Williston, ND

The picture on the front page of the Williston Herald shows a high school aged girl in a cap and gown, receiving her diploma from the principal of Williston High School.  The bold print above the picture reads: "Welcome The Oil Generation."

Williston is a city of 14,000 people, located in northwest North Dakota.  Formerly unknown, and still unknown to most, won't stay that way for long.  The Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers meet at Williston, and agriculture, along with the Northern Pacific Railroad, were the only reasons one might have heard its name.  Being the ninth largest city in North Dakota isn't saying much.  Any other town with a population of less than 15,000 in a thousand miles would be begging anyone to buy property or a house, but why in Williston does a studio apartment go for the same price as a studio apartment in San Francisco?  Black gold.

Oil was found in dem dar hills.  Well, technically under the hills, but the amount of estimated oil continues to increase with each count.  First count, in 1995, a U.S. Geological Survey estimated 150 million barrels.  In 2008, another survey found 4 billion barrels.  In 2010, the last estimate doubled to 8 billion.  In 2012, the most recent survey found a lower shelf of oil, bumping the barrels to 24 billion, with the possibility of 500 billion barrels.  By the end of 2012, Williston, North Dakota will overtake Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as the U.S.'s top oil extractor.

The population is growing faster than the temperature on an August day.  The "Oil Generation" is a more than appropriate title, and some welcome the change, while others don't.  Twenty years ago, teachers made more money than than the average resident, and lived a comfortable life.  Now, with housing and mortgages soaring, teachers have been relegated back to working summer jobs and relying on their spouse's incomes to  live the life they have become accustomed to.

Roy Sherman, a handiman and regular at the Blue Moon Tavern, remembers the days not long ago when he didn't think twice about his weekly bar tab.  Now, the tavern is packed every night, with a much different crowd with a much different taste in music.  Earl Guthrie, the Blue Moon's owner and businessman, has reinvented the tavern to cater to the new crowd.  The new juke box blares Taylor Swift while oil workers, being paid six figures to relocate to Williston, throw twenties at Earl for shots of Grey Goose.

Vanessa Johnson was a big supporter of more oil drilling in Williston.  She and her husband Jerrad, owned three housing developments, each 60% vacant before the boom.  The housing developments, Willow, Oak and Arrowwood, were on the far north side of town, near the air strip.  When the air strip turned into an international airport, thanks to a significant loan from Chevron, the housing developments not only filled up, but have now tripled in price--with a waiting list.  Vanessa Johnson didn't live long enough to enjoy the boom, because her body was found in a dumpster behind the Blue Moon Tavern.