Dan Howard Wilks and Farris Cullen Wilks, also known as the Wilks Brothers, are American petroleum industry businessmen. Sons of a bricklayer, the brothers established Wilks Masonry in 1995. They went on to found an early hydraulic fracking company, Frac Tech, in 2002, and eventually became billionaires. In 2011 they sold their 70% interest in Frac Tech for $3.5 billion. They reside in Cisco in Eastland County east of Abilene, Texas.
Personal lives
Early lives
The brothers sons of a Myrtle and Voy Wilks of Cisco in Eastland County east of Abilene, Texas. When the brothers were born, their father worked as a bricklayer and the family was destitute; the brothers once slept in a goat shed.
In 1947 Voy and Myrtle Wilks along with Myrtle's father Charles Fenter were disfellowshipped from the Churches of Christ and founded a church which was at first called simply “A Church of Christ.” The church is not Christian, believing that Yahweh is the only god and that Jesus is a separate entity. In early 1952 Charles restricted communion to once a year rather than weekly and moved worship from Sunday to Saturday. The Fenters and Wilkses along with a few other families left the congregation and began to meet in private homes. When Charles died in May 1952 Voy took over the congregation and the couple and their five children continued to live at the home of Charles widow Annie. In 1962 they adopted the name Church of God, in 1982 the church became the Assembly of Yahweh. Currently the Assembly of Yahweh is a conservative Jews for Jesus-type congregation. It teaches that "the true religion is Jewish " and its members celebrate the Old Testament holidays rather than those related to the New Testament. The congregation considers the Old Testament historically and scientifically accurate. The congregation considers homosexuality and abortion to be crimes.
Farris Wilks
Farris Wilks is married to Jo Ann and the father of 11 children. He is the current pastor and bishop of the Assembly of Yahweh near Cisco.
Dan Wilks
Dan Wilks is married to Staci and the father of two children with her and four children from a previous marriage.
Frac Tech
In 2002 they founded a hydraulic fracturing company named Frac Tech. In 2011 they sold their 70% interest in Frac Tech for $3.5 billion.
As early as 2016 the Wilks Brothers began purchasing large quantities of land in Central Idaho mainly in Ada, Boise, and Valley counties. The Wilks Brothers are known by the locals primarily for restricting access to the locals with gates, anti-vehicle ditches, and no-trespassing signs appearing soon after their acquisition of large parcels throughout Idaho. After acquiring their Valley County properties the Wilks Brothers informed the county that they were terminating their leases to roads and snowmobile trains, including a main road which was the only access to large quantities of public lands. According to the forest service at least some of their restrictions to access are illegal. Land that has been used recreationally and for sustenance purposes by Idahoans for generations is often cut off by these actions. The Wilks Brothers often do not allow locals to hunt, snowmobile, cut firewood, or even traverse their land. This has caused frustration and earned the brothers a negative reputation among the locals. In 2017 a video emerged of an armed and uniformed DF Development security guard illegally expelled an outdoorsman from a public road, Forest Road 409, which runs through Wilks brothers land on grounds of trespass. According to the Valley County Roads Department Superintendent the DF Development guard was in the wrong as both the road and a 33-foot easement on either side belong to the county and as such are public land. As of 2019 the Wilks brothers shell company DF Development owned approximately 75,000 acres of land across 306 parcels in Valley County alone. Overall the Wilks brothers own at least 200,000 acres in Idaho. As of 2018, many of the parcels of land owned by the Wilks Brothers have been listed for sale via . As of 2019 Wilks Ranch Brokers had listed 54,000 acres of Idaho land for sale.
Montana Land Purchase and Restrictions
The Wilks brothers gained notoriety in Montana for attempting to strong-arm the Bureau of Land Management. After the BLM refused the Wilks’ request to swap a parcel of public land for a piece of their Duffee Hills ranch over the widespread objections of local hunters the Wilks brothers shut down an important access road to the Wild and Scenic Missouri River.
