75 years later: How the discovery of oil in ND shaped the community that started it all

75 years later: How the discovery of oil in ND shaped the community that started it all

TIOGA, N.D. — Dirt roads. No sewer. No running water. Tioga was a town of 456 people built along a railroad, with agriculture serving as the economic lifeblood for hardy homesteaders who had settled the area. The community’s fortunes changed in the early morning hours of April 4, 1951. The Clarence Iverson well, surrounded by deep drifts of snow from recent blizzards, struck oil a few miles south of Tioga. That discovery touched off 75 years of …