Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, whose 290,000 acres ranks No. 27 on the 2010 Land Report 100, was inspired by the wide open West Texas skies he remembered from boyhood summers on his grandfather’s ranch. About seven years ago, he began purchasing large tracts of land in Far West Texas near El Paso. Ranchers were a bit surprised when their new neighbor explained his goal: to build a spaceport for his private sub-orbital space exploration venture, Blue Origin.

Last year, the company was awarded $3.7 million in funding from NASA for development of future human spaceflight operations. Tests fights have launched successfully at Bezos’s Corn Ranch, and there are plans to launch unmanned flights next year, with manned flights in 2012.

Download the 2010 Land Report 100 HERE.

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Silver was first discovered in the Big Bend region of Far West Texas in the 1880s and mined at La Mina Grande in Presidio County from 1883 until 1942. More than 35 million ounces were produced. This area of the Lone Star State is home to some of the largest ranching empires in the country, and includes several Land Report 100ers: Brad Kelley, Jeff Bezos, and Clayton Williams, among others. The recent and sustained increase in the price of silver led Aurcana, a Canadian mining company, to pay $43 million to Silver Standard Resources to acquire the flooded mine, which it plans to reopen in 2010. Annual production estimates of 3.2 million ounces per year are forecast. More to come.

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