A Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch Update

I posted an update to my Tourist Guide to the Bakken Oil Patch over at Medium this morning.

I’ve appreciated the critiques that I have received so far and after some travel over the next couple of weeks, I plan to sit down and prepare a revised edition of the entire guide. Rather than posting this to Medium, which has provided a nice platform for longer form writing, I’ll like present it as a pdf and post it over at my Scribd account. Since I’ve written the entire document in Scrivener, it is easier for the time to push things out chapter at a time rather than all at once.

My biggest worry about the Guide as it now stands is the lack of conceptual unity. The fine strands that run through a guide that let the reader know that they are not just witnessing a random arrangement of objects, places, and sites, but a network of experiences that work together. I think a stronger introduction will help that, and for more academic readers, a stronger epilogue that takes into account how the genre of the tourist guide shapes the tourist’s gaze.

Here’s the full table of contents. The titles in bold and new additions to the Guide today. I think I’ll post on Tuesday and Thursdays to ensure that the entire Guide is available without much delay. My desire to serialize is mostly just my flair for the dramatic. 

I. Introduction

I.1. A Brief Industrial History of the Bakken CountiesI.2. Practical Notes on Travel, Roads, and Weather in the BakkenI.3. Technical Notes and Key Terms about the BakkenI.4. Controversies and ConcernsI.5. The North Dakota Man Camp ProjectI.6. Further Reading

II. Route 1: Minot to RossII1. Route 1a: Ross to White Earth

III. Route 2: Ross to Tioga

IV: Route 3: Tioga to Williston IV.1. Route 3a: Wheelock, Nession Flats, East Williston IV.1. Route 3b: Wildrose

V: Route 4: Williston to Watford City

VI: Route 5: Williston to Sidney, MT

VII: Route 6: Watford City to New Town

VIII. Conclusions: Industrial Tourism and Some Theoretical Reflections