Why I'm Moving to North Dakota

The vast pot of oil that sits in the northwestern part of North Dakota is called the Bakken — the Bakken formation. The name rhymes with “rockin’.” In fact, there’s a bumper sticker: “Rockin’ the Bakken.

Care for some more fun facts, indicative of the boom in North dakota?

In Williston, the McDonald’s had to shut down in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon. They had run out of food.  You get a signing bonus, for working at that McDonald’s — $1,000, I’m told. Pay begins at $18 an hour (again, I’m told). Blue-chip health insurance.

At the Williston Walmart, they don’t really bother stocking the shelves. Who wants to work as a stock boy when you can make a bundle in the oil patch? Also, the goods would not stay on the shelves long.  The store just sets the pallets in the aisles, and customers grab the goods and go right to the register.

The Walmart in Minot, I hear, is thinking about closing down: Hard to get people to work there. Truckers in the oil patch make between $80,000 and $120,000 a year, with generous benefits.

Someone says to me, “Do you mind if I tell you something blue?” Naturally, I’m all ears. “From what I hear,” he says, “the strippers are making more per night in Williston than they do in Las Vegas.”

Read about it:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/296194/north-dakota-journal-part-ii-jay-nordlinger