Home of the Week: This Sprawling $45 Million Colorado Ranch Comes With a Free Herd of Bison
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If you dream of dancing with wolves on a sprawling Colorado ranch where a big river runs through it, Diamond Tail Ranch, 45 miles southwest of Laramie, Wyoming, is looking for a buyer. All you need is $44.9 million.
Covering 17,600 acres—that’s 3,000 more than the size of Manhattan—the ranch takes up much of the upper Laramie River Valley and is ringed by snow-capped Rocky Mountain peaks.
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In addition to the 12 single-family log cabins and timber-framed homes that can sleep 72 of your best friends, there’s a rustic dining hall to feed them, a multitude of barns and worker cabins, a hilltop chapel and even a grassy runway.
Did we mention that the ranch also comes with 750 head of bison and 350 head of cattle roaming wild on the ranch’s open grazing land?
But without doubt its most remarkable feature is the 11.5 miles of rushing Laramie River that meanders through the property. Add to this two tributary streams—the McIntyre and LeGarde Creeks—plus two smaller creeks, and Diamond Trail Ranch has no fewer than 27 miles of fast-flowing water just perfect for fly fishing for brown trout.
The water also attracts a vast array of wildlife from the surrounding Rawah Wilderness, Roosevelt National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands. Everything from herds of elk to whitetail deer, moose, black bear, cougar and grouse.
Since 1979, Diamond Tail has been owned by the Duncan family. Wild West-loving Raymond Duncan, a co-founder of Napa Valley wine producer Silver Oaks Cellars, bought it as a family getaway. When he died in 2015, his four sons took over the ranch and continue to run it.
Still very much a working ranch, the Duncans initially began raising cattle, adding the more self-sufficient bison and Corriente cattle in 1986. Today a staff of three, including long-time ranch manager Scott Butcher, look after the day-to-day running.
Finding a buyer quickly might prove to be something of a challenge. At $44.9 million, the ranch is one of the most expensive ranch properties for sale in Colorado right now. It is also one of a number of high-profile, high-acre ranches on the market looking for modern-day John Waynes to take their reins.
According to Wall Street Journal research, there are more than 20 properties priced at $20 million-plus currently listed in Colorado alone.
These include golfing great Greg Norman’s 12,000-acre Seven Lakes Ranch in the White River National Forest near Meeker that’s currently listed for $50 million. He’s been trying to offload it since 2011.
Add to that Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks’ 7,000-acre West Creek ranch and nearby 1,770-acre Gateway Canyons luxury resort that have been recently re-listed for $279 million.
Closer to the Diamond Tail Ranch asking is Westlands, the 4,600-acre ranch owned by billionaire co-founder of private equity giant KKR, Henry Kravis. It’s been on the market for a year with a $46 million sticker.
“Diamond Tail Ranch truly embodies the iconic image of an authentic Rocky Mountain ranch. Fishing rods included,” says broker Brian Smith, of ranch specialists Hall and Hall that hold the listing.
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