Man Camp
Time period: 2010s to present Location: North Dakota and other oil fields Portable dorms and apartments for oil field workers Key features - Modular building made up of sections that can be transported by truck - Usually built in large complexes housing 100-2,000 workers, with dining halls, laundry, gyms, medical clinics, and other amenities Starting in the 2000s, high oil prices made hydraulic fracturing - also known as fracking - profitable in many parts of the United States. This process involves drilling lots of wells and pumping high-pressure liquid to crack the rock, releasing oil and gas. Fracking helped relieve the energy crisis, but also created a housing crisis. Once an oil field was discovered, fracking the oil required a lot of workers - but only temporarily. Existing hotels and housing in remote oil field towns could not meet the demand, and were a long drive from the drill sites. Building new apartments was also challenging since anyone who might otherwi...