Stanley is a city in Mountrail County,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

, United States. It is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Mountrail County. The population was 2,321 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st largest city in North Dakota. Stanley was founded in 1902. The town's economy is heavily connected to the nearby oil-rich Bakken Formation.

History

Stanley was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

ted in 1902. The Mountrail County Courthouse was built in 1914.

Geography

Stanley is located at (48.314716, −102.388410). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Transportation

Rail

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

, the national passenger rail system, serves a station in Stanley via its ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...

'', a once-daily train in each direction between

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The

Great Northern Railway Underpass The Great Northern Railway Underpass at Stanley, North Dakota is a concrete deck girder bridge that was built in 1937. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United St ...

is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Economy

Oil

Stanley is situated on the Bakken Formation, which encompasses northwestern North Dakota, northeastern

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, and southern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, Canada. The formation is a rich source of oil, first discovered in the 1950s. Until the late 2000s the cost of oil extraction was too high to retrieve the oil profitably. With new technologies in oilfield production and the rising

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

, the field has now become economically viable. The field may be the largest producing onshore field in the

Continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

outside of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, with the U.S. Geological Survey estimating that it contains between 3 billion and of oil, sixth overall in the lower 48, and could hold as much as of oil.Davey, Monica. - "Oil in North Dakota Brings Job Boom and Burdens". - ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. - January 1, 2008. - ,
"Tiny North Dakota Town Sitting on Oil Jackpot"
- ''Nightline''. -

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

. - , - Gutierrez, Thelma, and Wayne Drash.
"North Dakota's real-life Jed Clampett"
-

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

. - August 6, 2008. - , - Retrieved: August 7, 2008

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 1,458 people, 629 households, and 362 families living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was . There were 718 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 0.2%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.5% Native American, 0.5%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.6% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 3.9% of the population. There were 629 households, of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.5% were married couples living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.4% were non-families. 35.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.89. The median age in the city was 44.1 years. 21% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.2% were from 25 to 44; 26.5% were from 45 to 64; and 22.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.2% male and 49.8% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,279 people, 576 households, and 332 families living in the city. The

was 740.3 people per square mile (285.4/km). There were 664 housing units at an average density of 384.3 per square mile (148.2/km). The racial makeup of the city was 98.98%

, 0.55% Native American, 0.31%

, 0.08%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, and 0.08% from two or more races.

of any race were 0.55% of the population. There were 576 households, out of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 39.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.84. In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.3% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 18.8% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 30.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.7 males. The median income for a household in the city was $23,993, and the median income for a family was $35,074. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $17,813 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $15,349. About 5.7% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 12.6% of those under age 18 and 14.3% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Ann Nicole Nelson, a victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks *

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...

allegedly lived in Stanley for a short time in 1953, though this claim has been thoroughly debunked

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...

region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Stanley has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

References

External links

City Data site
{{Authority control Cities in Mountrail County, North Dakota Cities in North Dakota County seats in North Dakota Populated places established in 1902 1902 establishments in North Dakota