The 1920 census showed my home county (796 square miles) to have a population of 37.
Then oil was found. Reached a peak of 6000
permanent with 2000 transient in the l950s.

Went down to about 3500 thereafter. Now runs between 4000 and 5000 steady. Takes more to develop an oilfield than to maintain it. But the oilpatch is a bit more durable than a goldpatch.

County south of us has a town that was non-existent in 1920. Then went to 12,000 to 15000 before decling to 2500 to 3500 steady.

Reason for that high population was transportation. Early days the oil had to be trucked to a railroad and then manually transferred to primitive tank cars. Very labor intensive and NOT real good jobs. Pipelines, tank farms and loading racks ended that era ASAP.

Pretty nice corner of the world out there, if I do say so myself. And yes, what Tom Sowell calls “The Annointed” consider us deprived, depraved and so environmentally degraded as to have become extinct two decades ago and thus only useful as the stuff of their worst nightmares. (Which we strive to make come true, just as a means of recreation.)

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?