Oil and Gas

 Yesterday I stopped at they geographical centre of North America. According to a US Geological Service statement in January 1931 it is located just off Highway 2 in Rugby, Pierce County, North Dakota; quite convenient. The 21 foot stone pyramid-shaped cairn pictured below, built with the help of the Boy Scouts, marks the spot.

There's still a lot of farming in North Dakota with huge fields of green wheat and corn, yellow canola, and blue flax that can in the distance be mistaken for lakes with shimmering water, stretching out on either side of Highway 2. There are also many birds, no doubt attracted by the free lunches in the fields and the thousands of prairie potholes, ponds of various shapes and sizes, that dot the landscapes.

But oil is the modern story here, You're riding along and suddenly, next to the highway you see the first of what will be many, many pumpjacks. And you think, yes, this is North Dakota, a large section of which sits on the Bekken formation that also crosses over into Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and neighbouring Montana. The formation is estimated to contain some 7.4 billion barrels of oil and a staggering amount of shale gas.  Since the discovery of the Pearsall Oil Field in 2006 and the introduction of tracking and horizontal drilling, North Dakota has become the second oil-producing state after Texas; and its per capita income is well above the national average.  The signs of increased activity and wealth are everywhere along Highway 2, particularly in Mountrail County. There are hotels, motels, and large trailer parks and other accommodation complexes for the thousands of workers who have come here to make their fortune. There are more pickup trucks, most of them new and big, than there are cars; and the highway, mostly divided 4-lane stretches, is in fantastic shape. I guess that's what comes from a $1 billion annual state government surplus.

I also remembered that it's oil from the Bekken field that exploded when 77 tanker rail cars rolled into the center of Lac Mégantic a little over 2 years ago on July 6, 2013. No fault of anyone here, but still a tragedy. 



I had brunch at Kroll's Diner, a shiny stainless steel affair in Minot. The country omelet with hashbrowns, rye toast and coffee were plentiful and good; enough to sustain me till I arrived at the Riverside Inn in Glendive Montana.

All and all another nice day of riding and discovery. Another 557 kilometres on the odometer.

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