Philip Morris sells its a 'Disneyland for smokers': 18,000 acre Marlboro Ranch - where 350 loyal customers have won all-expenses-paid trips since 1999 - is sold to owners of exclusive Yellowstone Club
Philip Morris has sold its 18,000-acre Montana home of the Marlboro Ranch - dubbed a 'Disneyland for smokers' - to the owners of the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club.
Marlboro Ranch, a working ranch with an 'Old Western Town' was bought by the tobacco giant in 1999 as a marketing tool. It was a Marlboro Man advertisement come to life - complete with cowboys in red shirts - and was open eight months a year as an all-expenses-paid vacation spot for loyal customers who could win trips by entering with the directions on the back of their cigarette pack.
The faux western town has 20 buildings including a two-story hotel, mining office, bank, sheriff's office, saloon and spa.
The company did not reveal the sale price but the estate was bought by Lone Mountain Land Co - a private equity firm that also owns the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, which is noted as a private playground for the rich and famous. Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt are all said to own property on the site and pay $400,000 membership for access to its exclusive amenities and mountain trails.
Philip Morris USA - the biggest cigarette maker in America - has sold its 18,000-acre Montana property dubbed a 'Disneyland for smokers'. Up until its closure, every year since its opening in 1999, loyal customers could win an all-expense-paid trip to visit the 'Old Western Town' for four days and three nights
The Marlboro Ranch was a faux western town complete with 20 buildings including a two-story hotel, mining office, bank, sheriff's office and saloon
Guests were greeted with a welcome basket on their beds filled with Stetson hats, cowboy boots, jackets, bandannas, digital cameras, sunglasses and ashtrays. In earlier years guests were also gifted a pack of cigarettes
The Marlboro Ranch's hotel hosted 350 guests annually up until its closure. Philip Morris USA's parent company, Altria, also used to hold board meetings there
Each new structure was made with reclaimed materials and furnished with antiques scavenged from around the region
Architect Nick Fullerton and his team carefully constructed the facades of each building so that they would hide modern plumbing and electrical wiring
In 1999 Philip Morris USA, a division of American tobacco corporation Altria, had to bid adieu to its Marlboro Man ads in the wake of new state laws against big tobacco companies. The working ranch in Clyde Park, a town of only 288 residents, kept the lore of the Marlboro Man alive.
Competition winners would receive a duffel bag and cap before their flight to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport. The hats helped travelers identify others headed to the ranch.
Guests were welcomed to the rugged hotel with a basket filled with Stetson hats, cowboy boots, jackets, bandannas, digital cameras, sunglasses and ashtrays. In earlier years they were also gifted a pack of cigarettes.
The architect behind the town, Nick Fullerton, said that the 90-minute drive from the airport to the town 'takes you out of this world that we're in today, and kind of prepares you for the sight once you get there'.
When Fullerton and his team were called to construct the town in 1999 they first salvaged the remains of crumbling homesteads on the property, then they built new structures and furnished them with antiques scavenged from around the region.
In the winter there were snowshoe adventures with ice fishing, dog sledding and tubing and in the summer there were zip lines, archery lessons and wagon rides.
Every part of the retreat was curated: employees dressed in red western shirts and cowboy boots picked up guests from the airport in a convoy of tour buses. More staff on horseback lined a stretch of road between the entrance gate and frontier town, waiting for a the convoy to pass so they could gallop after it and crack their whips to set the scene, leading guests onto the main street.
Diesel mechanic Christine Dorgan, 54, ordered a Marlboro watch, dart board and portable picnic table with the points from the back of her Marlboro cigarette packs.
She was smoker since the age of 12 and quit in 2019 shortly before winning a trip to the Marlboro Ranch from a sweepstakes. Dorgan told the Wall Street Journal: 'I signed up for that thing I don't know how many times. I wanted to see a real cowboy.'
The pandemic delayed Dorgan's trip to the wild west and now she will never be able to go. A decline in cigarette smoking has shut the ranch down for good.
In present day, in the wake of Marlboro's losses and a $12.8billion investment in the e-cigarette startup Juul, Philip Morris parent company Altria's CEO Howard Willard has also stepped down. The US government filed an antitrust suit against Altria to unwind the deal.
Fullerton constructed parts of the town with salvaged remains of the crumbling homesteads left on the property when it was first purchased in 1999
The ranch operated as a customer retreat eight months out of the year. It shuts down in the winter during snowfall and at the end of winter while there's melting slush
The faux 'Old Western Town' is located in Clyde Park, Montana, a real town with only 288 residents
The tobacco company had to bid adieu to its Marlboro Man ads in the wake of new state laws against big tobacco companies but the working ranch kept the Marlboro Man and all the other cowboys, horses and snowy peaks of the Rockies alive
Any future development would be possible because that portion of Park County isn't zoned. Clyde Park residents have expressed concern that Lone Mountain would build a residential development or heliskiing operation.
However, Sam Byrne, the cofounder of Lone Mountain's parent company CrossHarbor Capital Partners, assured in a press release on June 30 that the new owners only have plans 'to be thoughtful stewards of the land and good members of the community'.
'Lone Mountain Land Company will continue to operate the ranch’s cow-calf operation and guest ranch.'
Thirteen of the ranch's 100 full-time employees were retained and Lone Mountain has plans to hire more staff.
The ranch is surrounded by 18,000 acres of secluded grassland and cattle. Fullerton said the 90-minute drive from the airport to the town 'takes you out of this world that we're in today, and kind of prepares you for the sight once you get there'
When guests arrived, employees on horseback waited along a stretch of road between the entrance gate and the frontier town and a dispatcher radios the riders, telling them when to gallop out from behind trees to crack their whips and lead guests down the slope onto main street
New owners Lone Mountain Land Co have assured residents that they do not have plans to build residential or heliskiing developments but instead to continue to run the ranch's cow-calf operation and guest ranch