Walking Box Ranch is sold

Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

The Walking Box Ranch, once a Hollywood star haven, has been sold to an investor group for $950,000.

The original asking price for the ranch and 38.5-acre parcel was $3 million. It was dropped to $2.5 million.

Realtor David Boyer, representing the ranch's owners Viceroy Resource Corp. and Viceroy Gold Corp. of British Columbia, said there had been difficulties selling it, because it is located so far from Las Vegas, 60 miles south of the city.

Coincidentally, the ranch was ranked 16th on a list of 24 properties released Monday that the Bureau of Land Management is interested in purchasing as environmentally sensitive lands, the BLM's Michael Dwyer said today.

However, unless the new owners are willing to sell, it will be removed from the final list due in May, Dwyer said. The BLM had not appraised the property.

It was unclear what plans the new owners have for the property. The real estate agent representing them was not available this morning.

The auction on Nov. 18 put the home, once a getaway for movie stars such as Clark Gable, Carol Lombard and Errol Flynn, on the auction block. The bidding started at $500,000, Boyer said.

"The auction was hugely successful," Boyer said. "We're real pleased with the auction."

Viceroy spent about $750,000 to restore the house and put the property up for sale, because the mines near the ranch house, which was used by its executives for meetings and retreats, are about mined out.

The ranch once covered 350,000 acres. Most of the property was sold in the late 1940s. Husband and wife actors Rex Bell and Clara Bow built the ranch in 1931. Bell sold it in 1950 to Karl Weikel, who renamed it the YKL Ranch. He operated it for 39 years, then sold it to Viceroy.

Bell, a popular cowboy star, was Nevada lieutenant governor in the late 1950s and early '60s and suffered a fatal heart attack while campaigning for governor in 1962. He is the father of former Clark County District Attorney Rex Bell, who grew up on the ranch with his brother George.

The ranch's Walking Box name comes from a cattle brand the elder Bell created while doodling. The brand is a derivative of the Box K brand, flipped a quarter turn to the right so that the arms of the "K" form the legs upon which the box walks.