There has been a huge amount of attention on the Bakken Oil Field
and North Dakota, and rightfully so. The Bakken is huge news for North
Dakota because of the wealth and changes it's bringing. And it's big
news for an oil hungry U.S. that could have Middle Eastern oil supply
issues any day. All of this news and information about what is happening
in northwest North Dakota is bringing in thousands of people from other
states and other countries. Below I will discuss how I reacted to
moving to northwest North Dakota.
In the early nineties I was hired by the North Dakota Highway Patrol and went through the HP academy in Bismarck. I had always lived in relatively high population areas, and was use to the pace of life in bigger cities. To my dismay, the Highway Patrol decided to station me in Stanley, which is about fifty five miles west of Minot, in the middle of the Bakken Oil Formation area. At that time Stanley had a population of approximately 1500.I wound up finding a house to rent south of town, out in the country - way out in the country. Looking out the windows at night and realizing the closest light was over a mile away was a shock.
Back then, there was oil drilling and exploration going on, but nothing like today. Occasionally you might see a workover rig, and I only remember seeing an actual drilling rig once in the three years I was stationed in Stanley. The Bakken and Three Forks oil formations were not in the news or a topic of conversation. My only real contact with the oil industry happened when I stopped a crude oil truck for speeding or being over loaded.
My first day in Stanley was memorable. When I opened the curtains on the picture window in my living room that first morning and looked outside I couldn't believe my eyes. There, in my front yard, was a herd of animals that I could not identify. They looked like something that belonged on the plains of Africa, not in a farmyard in North Dakota. The longer I watched the animals, the more certain I was that they had escaped from a zoo. Of course, later that day, I found out that the animals were common pronghorn antelope!
The day got more interesting, but I will get into that in a subsequent article.
In the early nineties I was hired by the North Dakota Highway Patrol and went through the HP academy in Bismarck. I had always lived in relatively high population areas, and was use to the pace of life in bigger cities. To my dismay, the Highway Patrol decided to station me in Stanley, which is about fifty five miles west of Minot, in the middle of the Bakken Oil Formation area. At that time Stanley had a population of approximately 1500.I wound up finding a house to rent south of town, out in the country - way out in the country. Looking out the windows at night and realizing the closest light was over a mile away was a shock.
Back then, there was oil drilling and exploration going on, but nothing like today. Occasionally you might see a workover rig, and I only remember seeing an actual drilling rig once in the three years I was stationed in Stanley. The Bakken and Three Forks oil formations were not in the news or a topic of conversation. My only real contact with the oil industry happened when I stopped a crude oil truck for speeding or being over loaded.
My first day in Stanley was memorable. When I opened the curtains on the picture window in my living room that first morning and looked outside I couldn't believe my eyes. There, in my front yard, was a herd of animals that I could not identify. They looked like something that belonged on the plains of Africa, not in a farmyard in North Dakota. The longer I watched the animals, the more certain I was that they had escaped from a zoo. Of course, later that day, I found out that the animals were common pronghorn antelope!
The day got more interesting, but I will get into that in a subsequent article.
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