Western movies always tell tales of landlords with vast tracts of mountains and ranges. Few of these fictional characters can compare with the real-life holding of Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell, who once owned more than 2 million acres of land in northeast New Mexico. Maxwell came from humble beginnings in Illinois, growing up in a fur trading family and eventually making his way west. He married the daughter of rancher Charles Beaubien and soon bought all of the land owned by Beaubien and his business partner, Guadalupe Miranda. This land, then…
