Post by Travis on May 30, 2023 3:39:43 GMT -8
In reference to the "Yellowstone" series and the Dutton family, I've often found myself laughing with a big scoff. I saw an interview with Taylor Sheridan wherein he claimed to be aiming at authenticity in writing the series about a mythical Western ranch. What a big whopper that is!
"Yellowstone" is fable and fiction. Jim Bridger, the early Western explorer and guide, was renowned for his tall tales and big fibs. His entertainment was in seeing how far he could pull the legs of "greenhorns" to the West. And he got away with some big ones. The thing that is most authentic about Taylor Sheridan is the Bridger-scale size of his big whoppers.
That is why I find rangewalker 's and BigLoad 's comments right on point. Some people actually believe that's how ranches operate. And some ranchers are content to let them believe that. I grew up on a Wyoming ranch right around the same size as the one in question in this thread, around 23,000 acres or a full township in size.
Even in the early 1950s, there were numerous limitations on private property rights. There were public and private easements then and there are even more of them now. And even in arch-conservative states like Wyoming (or the Dutton's Montana) ranchers who survived understood that they could not just take their guns out and threaten just anyone who might seem to be "trespassing." I know of only one rancher who tried that, and he was shot dead by someone who took him seriously.
There are laws, deeds, and court rulings on section-line easements, public utility easements, mineral rights, and even air rights and not-blocking-sunlight rights. Electric-line, gas-line, phone-line, water-line service personnel and so on can walk or drive on private property — even without the property owners' permission. Courteous personnel may inform owners in advance, but they don't have to get permission.
Federal law prohibits land-locking public land. Unfortunately, with county commissioners, sheriffs, or judges often beholding to landowners for support, Wyoming courts may rule counter to what federal courts may ultimately decide. So having money makes a difference. And the landowner in this thread has money and time to be contentious and litigious. So whether there is a public easement through the air six feet above some "rancher's" private mini-safari land will probably have to be settled in court, whether that is a Wyoming court or federal court.
To some extent courts have already ruled against absolute air rights. Mineral rights are clearly separate, and to some extent, so is air.
"Yellowstone" is fable and fiction. Jim Bridger, the early Western explorer and guide, was renowned for his tall tales and big fibs. His entertainment was in seeing how far he could pull the legs of "greenhorns" to the West. And he got away with some big ones. The thing that is most authentic about Taylor Sheridan is the Bridger-scale size of his big whoppers.
That is why I find rangewalker 's and BigLoad 's comments right on point. Some people actually believe that's how ranches operate. And some ranchers are content to let them believe that. I grew up on a Wyoming ranch right around the same size as the one in question in this thread, around 23,000 acres or a full township in size.
Even in the early 1950s, there were numerous limitations on private property rights. There were public and private easements then and there are even more of them now. And even in arch-conservative states like Wyoming (or the Dutton's Montana) ranchers who survived understood that they could not just take their guns out and threaten just anyone who might seem to be "trespassing." I know of only one rancher who tried that, and he was shot dead by someone who took him seriously.
There are laws, deeds, and court rulings on section-line easements, public utility easements, mineral rights, and even air rights and not-blocking-sunlight rights. Electric-line, gas-line, phone-line, water-line service personnel and so on can walk or drive on private property — even without the property owners' permission. Courteous personnel may inform owners in advance, but they don't have to get permission.
Federal law prohibits land-locking public land. Unfortunately, with county commissioners, sheriffs, or judges often beholding to landowners for support, Wyoming courts may rule counter to what federal courts may ultimately decide. So having money makes a difference. And the landowner in this thread has money and time to be contentious and litigious. So whether there is a public easement through the air six feet above some "rancher's" private mini-safari land will probably have to be settled in court, whether that is a Wyoming court or federal court.
To some extent courts have already ruled against absolute air rights. Mineral rights are clearly separate, and to some extent, so is air.