By Joshua Wood, tourism/business reporter
josh@cowboystatedaily.com
For the low, low price of $71 million, thousands of acres of solitude in Fremont County enjoyed by the Walt Disney family for decades can be yours.
Diamond G Ranch, which sits 17 miles west of Dubois, is officially on the market. The ranch was once owned by the Disney family and is currently owned by Stephen M. Gordon under an LLC.
Gordon is a former manufacturing executive who bought the property in the 1980s.
Unique History
James Taylor of Hall and Hall Real Estate in Billings, Montana told Cowboy State Daily that before the ranch was owned by the Disney family, it was a wilderness playground for Morton Salt Company bigwigs.
“The Brooks Lake Lodge used to be the Diamond G back in the 50s. It was all on federal lease and a group of Morton Salt executives had it as a hunting camp. When the federal government started to insist they open it to the public, or make it available to the public, they weren’t that interested,” said Taylor. “The story is, they traded it to the guy who owned the current Diamond G.”
Disney’s Diamond G
In 1968, the Diamond G was purchased from the Morton Salt Company by Retlaw Enterprises, a privately-held company owned by the heirs of Walt Disney. Retlaw is Walter spelled backwards. The family also owned Rocking Chair Ranch, another property outside of Dubois. That sold last year for $15.9 million.
Taylor was involved in the sale of the ranch from the Morton Salt Company to the Disney family. He was also part of the sale from the Disney family to Gordon.
Unique Property
“It’s just an incredibly unique property for Wyoming. It’s more a conservation, wilderness type of property but it will probably support summer grazing at some level,” said Taylor. “It’s a private road, there’s no public access to it. It’s surrounded on three sides by wilderness.”
The Diamond G Ranch has 5,000 deeded acres and about 800 acres of private and state leases. The ranch is surrounded by the Shoshone National Forest on three sides in a valley formed by the Ramshorn, Pinnacles, and Coffin Buttes. The first federal protected national forest, the Shoshone National Forest covers 2.4 million acres in Wyoming, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
According to the Hall and Hall listing, a wide range of wildlife can be found around the property including wolverine, mountain lion, elk, deer and antelope.
“It’s the most remote area in the lower 48 (states),” said Taylor.
