Williston is a city within North Dakota, USA. It is the county seat of Williams County and in 2010; the population was recorded at 14,716, according to the census, making it the 9th biggest city within the state of North Dakota. Williston was established during 1887. The name of the city is derived from Daniel Willis James. He was a member of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. James J. Hill, his friend, an owner of a railroad, named the city in his honor.
The Williston Herald is the city's newspaper and is available both in print and online. The Sloulin Field International Airport services the area as the only international airport. This is a public airport situated 2 miles north of the business district. The Miss Dakota Scholarship Pageant and Williston State College are both situated here.
The city's economy has historically been based on agriculture, is now driven solely by the oil industry since the City of Williston is situated on the top of the Bakken formation. This location is predicted to be making more oil compared to any other area in the United States by the end of the year 2012. This location even surpasses Prudhoe Bay within Alaska, a longtime leader in domestic output. The City of Williston has additionally seen a huge increase in infrastructure investments and population growth in the past few years as well. There has been much expanded drilling happening which relies on the "frac" petroleum extraction technique. This has been taking place in the Bakken Formation, along with the Three Forks Groups.
The state of North Dakota offers a web site which details every day oil activity. The U.S. Geographical Survey projected in 1995 that there were approximately 150 million barrels of oil "technically recoverable," from the Bakken Shale. The number had increased to 4 billion barrels by the year 2008. During 2010, the geologists at the main drilling operation in North Dakota, called Continental Resources, estimated the reserve actually at 8 billion. A discovery of a lower shelf of oil in the month of March 2012, announced a possibility of 24 billion barrels of oil available.
The current technology nowadays allows for the extraction of around 6% of the oil trapped 1 to 2 miles below the earth's surface. According to these estimates, the recoverable oil might be able to surpass 500 billion barrels eventually.
The Williston livestock arena has weekly auctions in the area. There is also a major regional grain elevator which is served by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
The area was once part of the history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as Fort Buford and Fort Union and the convergence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers served as stops on this Expedition. These regions encourage tourism within the state. Additionally, Williston is also quite close to the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park that draws numerous visitors each year.
Williston has many medical clinics, such as: Fairlight Medical Center, Craven-Hagan Clinic, and even Trinity Medical Clinic. The only Veteran's Affairs clinic available in northwestern North Dakota is offered by Fairlight Medical Center. This resource even serves people of northeastern Montana. Fairlight offers 4 physicians in a walk-in clinic setting. The Williston Hospital is Mercy Medical Center. They lack a walk-in clinic but offer 24 hour emergency care and trauma.