Sell Mineral Rights in Forty Mile Colony, MT

Colony land ownership works differently than the family-inherited fractional interests we see almost everywhere else in this state, and Forty Mile Colony is a good example of why that distinction matters.

Forty Mile Colony is a Hutterite communal farming colony in Big Horn County, and land here is typically held by the colony corporation as a whole rather than by individual family members the way it is on a homesteaded ranch. That structure changes who can actually authorize a mineral sale and how the proceeds would be handled, since it isn't a single owner or a set of heirs making the decision.

Corporate and Communal Title, Not Individual Deeds

If minerals under colony land were severed and sold at some point in the past, or if the colony itself holds mineral rights alongside the surface, any sale decision typically runs through colony leadership rather than an individual signature. We always ask directly whether we're dealing with an individual family's severed interest that happens to sit near colony land, or with the colony's own holding, because the two require entirely different conversations.

What's Actually Under This Part of the County

Geologically, this area sits on the western fringe of the Powder River Basin, with limited oil and gas history and no meaningful current drilling activity. Whatever mineral value exists here is more likely tied to long-term potential than any current royalty income, and we'd set that expectation honestly from the start.

A Straightforward Approach

For any interest connected to Forty Mile Colony, we start by confirming exactly who holds the mineral title, individual, family estate, or the colony corporation, before discussing value at all. Once that's clear, the underlying evaluation follows the same fundamentals we'd use anywhere in the western Powder River Basin: production history, if any, and realistic nearby activity.