The Tragic Story of the Family That Couldn't Agree to Sell: Babbitt Ranches

Описание: Seven hundred fifty thousand acres across northern Arizona. One hundred thirty-eight years of continuous operation. Still 100% family-owned by descendants of five brothers who arrived in Flagstaff in 1886 with nothing.

But this isn't a story about family unity. It's a story about family paralysis.

The Babbitt ranch has been offered for sale at least six times. Total offers: over $100 million. Every single offer was rejected—not because the family didn't want to sell, but because half wanted to sell and half wanted to keep it, and their governance structure requires everyone to agree.

This is the story of five brothers who built an empire on federal land they never owned. How their descendant Bruce Babbitt became Interior Secretary and regulated his own family's grazing permits. How environmental wars nearly collapsed the operation. How thirteen family members blocked thirty-eight others from accessing their inheritance. How a ranch survives not through vision, but through dysfunction that prevents anyone from making decisions.

The family that wanted to preserve a legacy created a structure that guarantees they'll fight over it forever. And the workers who actually run the ranch? They just watch the family argue while the cattle still need water.

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This video is a non-commercial, educational history documentary produced for research and for purposes of commentary, critique, and analysis.
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