Lecture 8: That Tool Pusher from Snyder

Mineral industries of the plains, principally petroleum

Outline of Lecture
Introduction: Ancient Miners of Knife River
Revenge of the Resource Economy	The current energy boom on the northern plains, which many fear may repeat the boom-and-bust cycles of past episodes of energy development, shows signs of greater and long-lasting promise.
Before Spindletop and After	The early history of western petroleum established the southern plains as the economic and cultural hearth for the spread of the industry.
Expansion and Transition	While producing oilfields went through economic and social transition, the industry expanded the length of the plains, from Texas to Alberta.
Lignite	On the northern plains, vast deposits of lignite became the mainstay of electrical power generation for the region.
Oil Patch	Effects of energy industries on the historic cultures of the plains.

Assignments
WWW	Continental Resources – see Video Link for Harold Hamm interview
	US Geological Survey releases report on Bakken Formation
	Natural gas flare in Dunn County
	Boomtown on planetgreen.com
	Northern Oil & Gas - see link, Drilling, for video explanation of horizontal drilling
Reading	Thinking About the Great Plains	Robinson, Elwyn B. “The Themes of North Dakota History,” address on the 75^th anniversary of the University of North Dakota, http://www.library.und.edu/Collections/Robinson/themes.htm.
	The Great Plains at the Grassroots	3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Oil in North Dakota and Montana – podcast by US Geological Survey
	Selected Bibliography	Rister, Oil! Titan of the Southwest
		Moore, West Texas after the Discovery of Oil
Film	The Stars Fell on Henrietta

Outline of Lecture