Let me guess, he had a local oil well there as well? Doing 1:1?
You are very intuitive, my friend.
The ranch has been a family operation for several GENERATIONS. It started as cattle ranching, but as the San Angelo, Texas area evolved into the WOOL & MOHAIR Capital of the WORLD (a title since lost to overseas operations found good money in those sheep and goats) they diversified the ranch and raised those herds as well. Then came the west Texas oil discoveries and MANY holes were punched in the midst of the ranching operations. The animals never seemed to care. It's easier to collect royalties off minerals than to work a ranch, but being a proud heritage they STILL ranch while they watch the pumpjacks suck money from the ground.
But wait! THERE'S MORE!!!!......
Then came the GIANT windmills and the harvesting of the ever-present west Texas wind. Their rangeland lays over TWO significant ridges - geographically favorable for locating those big wind turbines since the air accelerates to pass over a geologic obstruction. So, over the past couple of decades, over 100 power generating towers have been erected and wind energy has further diversified their portfolio. And the money just comes BLOWING IN!
So, to cut to the chase with a direct answer to your unstated root question.... My friends literally have more money than they know what to do with.
Yet, they are as humble and HARD WORKING as can be. They are good Christians, civically and socially involved with the FULL spectrum of our society, and their charity is of Biblical proportions. I am blessed to know and love them.
As a footnote:
It was through this special family that I met President George W. Bush while he was in office. "W", as they call him, frequented the ranch when he was living in Midland and "commuting" to Austin to court Laura before they married. W and I conversed once in person while he was in Office. Years later, the former President and I had a phone conversation for more than 20 minutes while I was at the ranch for a funeral. (The burial was about to happen in the ranch cemetery.) I "entertained" W on the phone when he called to express condolences to the widow. He wanted to be on the line until she was was able to take the call. He's a Texas-gentleman in that he didn't want the widow to be on hold with a Whitehouse secretary until he was connected - the President wanted instead to be waiting for her.
While some might say he was respecting the family's political support, I can attest that this was less the case than some would allege. These folks are as good as family to everyone they know. And he was calling as a "son", grieving the loss with the rest of them.
