Energy booms mean big profits for Wyoming. But also packed schoolrooms, traffic jams, less housing, and soaring crime.
Evanston, Wyoming, was epicenter of an early 1980s boom. Industry rushed to develop gas and oil in the Overthrust Belt.
40 oil and gas companies formed the Overthrust Industrial Association to ease the boom's effects.
Community requests to the group resulted in funds for schools, roads, water lines, and sewers.
By the mid-1980s the energy boom subsided. So did the Association. By 1985, an energy bust had engulfed Wyoming.
Learn more in the Overthrust Industrial Association's records at UW's American Heritage Center.