Here in Texas, there is one ranch that is 3,340 km2. It is called King Ranch and the King family owned it for years, and was started around 1853. There is a funny story that was passed around for years and some evidence that the story is true emerged some time in the 1970s.
The story goes that a man from the nearby town of Kingsville bought a brand new Model T car in the 1920s and, knowing some of the ranch foremen from King Ranch, received permission to fish in one of the lakes on the land. The man drove out to the ranch and obtained entry at one of the posted entry points. There were entry points that had sentries posted at each gate and, in order to enter the ranch, you had to have permission. Barbed wire surrounded the outer bounds of the ranch so, these are the only entry points. These were created because of the rampant cattle rustling going on, and as a stopgap measure, these guards are posted as such.
After gaining entry into the vast ranch, the man, with his new Model T, followed the sparse directions to the large lake, and after finding a shade tree to park his car (it is very hot in summertime Texas, around 40° C), the man took his fishing gear and started working his way around the lake to find a good spot to fish. You have to realize that this is totally undeveloped land and the man was probably following cow trails in his car in order to get to the lake. After a long day of fishing, the man headed back to where he thought he parked his car, but could not find it. He probably started to panic a bit after a while because he is many miles from any civilization and probably 10 to 15 miles into the ranch. When the man did not turn back up at his entry point, the sentry started a search for him (probably on horseback) and the man was found wandering around miles from the lake the next day. The car was not found until in the 1970s when the facility/ranch manger had started using bulldozers to clear some of the scrub mesquite. The Caterpillar D10 bulldozers would connect a giant chain of 20 meters long to each dozer and drag it between them in order to knock down all of the scrub brush. Since King Ranch is an active cattle ranch, the priority of course was to have grass for the cattle to eat, and by knocking down excessive scrub brush it allowed more grass to grow.
So, the dozers were dragging their clearing chain near a large lake on the property when, lo and behold, they came upon a Model T sitting near the lake. The Model T was of course rusting and in decrepid state, but there it was!
I apologize for the long post and it is on the topic of large blocks of land. Hope you find it interesting...
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