Dirt Road to a Pumpjack Site Near Charbonneau, North Dakota
Taken July 2015
Charbonneau sits in McKenzie County, North Dakota, within the Bakken Formation, the shale oil play that drove the state's drilling boom starting in the mid-2000s. The pumpjack and tank battery here are typical of Bakken wellsites, where crude oil is separated and held in steel storage tanks before being trucked to pipeline or rail terminals. McKenzie County has long ranked among North Dakota's top oil-producing counties. Many access roads to wellsites like this one remain unpaved, built and maintained by operators to reach wells scattered across the rural grasslands.
Taken July 2015
More from
North Dakota
Walking Beam and Horsehead of a Pumpjack in the Bakken
The horsehead and walking beam shown here are part of a beam pump, the standard mechanism used to bring crude…
Pumpjack Machinery Above the Badlands Near Medora
Pumpjacks like this one dot the Bakken Formation, the shale oil region beneath western North Dakota that fueled one of…
The Sorlie Bridge Over the Red River in Grand Forks
The Sorlie Memorial Bridge carries traffic across the Red River of the North, linking Grand Forks, North Dakota, with East…
Old Allis-Chalmers Tractor Near the Grain Elevator in Ryder
Allis-Chalmers built tractors and farm equipment in Milwaukee from 1914 until the company's agricultural division was sold off in the…
Missouri River Valley from the Bluffs at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park
Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park sits along the Missouri River just south of Mandan, North Dakota, on bluffs overlooking the…
Riprap Embankment Along Devils Lake, North Dakota
Devils Lake has no natural outlet, so its water levels rise and fall based on precipitation and runoff rather than…
