Who Knew

"A view of a production well near the Continental Resources Inc. offices north of Buffalo in Harding County on Thursday, March 10, 2011. The company recently came online with a new station to create air pressure to push oil out to the production wells. The new station draws so much power that it has its own substation on site. (Kristina Barker/Journal staff)"


According to Kevin Woster, Rapid City Journal Staff, "The capital of South Dakota is Harding County, In the state's northwest corner.  It is a place where oil and natural gas development fits in nicely with sheep and cattle grazing - and has for more than half a century."


My dad included Thumb Butte in many of his western paintings.  The above photo is lovely with the snow.  The oil well is a bonus for the hard working ranchers and some wise homesteader's descendants.  I suppose one of the reason my dad featured the butte in his paintings was that he herded sheep in the area.  When they were safe and feeding on the buffalo grass, he would climb the butte and carve something into the red sandstone.