It’s home to little rural towns that are experiencing significant and quick growth from the energy boom.
It’s home to new traffic. Now if you are used to driving on I-5 in California this seems like nothing. But if you are used to rural roads with no cars, this is difficult. Solutions are needed. Truck by-passes in towns, passing lanes, four lane roads and more.
The North Dakota oil patch is home to housing shortages, man camps, sky rocketing cost of living, homeless and more. Solutions are needed.
 |
| Hunter throwing the discus in Bismarck, ND. Photo by Kirsti Craig. |
I am leaving the oil patch now to get plenty of hugs from our girls and attend Hunter’s piano recital this afternoon. But the oil patch has moved me. I will not live away from it without working to help create change and solutions. It’s a piece of my home state I cannot ignore.
i am worried about the fall that will most surely follow.
I’ve heard quite a bit about the oil boom and have been following it though I’m not there. I’ll be interested in hearing your observations and thoughts on it.
We’re originally from Oregon, here because of the jobs but we want to plant roots here, we’re farm kids that love this land and shoot… even the winters. One of the hardest things we’ve come across had been the attitudes of people. I understand it’s usually the worst kinds of people that stand out but there are so many hard working amazing families here. I have had people talk to me about the oil telling me that the “oil people” are pieces of crap. I asked if they thought I was a piece of crap and they were quite taken back by that question. They didn’t realize that I was an “oil person”.
One thing that I wish was a little different was that farms could be occasionally found for sale. We miss true farm life and while we’re on a farm now it’s not the same as owning our own farm.
The housing has gotten worse in the past year. When we first moved here there was nothing available in Dickinson or Williston but we thought outside the box. My husband works out of Killdeer and we moved to Hazen where apartments were $500 a month. We now live in Zap on a farmstead and our rent is around $600 but everything around us is going up. Our apartments that we were in are now going up to $1000 but that’s still cheaper than every where else. Most of the time the workers have vehicles and fuel supplied to them so it doesn’t seem so bad when you think of it that way.
Look forward to more.
Katie
We have heard so many bad stories coming from the effects of the oil boom. Many of the issues that you mentioned, only in more detail. I am very interested in learning about what you experienced.
There are several ranchers and neighbors in our small community that drive to the oil fields, work, come home for their days off and go back. In some cases it is the only way the family can stay on the ranch.
Even the extreme northwest part of South Dakota is being affected by the North Dakota oil boom, especially where housing and cost of living is concerned.
A year ago the community lost member to a tragic oil rig accident.