When I moved to Bismarck, North Dakota back in 2007, it seemed that the entire state of North Dakota was in a tizzy about an article that had been published by National Geographic called “The Emptied Prairie”.

Not knowing what the big hub-bub was all about, I picked up a copy that featured the article and read it. Complete with images of decaying cattle bones in front of abandoned homesteads, creepy baby doll heads and images of abandoned school houses that would make Ms. Havasham feel right at home, the article talks about how smaller towns in North Dakota were “emptying out” with the older populations keeping the towns alive, but the younger generations moving to bigger cities. One extreme case refers to the small town of Epping, North Dakota where a child had been the first born in the town for almost 20 years.
When I read the article at first, I thought to myself “I don’t really know what the big deal is” and shelved my copy.

Fast forward five years and I now find myself back in my hometown and as I look back on my time in North Dakota, the article seemed to have been published at the wrong time. Sure, many of the small towns are in critical decline and still are. But with the oil boom and with the number one economy in the nation, many of these so called “emptying prairies” are starting to grow once again.

One such town that was described in the article was Marmath, which sits in the heart of the oil patch. While the town is still in critical decline, the author of the article failed to mention that Marmath is somewhat of a writer’s village with writer’s from around the world coming to visit the town to work on their art. Marmath also happens to be the heart of many a paleontological expedition in recent years, with some incredible discoveries coming out of the badlands that surround the small town. Another town mentioned in the article, Amidon, was described in such a way that it seemed that the town was in imminent danger of dying. The truth is that Amidon has been the nation’s smallest county seat LONG before National Geographic stopped by to talk of the town’s impending doom. The town also has a sense of humor with a police car complete with a dummy dressed as an officer located on the edge of town to scare oil workers or tourists to slow down.

With the oil boom has come problems with housing and the refusal (see Williston) to build housing in fear that the oil boom will not last much longer. With this problem, most oil companies have started to get creative with the building of lodges by companies like “Target Logistics”. These “Man Camps” are being built on the periphery or within the oil patch and most towns (Glen Ullin) are starting to prepare for an influx in the population.

While there is so much to talk about further (i.e.-Man Camps) I will be looking at these in later articles. For now, I can say that the “Emptied Prairie” has bounced back, if only momentarily. Who knows? National Geographic may be back writing an article called “BUST” when the oil boom ends with pictures of decrepit man camps littering the horizon.