Today, he's earning nearly six figures working about 90 hours a week on a drilling rig, one of many Chicago-area transplants who have joined thousands in a remote region experiencing an oil boom while much of the country tries to shake off a recession hangover.

"It is the best thing I ever did; no doubt about it," said Turco, 24, who arrived in Williston in October 2011. "I'm finally living an adult lifestyle, instead of a teenage dropout lifestyle."

And it's all thanks to fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, a relatively new and controversial drilling technology in which highly pressurized water, sand and other substances are driven into oil-rich shale thousands of feet deep, creating cracks that release the oil deposits and send them up the well.

In Williston, a town that sprouts from rolling, windswept plains and crystal blue sky about 65 miles south of Canada, fracking flourishes, bringing with it thousands of jobs, explosive population growth and an array of consequences.

That explosive growth created a housing crisis, and oil and drilling companies responded with "man camps," temporary housing shells that resemble military barracks and trailer parks. Also, a village of hundreds of trailers, recreational vehicles and semitrailers covers a large swath of land north of town.

Monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment, if one can be found, is about $2,500. Houses can rent for $5,000 a month.

Traffic is heavy with large pickups and semis that generate a great deal of dust and mud. The local Wal-Mart has difficulty keeping the shelves stocked and shifts staffed. Crime, particularly against women in a town flooded with men, is a touchy subject.

Drehobl has heard conversations and seen reports about Williston being particularly dangerous for women, but she doesn't worry.

"We think it's a cute little town," she said. "In fact, I think there's less danger here than back where I'm from."

"If the Blackhawks are playing, I'll go without sleep," Turco said. He was covered in grime, smoking a cigarette. His cat Koomie meowed for attention. "When I work days, I'm not missing one game. I don't care if I have to be up till 11 and be tired all the next day."

Chicagolanders like to move about the region and set down new roots. Sometimes people move from the suburbs to the city. Some people move from the city to the suburbs. Some move from the suburbs to the exurbs. And some move from the exurbs to fucking western North Dakota, where there's oil to extract and women to rape. At first glance, I know what you're thinking...

GET TOM RICKETTS ON THE PHONE!

If I were in a different place in my life I'd gladly work 100 hours a week for $85,000 and squirrel away most of the money.

But wait wait wait wait wait. So you're telling me that when you empty out the dregs of humanity from the fringes of exurbia, drag them out to North Dakota to do thankless labor before retiring to their ad hoc "man camps," that some of them are going to be really shitty people? Gasp!

If I were in a different place in my life I'd gladly work 100 hours a week for $85,000 and squirrel away most of the money.

just imagine how shitty the weed must be out in those "man camps." prolly some quality meth tho