Train Station, Williston, ND. Once a small stop on the Empire Builder that runs from Seattle to Chicago, Williston has become a major destination [major transport point for workers and their families]. There are two trains a day - one eastbound, one westbound.

Now a major destination, the train Station in Williston ND was once a small stop on the Empire Builder that runs from Seattle to Chicago. With two trains a day - one eastbound, one westbound - the small station has become one of the busiest on the route as it serves as the gateway to the oilfields for many arriving workers.

You'll see whole families, with all of their belongings, on the train platform in Williston, ND. 

Young boy arrives at the train station in Williston, ND.

Roughnecks have the most dangerous job in the Bakken - working on the oil rigs themselves. Chase, a Sioux Indian, had to leave his wife and 2 week old baby at home in Montana to come back to work. "I miss his little hiccups and his little sneezes. I hope he don't forget about me."

Laying road, downtown Williston. Road crews work around the clock to pave hundreds of miles of new road while the weather is good. In addition to traffic congestion and fatalities on the road due to a high volume of truck traffic, the massive amounts of dust kicked up by oil tankers carrying large loads on tiny dirt roads is bad for crops and hard on the lungs. 

Laying road, downtown Williston. Road crews work around the clock to pave hundreds of miles in the Bakken region while the weather is good. Traffic congestion, dust kicked up by oil tankers carrying big loads on tiny dirt roads, and fatalities on the road, are constant features of life in the Bakken. 

Angelica, an exotic dancer from Minnesota, in the dressing room of Heartbreakers Gentlemans Club - one of the many local businesses that have boomed alongside the oil fields.

Erika, from New Jersey, prepares to take the dance floor at Heartbreakers Gentlemans Club. While photographing her I commented on her muscular arms. "Pole arms" she remarked flatly.

Heartbreakers is one of two strip clubs in town. The women who work here seem relatively happy with their jobs, the management, and their decent earnings.

Elena, next day. "When you engage with men in a different kind of lifestyle, the way they portray themselves is very different. But here, you see their real face."

Empty shelves at the Williston Walmart. This is one of the few Walmarts in the country that has to close its doors once a week to re-stock.  Starting salaries here are $17.50/hr, 2.4 times the federal minimum wage.  

Shelves stripped bare in the produce section of the Williston Walmart - one of the busiest in the country.  Workers often get produce and pre-packaged food at Walmart, as many living quarters have inadequate refrigeration. 

Shifts are long and work is dangerous in the Bakken. Workers blow off steam at DKs nightclub, a place known for prostitutes on the dancefloor and fights in the parking lot.

Both work and play can be dangerous in the Bakken. After long shifts, workers blow off steam at DKs nightclub - a place known for heavy drinking, prostitutes trolling the dance floor, and closing time fights in the parking lot.

Blackjack table, Doc Holidays, Williston ND. While some money earned invariably gets spent in bars, the vast majority of it gets sent back to the families these men have left to support.  Many workers make a point of spending their earnings in their home states. "I try to spend everything I'm gonna spend, high dollar items, at home. To spread the wealth. I even get my haircuts at home."

Doc Holidays, Williston ND. While some money earned invariably gets spent at the blackjack table, the vast majority of it gets sent home to the families these men have left to support, and finds its way into their home state economies. 

Workers bunk 5 to a room for two weeks at a time on the drill sites.  They work 12 hours on / 12 hours off and are screened randomly and regularly for drugs and alcohol.  No one can afford a mistake.  

Oil worker on an Ensign drilling platform north of Williston

Riley came from Nebraska, with her grandmother and great grandmother, to visit her father - a truck driver in the Bakken. 

Three generations of women from Nebraska, outside the Sweet Crude Travel Center near Grassy Butte, ND. Riley, her grandmother and great grandmother, came to visit her father, a truck driver in the Bakken.

Most workers who come to the Bakken leave their families behind, but a few try to make a life with them here in the chaotic, volatile boomtown.

Tearful goodbye at the train station in Williston, ND. Working in the Bakken often means weeks if not months of not seeing your family.

Him: "I couldn't take it no more." Her: "I had to be here." She came in on a 34 hour train ride from Ohio, to join her highschool sweetheart, a welder.  She hopes to find work as a waitress.  

New arrival, from New York City.  

Paris came from Soldotna, Alaska to be with her boyfriend who works in the oil fields. She works cleaning the new Motel 6, which is at capacity almost every night, and sometimes requires reservations weeks in advance. At approximately $110/night it is one of the most expensive Motel 6's in the country. She is lonely and misses her hometown.

Ron, an oil service technician and Vietnam veteran from Idaho, in the 12 by 15 room in a converted shipping container that serves as his home. He lost his savings when the price of his land in Idaho was cut in half by the housing market collapse. "I considered just dumping everything and driving off with the motor home and saying to hell with it all, and I'm not gonna do that, I just can't. I've worked too hard too long. So unless the economy comes back and land prices come back, I'm stuck."

Accents from every state in the union can be heard as workers pour off the train each day, ready to try their luck in the new boom as welders, truck drivers, plumbers, oil rig roughnecks, frackers, water carriers, road crews, and everything else it takes to build a rapidly burgeoning town and industry.

Traffic and half-made roads, Williston ND. 

Larry Pryor, a General Motors retiree from Michigan, had to return to work after losing all his savings in the GM crash.  When he first arrived in Williston he lived in a tent with 3 other men for the winter. "I like the money, but it's not my dream job." He loves islands and hopes to make enough money in the next 5 years to retire in Costa Rica and pursue his real dream of becoming a Master Diver.

Larry Pryor, from Michigan, had retired from General Motors after 35 years, but had to return to work. "I lost some money in that GM fiasco - I lost $250,000, in stocks. For a working man - somebody that works every day - that's a lot of money." When he first arrived in Williston he lived in a tent with 3 other men for the winter. He hopes to retire in Costa Rica, after another 5 years in North Dakota, to pursue his real dream of becoming a Master Diver. 

row houses await new tenants, Williston ND 

Carter, a drilling site maintenance worker, in the 12 by 15 shipping container that serves as his home away from home.  "Dropping dead is my retirement," he says.  

Ron and Carter, oil service technicians and now good friends, in their 12 by 15 living quarters, a converted shipping container.  "Until the economy comes back and land prices come up, I'm stuck" says Ron.  "Dropping dead is my retirement," says Carter.