06-04-2025
'Time to move on': Yates family lists massive New Mexico ranch for $68.5M
Apr. 6—A massive New Mexico ranch — full of vibrant wildlife, steeped in family history and covering more ground than Denver — is on the market for the first time in 47 years for $68.5 million.
The nearly 110,000-acre ranch, dubbed Atarque Ranch, is owned by the Yates family, who have a long history as oil and gas magnates. After decades of stewarding the land in western New Mexico and leasing it to hunters and livestock operators, the family has decided it is time to move on.
The Yates family acquired the ranch in 1978, after John Yates Sr. purchased the ranch for an amount the family didn't disclose.
The family's oil and gas legacy started long before then, with John Yates Sr.'s father, Martin Yates Jr., drilling the first commercial oil well on New Mexico state lands in 1924. The family-owned Yates Petroleum Corp. was born and grew to producing almost 30,000 barrels of crude oil per day across multiple states before it was acquired by Houston-based EOG Resources Inc. for $2.5 billion in 2016.
The family, based in Artesia, still owns land across the United States. They've weighed parting ways with Atarque Ranch for the last five years or so, according to Trey Yates III, the grandson of John Yates Sr. and vice president of Abo Empire, another family oil production company.
John Yates Sr. died at age 93 in 2022, prompting the family to consider selling the ranch. The family announced the listing a little over a week ago.
"I think it's just become time to move on to the next chapter. It's simply just a business decision. ... We feel like the market's strong," Trey Yates said. "It's not an easy decision by any means but ... the family has land holdings across the United States and we're looking at being able to monetize this one and then look to improving others as well as reallocating capital."
The ranch, located near Fence Lake, offers about 97,000 deeded acres and 11,000 acres of "extremely private" state-leased land, according to the listing. Hall and Hall, a national brokerage that specializes in farmland and ranches, is handling the listing, which includes a 2,766-square-foot main home.
The family is currently leasing out the ranch for livestock operations and hunting, said Jeff Hall, a partner of Hall and Hall and the listing agent for Atarque Ranch, but both can be terminated if the new owner desires. A variety of wildlife roam the ranch, including bull elk, mule deer and pronghorn antelope, the listing says, adding that the populations have been "expertly managed."
Hall said the ranch has been blocked off and maintained in a way that upholds privacy, adding that the family has "purposely decreased the number of elk tags they have on the ranch" to ensure that they are not overhunted.
After years of water courts efforts by the Yates family, Hall said the ranch has an established decree for almost 60 acre-feet of water — equivalent to 19.5 million gallons of water — including a spring, wells and stock ponds.
"Most ranches in western New Mexico don't have that," Hall said. "It's the first time in my career I've seen a civil court case where it actually has a decreed water right."
The ranch's other unique qualities, according to Hall, are its diverse lands — from plateaus to canyons, arroyos, grasslands and volcanic rock layers — remoteness, lack of light pollution, starry nightscapes and remnants of Native American history, including settler towns, artifacts and petroglyphs.
The ranch does not have oil or gas wells on it.
In addition to offering an oasis for hunters and cattle ranchers, Atarque Ranch has also served as a retreat for family, Trey Yates said.
"One of my favorite things was riding around on a four-wheeler with my grandfather and ... seeing what a true working ranch was like," he said. "Also, getting to enjoy the mystery of always trying to discover arrowheads or pottery shards throughout the ranch and honing in on that southwestern and Native American history."
He added that the ranch helped the family to "stay grounded" and "remember where our family started and got its roots in New Mexico."
The ideal buyer, he said, is someone who is drawn to the size and remoteness of the ranch and has a desire to steward the land and understand its history and value. Hall said the ranch has received significant interest so far.
"It's been a good asset for the family," Trey Yates said, adding that he would tell the next owner to "treat the land like you want to be treated and it'll always be good to you."
Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Albuquerque Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@
