Bakken oil boom echoes in Clark County
Production surge already felt in N.W. likely to resonate ‘for a long time’
24,012: Jobs supported by oil and gas extraction in North Dakota.
2.7%: Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in North Dakota.
5.8%: Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Washington.
1.0%: Unemployment rate in Williams County, N.D.
6.4%: Unemployment rate in Clark County, Wash.
723,393: Population of North Dakota.
6,971,406: Population of Washington.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Census Bureau, Job Service North Dakota, Washington State Employment Security Department, North Dakota Petroleum Council
All unemployment rates as of June 2014.
WILLISTON, N.D. — Just off Highway 1804, a high grassy slope offers a sweeping view of the epicenter of North Dakota’s oil boom.
Williston, a once-small town that now proclaims itself “Boomtown, USA,” sprawls out in the valley below. The Missouri River wanders past rolling hills and wheat fields across a mostly treeless landscape dotted by oil wells. One of those wells pumps near the top of this overlook, its gas flare lapping flames against an endless sky.