4/4/2012: North Dakota oil drilling was an oddity in the first half of the 20th century. Thirty years of wildcat drilling in the state’s northwest corner left nothing but dry holes. So, in 1950, when the Clarence Iverson farm outside the community of Tioga hosted an oil drill, it was a real oddity. There were no small number of skeptics. Oil wells in North Dakota? Gushers in wheat country? The idea seemed absurd to many.
UND rock library looks to preserve core of energy industry
AMY R. SISK, The Bismarck Tribune
May 14, 2021
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GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) A few hours’ drive from the Bakken oil fields lies a treasure trove for geologists: rock from nearly every oil well ever drilled in North Dakota, under one roof.
The rock is tucked neatly into cardboard boxes stacked on numerous warehouse storage shelves in the Wilson M. Laird Core and Sample Library on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks.
“We’ve got about enough core to lay out from here to Fargo, 85 miles or so,” director Jeff Bader said.
GRAND FORKS A few hoursâ drive from the Bakken oil fields lies a treasure trove for geologists: rock from nearly every oil well ever drilled in North Dakota, under one roof.
The rock is tucked neatly into cardboard boxes stacked on numerous warehouse storage shelves in the Wilson M. Laird Core and Sample Library on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks.
âWeâve got about enough core to lay out from here to Fargo, 85 miles or so,â Director Jeff Bader said.
The library is part of the North Dakota Geological Survey and houses two forms of rock: core and drill cuttings. Core refers to cylinders of rock that oil companies pull out of the ground by attaching special bits to the end of their drills that make clean cuts as they preserve large chunks. Coring often is done when companies explore new places to establish wells.