A huge "thank you" to Dennis for sending me the link.
The photographs are simply outstanding. I would hope mineral owners, oil service companies, operators, and city leaders would have some of these pieces of art hanging on their walls at home or in their places of business.
What an eyesore. I'm a land owner (and a mineral owner) and I've been making a point to go out and take photos of our land before they drill because the natural beauty of our pastures and fields will be lost for at least 30-40 years (maybe longer) and I want my children to see what it was like before.
ReplyDeleteMy hunch is that Vern Whitten has a lot of spectacular views of North Dakota without any sign of the oil industry.
DeleteOne of the things that frustrated me most when hiking through North Dakota were all the barbed wire fences and signs posting "no trespassing." So, from the very small to the very big, there are a lot of eyesores. For me, the bigger eyesores are wind turbines. The smaller eyesores were barbed wire fences.
Right now, I'm overlooking the Provincetown (Cape Cod) harbor, filled with fishing boats, some new, some old; along the shore man-made structures (buildings, houses, businesses, churches, etc) jam-packed tight as possible, and yet it is absolutely gorgeous. I'm sure there are a lot of folks who wish the bay was in its natural state (when the Pilgrims landed).
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The good news is there is a lot of unspoiled beauty left; I have no trouble finding it. I believe the oil industry is in a minority of counties in North Dakota and Montana.
So what you are saying is that the barb wire fences and no trespassing signs frustrated you. Why because you couldn't just walk on to private property? I do agree with you on the wind turbines. Fences frustrate me to. I have to keep repairing them.
DeleteBruce, I've followed your blog for over a year now and I really appreciate all the information you put on it. But don't be to quick to judge anonymous above or others that seem to not be so excited about the Bakken. From what I know about you, you are a city person. Maybe I can help you understand where some of us are coming from that aren't to excited about the oil field coming into our area.
I'm not the same person that wrote the above comment. I'm not very good with words but here goes.
I am also a land owner and mineral holder. This oil rush leaves me torn. I am happy for the people that have jobs. I have met many good people that work in the oil patch. But along with the good ones come a percentage of bad ones. Talk to any local sheriff or judge. With any high population influx the bad percentage increased faster than the good. But back to the landowner problem. Many people don't realize why many of us chose to live here. There are many reasons. I'll name a few. The unspoiled beauty is one thing, lack of people, and the ones that were here were like family, decent roads, very little traffic, we didn't have to lock our houses or cars, rent was cheap, cost of living was not as expensive as other areas, towns were fairly small, we didn't have all the garbage along the roads, people that didn't work in the oil patch could afford rent, businesses could treat their employees well and they would stay, I could go on and on.
Sure we could sell our land and leave, and go where? This area was the last best place. That is why so many people chose this life style, not to get rich but to have a great place to raise a family. Many or us thought living in the country we didn't have to worry about city problems. Now you can live in the country and have a man camp go up a couple of miles down the road. So do you still let your daughters or granddaughters play in the front yard. How many sexual predators live in the man camp? The sheriffs don't even know.
No, my answer isn't to stop drilling, it's just going to take some time to adapt, however reluctantly. You see, we are going to lose our way of life, not so different than the guy that lost his job and came to the oil patch. He lost his way of life too. But maybe someday he will get to go back to it.
Now we know how the Native American felt when his/her land was taken by the "white man" with a lot less respect and consideration.
DeleteI don't know if I would go down that rabbit trail that Native Americans were not the first in "North Dakota" ... but be that as it may.
ReplyDeleteThe two books that serve as bookends to this whole discussion (for me) are:
Edwin Denig's "Five Tribes of the Upper Missouri" in which he describes the Native Americans as you imply.
At the other end, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown which should be read by every American. Twice.
As noted, for me fences and "Posted" signs are still eyesores. I'm not saying they are not necessary, and I'm not saying I don't respect them, I just don't like seeing them.