We left the campground early on another dreary overcast drive. Instead of hooking up the car in the campsite, we decided to do it at the dump station. Who was waiting for us there? None other than our huge friends from yesterday. I watched the bison from the car so I could warn Ted if they started our way while he quickly dumped the gray water. Thankfully, they just kept on chomping the new grass and didn't pay any attention to us. We did wait, however, until a while later to hook up the car.
On the way to Watford City, a distance of fourteen miles from the park entrance we saw hundreds of temporary housing units set up to house all the workers brought in to work the oil boom. There are oil wells and derricks everywhere and the traffic is amazing for being in the middle of nowhere.
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| Statue of Roosevelt in Watford City |
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| Typical Man Camp |
From Watford City to Williston, they are adding two extra lanes to the road to handle all the excess traffic. Again, there were fields of temporary or mobile housing and vehicles to support the business of drilling for and transporting oil. Coming in to Williston there was a long row of new office buildings, all with names that indicated they had some part in the oil business, whether from engineering, piping, or drilling etc. Everyone was in a truck of some kind and cars were very rare. Even the railroad lines were full of oil tankers. One area looked like it had brand new sidings that had a half dozen spurs. Each spur had a dozen or more oil tankers on it. Near the spur were piles and piles of pipe. Every so often we would see flames coming from a well area as they burned the gas coming from the wells.
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| Makeshift Motel, Dormitories and Man Camps |
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| Railroad Oil Tankers |
Because there is so much road construction, all the signs have been removed and we missed our turn for the shortest route to Fort Union Trading Post. We missed a second turn and had to drive miles before we could find a place to turn around. When we arrived at the national historic site, Ted said he didn't feel all that great and stayed in the motor home. I walked from the parking lot in Montana to the Fort in North Dakota.
The Fort was neither military or governmental but was used to trade with the indians. It was established in 1928 by the American Fur Company and grew to be one of the most important trading posts along the Missouri River. For thirty nine years they successfully traded with the indians, each side benefitting from the other. During the Civil War, more white people started heading west and upset the balance between the two cultures. Fort Buford was built nearby in 1866 to control the indian population and the Fort Union Trading Post was abandoned in 1867.
The present Trading Post is a full scale reconstruction built on the exact location of the original structures and based on the drawings of an artist who lived in the fort in 1851. The main and inner gates, Indian Trade House, Bourgeois (person in charge) House, bell tower, palisade walls, bastions and flag pole have all been reproduced. The other buildings including the dwelling range, ice house, blacksmith shop, powder magazine and small sheds are outlined in wood to show where they would have been.
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| Fort Union Trading Post |
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| Trade House Between the Two Sets of Gates |
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| Bourgeois House |
There were three interpreters in the small fort and each one of them wanted to talk, especially as I was the only one there. I hardly had a chance to look at anything and couldn't read anything as no one would leave me alone long enough. The woman in the Trade House had a nice fire going in the fireplace and offered me coffee that she was brewing over the fire. There was a buffalo hide rug on the floor and they had typical items in the store that would have been sold in the 1800s.
The guy in the Bourgeois House was the biggest talker. We wound up talking about how devastating the oil boom influx was to the locals. He said that they had never had much litter until the Texans came and said they wanted to trash the place to make it look like home. Not very politically correct but there probably is a little bit of truth in there. The crime rate is up as is the accident rate. Housing rates have hit the roof even in the "man camps" as he called the temporary housing. He said he was living out of a duffle bag and hoped to get into park housing soon.
The next interpreter was dressed as an Indian. I knew Ted was probably anxious to get on the road so I didn't spend much time with her. She did say that her dream is to travel the country in a motor home some day. I told her she needed to find someone who would do it with her so that is now on her list of husband material.
Once in Montana on US Route 2, we travelled through the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. At times we could see forever. They don't call this Big Sky Country for nothing. We are camping tonight at Shady Rest RV Park in Glasgow, Montana.
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| Big Sky Country |
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| The Sun Finally Came Out |
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