Fascinating town. Very industrial and blue collar. But blue collar workers who make $100,000 per year. American brand trucks and SUVs. New — but dirty. So many moms driving Expeditions, Tahoes, Suburbans. Williston will never win a beauty contest.
I sense a resentment toward the immigrant population. And a culture that is beer drinking and firearms focused. There are no art museums here.
So different than the Scandinavian rest of the state.
I imagine mineral rights holders have become multimillionaires off land they thought was only good for farming.
An article I found in the internet:
From Boom to Bust to Balance: Williston through the years
1 year ago
WILLISTON, N.D. (KXNET) — In 2008, the Great Recession was claiming jobs, houses, and saving accounts, all across the nation. But the Williams County area was exempt from many of those struggles due to the Bakken oil boom getting started in North Dakota. However, this doesn’t mean that life was easy in Williston during those days.
During the late 2000s, the quiet, secluded town of 12,000 people was suddenly interrupted by oil rig drilling, tanker trucks driving across unpaved roads, and the company of nearly 20,000 new neighbors. The booming oil industry in Bakken impacted almost every aspect of rural North Dakota life as people knew it.
“We went through a lot with the boom,” said Williston PD’s Public Information Officer, Heather Cook. “Our town, our city of Williston expanded quite a bit in several directions, very quickly. We expanded in population, we expanded in housing, we expanded in business.”
The oil-rich fields of North Dakota put our state on the map. All around the world, it became America’s second leading oil producer at the time. But leaders say cliches like ‘more money, more problems’ or ‘fast money, fast cars, and fast women’ became the town’s new reality.
“Starting college, not being able to get an apartment because there was nothing available,” said Cook.
The Director of Public Works for the City of Williston, Kenny Bergstrom, said applications for any jobs outside of the oil industry were few and far between.
“With the oil industry, we do end up competing to get employees in the door. So, at times that gets to be challenging.”
Law enforcement and first responding agencies also had no choice but to grow due to the extra work they were called to.
“We’ve seen anywhere from 10-15% call volume increases for us,” recalled Williston Fire Department’s Fire Chief, Matt Clark. “We had an 18% call volume increase just last year.”
Williams County saw an 83% population increase — second in the nation only to its neighboring county, McKenzie (which had a 131% increase from 2010-2020, according to Census data).
“Our Department has tripled in size as the size of the city has as well,” said Bergstrom.
City leaders say they are a stronger community today because of it.
“The boom was very much fly by the seat of your pants, going call to call with officers, to now,” said Cook. “I feel like we have a full staff ready and capable to handle anything that is sent our way.”
Cook states that due to the oil boom, law enforcement agencies, infrastructure, and government resources are bigger and better than ever. Many property owners made money off the mineral right to their land, and the city gained economic independence. Because of this independence, Williston leaders were able to fix the problems — which typically stemmed from steep population growth.
“We all grew together,” Cook concluded. “We went through what they went through. We hurt when our community hurts. We’re happy when our communities are happy.”
And the reality is, people didn’t leave. Cook says, it’s no surprise to her, a Williston native, that people stuck around after the boom. She says the city is the perfect combination of a small-town feel, with big-city opportunities.
Comments