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  1. Beautiful Places Beautiful Badlands

Beautiful Badlands

A good heart will see the beauty of Western North Dakota where cattle, history, culture and scenery are unlike anywhere else. Here is what you could see when you visit Western North Dakota.
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The evening sun illuminates two pumps in McKenzie County, North Dakota south of Watford City.  The golden hour, in the last moments of the day create a dark backdrop to illuminate the long slow strokes of the oil pumps.
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The evening sun illuminates two pumps in McKenzie County, North Dakota south of Watford City. The golden hour, in the last moments of the day create a dark backdrop to illuminate the long slow strokes of the oil pumps.

oil pumpsduskgolden hourWatford City.

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  • The evening sun illuminates two pumps in McKenzie County, North Dakota south of Watford City.  The golden hour, in the last moments of the day create a dark backdrop to illuminate the long slow strokes of the oil pumps.
  • Canadian Pacific Winds Alongside the Old Red Trail
  • The first open water next to the shore of the Little Missouri River indicates spring is not far.  Still, the snow on the far away bluffs also show that winter isn't far gone, either.
  • The slope of the Badlands that face south toward the winter sun stay relatively free of snow all winter.  From the Long X road to the CCC campground, south of Watford City, the horizontal rails in the fence are repeated in the layers of the bluffs on the other side of the Little Missouri River
  • Sunset provides a golden backrop behind two oil pumps and the natural gas flare.  Some people are upset by the flaring, claiming it's an environmental hazard.  What they don't  acknowledge is that flaring today is about a third of what it has been historically and continues to drop as recovery methods are enhanced and improved to capture the natural gas.
  • West of Watford City, the evening sun behind the camera illuminates the pre-set drilling rig for a new oil well.  Below the hill are two other pump pads indicating this is a place where oil-rich shale is in abundance.
  • Drilling goes non-stop as crews at the well site switch off shifts to keep the two miles of pipe snaking through the earth to reach the shale oil.  Steam from the fracking system rises around the base of the rig.
  • The truck is a 1940's-era Federal Truck.  The company went out of business in 1949.  This truck, parked beneath a bluff in the Badlands, along the Little Missouri River has been stripped of most parts, and left to rust.
  • Along the Little Missouri River south of Watford City is the heart of the Bakken Oil Play. It's not the first time the oil extraction industry has worked the region and the abandoned truck parked in the bluffs is a reminder that farming, ranching and oil extraction have ruled this region for decades.
  • Along the Little Missouri River south of Watford City is the heart of the Bakken Oil Play. It's not the first time the oil extraction industry has worked the region and the abandoned truck parked in the bluffs is a reminder that farming, ranching and oil extraction have ruled this region for decades.  In the distance, cows graze at the edge of the river.
  • Fracking steam drifts from a nearby rig to surround the working pump on the well pad east of New Town, North Dakota.
  • West of Watford City, early in the morning as the moon descends, just before the sun rises in the opposite sky, three pumps continue their endless motion to bring shale oil to the surface.
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