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You have seen the boom towns. I remember going through Gillette, WY in ‘73 and then going back up in ‘78 to build two new schools. A spot to hook up your trailer and connect to sewer was $650 plus utility charges. Renting a house or apartment was impossible.

In 2011, I bid some B-52 hangers up in ND and tried to price in housing for field management and others. Impossible, there was none to be had except double the price. A 1959 house was the price of a new home 50% larger in Dallas. Apartments were clapboard. People were going up there and finding out you couldn’t live on the fringe with the winters that they have in North Dakota.

My junior year in high school I worked summers on a roust about crew for my uncle. Went into the Army in in 69 got out in 72 and went to work for the Sheriff’s Department but took a side job as a pumper on a friend of mines place. Did that for 5 1/2 years and went full time in the patch. When Conoco offered to sell us the wells on the ranch we bought them. I operated 22 stripper wells until we had the money to drill our own. We now have 72 wells on the ranch and 16 more on some other leases we picked up over the years. I’ll be 68 in November and have no intention of retiring. When we survived the oil crash of 98 I knew I could handle anything from that point on. I’ve reentered 4 of those old stripper wells that still had good casing and took them down another 1500 ft and tapped into the Cline, they’re making more now than they ever did. Origional production when we started was just under 1000 barrels a month and almost no sell able gas. Last month we did a total of 26,320 barrels and running an average 133,920 MCF a month. Not bad for starting life as a lowly roustabout worm. I’m in it until I die!!