Connecting Dots Again -- Serendipity This Time

Link to The Bismarck Tribune.

Near where the borders of Fergus, Musselshell and Golden Valley counties meet south of the Little Snowy Mountains, two billionaire Texas brothers have quietly collected more than 177,000 acres of ranch land in the last two years.But that's only a portion of the property that Farris Wilks, 60, and Dan Wilks, 56, have accumulated in Montana. In all, they own more than 276,000 acres in seven counties in the eastern half of the state.

Go to the link for the full story. [Thank you, Don, for this link.]

The article does not say whether the land they bought includes minerals but my hunch is that they got at least a percentage.

But that's not why I linked the story.

Long time readers of the MDW might have caught another data point in the article.

A hint: top fracking companies in the Bakken.

At the link in The Bismarck Tribune:

They were raised in a working-class family. They started out in a masonry business that their father founded and where they still sit on the board of directors.

In 2002 they branched out into the oil business, starting a company called Frac Tech. Their fortune came from selling their interest in Frac Tech in 2011, a deal that was reportedly worth $3.2 billion. That sale landed them on the Forbes magazine list of little-known billionaires, ranking 312 out of 400 on the list.

Interesting, huh?