To the long time locals: Pre Boom ND or Post Boom ND? (Hope: rent)

[pathseeker]

I'm curious to know how many of the long time locals feel about the Bakken Boom and its effects on the state overall. I'm curious to know if the preference would be for the old North Dakota in which people were migrating from, in which the quality of life and pace was better, perhaps slower - Or if the economic benefits out weigh much of the side effects.

I've heard a mixed bag of reactions, ranging from down right resentment to those who think it's the best thing to have ever happened to the state. I'd love to know what the majority opinion tends to be on this issue.

[itsMeFred]

Lived in southwestern ND for several years, pre-boom. DH and I were seriously considering buying land up there (oh how I wish we had! lol)
But now? Nope. We like a slow pace and sparse population.

[DakotaThunder]

Pre-boom and it's not even close. I grew up in ND, left the state pre-boom, moved back during the boom and it's a night and day difference. The quality of life in ND is getting worse every day.

[Cinj]

4th generation McKenzie County (right smack in the middle of it) native here. We've been ranching and farming since my great (and a couple of great-great) grandparents settled here but our incomes have been supplemented by the oilfield since the first well was drilled back in the 50's. I, along with the majority of my family and friends have or do work in the patch so I don't complain about it much. It spends just fine. Good and bad go along with any boom. This one caught us a little more by surprise than the last ones simply due to the magnitude of it. Everything involving our infrastructure has been stretched beyond breaking. It is broken but we will fix it. A lot of people are making a lot of $, some are losing their butts. It's brought in many good people and some not so much. Our countryside will never be the same but in some ways it will be better. In some ways, much worse. We will deal with it. We always have. If nothing else this climate breeds determination. A couple of widely held misconceptions I would like to clear up. We haven't had a shortage of jobs out here in - well, I don't know that we ever have. The abundance of jobs currently has nothing to do with the locals willingness to work, it has to due with the lack of locals. We have more jobs than people. The mentioned out migration has always been a temporary issue, at least in this community. Kids go away to college, leave the state for a while and come back with their own families to raise them here. I'm not arguing statistics, that's just the view from where I am. In a nutshell, some days are better than others. Hopefully when we come full circle there have been more good than bad.

[GoodOleGal]

I would have to agree with Cinj - some good, some bad. But hoping end results will leave us a stronger and stable state for years to come, for those of us that will be here for life.

[sholomar]

I don't blame people for saying pre-boom.. but in my mind if we are going to have oil rigs set up everywhere, rural western North Dakota is about as ideal spot as one could think of.. to me it's not exactly top of my list of places to move... neither is South Dakota for that matter and I live here... I mean from a cultural, climate, and scenic standpoint.

Nobody wants opportunistic people invading their area and driving up the cost of everything, willing to pay 2000 per month rent and work 120 hours a week. That's no way for a 'normal' person to live. Any company even made me do 70-80 week after week I'd be out the door.