Need a 75,000-acre ranch? This one's up for auction

It's vast, massive, gargantuan, colossal and immense.

It's the 74,716-acre ranch near Cache Creek that's going to be auctioned off Aug. 15 with a starting bid of $5.9 million.

Now, some would say that's cheap.

The minimum bid of $5.9 million works out to a cost of just $79 an acre based on the enormous 75,000-acre size of the cattle ranch.

But, that's the thing with an auction, the minimum is just that -- the minimum.

The ranch could sell for $5.9 million or it could sell for much more if bidding escalates.

And it could be sold to anyone in the world because it's such a specialized property and the auction is online and accessible to anyone on the planet with a computer or smartphone.

The ranch is called The Hat Creek Ranch Collection because it's an amalgamation of 2,387 deeded acres, 61,531 acres of grazing licences, 9,518 acres in grazing leases and 1,280 acres in BC Hydro Agricultural Lease.

The collection also has multiple ranch houses, including an exclusive owner's retreat said to look like the ranch house in a Hollywood western.

The collection is also billed as a chunk of BC's heritage -- one of the province's top cattle ranches handed down over four generations of the Parke family.

Philip Parke came to BC from Ireland by transatlantic ship and train in 1862 to seek his fortune in the Cariboo Gold Rush.

But, Parke never made it to the rush epicentre of Barkerville, instead stopping and falling in love with the grasslands around Cache Creek, 200 miles to the south.

Parke bought his first cattle ranch there just outside of town.

However, by 1900, his attention was drawn to another property nearby in the Upper Hat Creek Valley, which is described as the ideal dry grasslands perfect for cattle and crops halfway between Kamloops and Whistler.

Then, it was known as The Parke Ranch (Upper Hat Creek) and was passed down over four generations.

That original ranch has been bundled with adjacent ranches in the valley to create The Hat Creek Ranch Collection for auction.

Fifth-generation Brian Parke still lives on the ranch and manages the entire 75,000-acre collection, encompassing 31 separate land titles.

"This is more than an opportunity to own a piece of British Columbia heartland, it's an invitation to become part of a story that has spanned generations and has barely begun," said Tyler Ruttan, director of sales for CLHBid.com, the company putting on the online auction.

"It's more than just a ranch. Hat Creek offers and entire world where nature still dictates the rhythm of life, a rare getaway to a life less ordinary. It's a place where history, heritage and opportunities converge and that's the value here as much as a simple property investment."

CLHBid.com says investor demand for large swaths of land like this outweighs what's available, which indicates the auction should attract a lot of attention.

Right now, the ranch can support more than 450 Angus cow-calf pairs grazing on the endless pastures.

In the valley, 400 acres is irrigated for growing hay, making the ranch self-supporting for additional feed for the cows.

More information and registration for the auction can be found here: https://www.clhbid.com/auctions/hat-creek-ranch-collection.

CLHBid.com is the Grande Prairie, Alberta-based online agricultural land sales company that serves Western Canada.