Owner Counteroffers on ‘Dallas’ Ranch

Times may be tough in Texas, but that did not mean that Ewing Oil Co. had to take the paltry $2 million offered for the lavish ranch once used as a location for the television series “Dallas.”

Officials of Ewing Oil Co. of Dallas--no relation to the fictional J. R. Ewing and family--sent a realtor back with an undisclosed counteroffer for the 445-acre Southern Cross Ranch, which was last appraised at $6.1 million.

The spread, about 20 miles east of Dallas, was put on the auction block Saturday by the company partly because Lorimar Telepictures, which makes “Dallas,” had stopped using it as the location of character Clayton Farlow’s ranch.

San Antonio realtor William Thompson bid $2 million on behalf of a group of California investors lured by Texas’ new pari-mutuel horse-racing law.