and New Zealand. In North America, the term "Black Whiteface" is also ...

, a cattle breed resistant to cedar flies. A hundred

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

s are bred on the ranch every year. , the ranch was being sold in accordance with the will of Anne Burnett Marion, the owner who died in February 2020. It was listed on the market for a total of $347.7 million. In May 2021, a buyer group represented by western filmmaker

Taylor Sheridan Taylor Sheridan (born May 21, 1970) is an American filmmaker and actor. Sheridan portrayed David Hale (Sons of Anarchy), David Hale in the FX (TV channel), FX television series ''Sons of Anarchy'' and Danny Boyd in ''Veronica Mars'' (2005–2007 ...

purchased the ranch. Paintings depicting portions of the ranch have been painted by Tom Ryan and Mondel Rogers. A barn from the ranch has been moved to the

National Ranching Heritage Center The National Ranching Heritage Center, a museum of ranching history, is located on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The NRHC features almost fifty authentic ranch buildings dating from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. ...

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

In popular culture

An eponymously named television series based on the ranch was introduced as a

backdoor pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

, during the fourth season of the drama series ''

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

'', released November 7, 2021 via the

Paramount+ Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

streaming service.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Ranches in Texas King County, Texas Carson County, Texas Hutchinson County, Texas 1900 establishments in Texas